Hochul directs public utilities to keep HEAP beneficiaries enrolled in discount program
Gov. Kathy Hochul helps to package food before a press conference at New York Common Pantry on Oct.30 in New York City. Credit: Getty Images/Michael M. Santiago
Gov. Kathy Hochul on Monday directed the state Public Service Commission to require that major electric utilities keep low-income ratepayers enrolled in a vital rate-discount program as the federal government shutdown continues to impact a federal heating subsidy.
Enrollment in the state’s Energy Affordability Program, which is administered by individual utilities, is automatic for those who sign up for the federal program known as HEAP, or the Home Energy Assistance Program.
HEAP funding and enrollments, which typically start Nov. 3, have been suspended indefinitely following the federal government shutdown. Around 1.5 million New Yorkers, and some 70,000 Long Islanders, receive HEAP benefits.
Hochul’s move stopped short of calls by some watchdog groups, including the Public Utility Law Project, that she free up surplus state energy funds to temporarily fund HEAP. In a statement, she explained, “no state can fully backfill these devastating federal cuts.”
Her statement said keeping EAP enrollments active “will ensure that New Yorkers struggling to pay their bills this winter will continue receiving bill discounts regardless of Washington Republicans’ cruelty.”
The White House has blamed the shutdown on Democrats.
EAP program benefits appear as credits on customer utility bills and vary by utility. They’re designed to make sure no home spends more than 6% of its monthly income on energy bills.
Those previously enrolled in EAP can check their eligibility at dps.ny.gov/energy-affordability-program.
Bill Ferris, the New York legislative representative for AARP, in an interview Monday called Hochul’s move on EAP enrollments “a good first step,” but added, “It doesn’t go far enough.”
A coalition of some 60 agencies, including AARP, asked Hochul to provide stopgap funding for HEAP and a moratorium on utility shutoffs for those potentially impacted by the loss of the program. He said any moratorium should last “until HEAP is funded and people start receiving benefits to account for the lag” in federal help.
Mark Harrington, a Newsday reporter since 1999, covers energy, wineries, Indian affairs and fisheries.
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