When North Philadelphia resident Michael Brown went to turn on his heater last fall, he found it wasn’t working. Replacing it himself would cost as much as $5,000.

Brown never had any trouble paying his heating bills, but last year the 51-year-old was forced to retire early after he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, which affects his mobility. Suddenly, the former mortgage underwriter had no money coming in and no heat.

Brown got through the winter with the help of two space heaters, but his house was still chilly.

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Hundreds of thousands of Pennsylvanians rely on LIHEAP assistance

The federal government allocated Pennsylvania roughly $230 million in LIHEAP funding for this past heating season, which stretched from November through April. The program serves over 300,000 Pennsylvania households in a typical year, according to the state Department of Human Services.

LIHEAP assistance comes in two forms: “cash” and “crisis.” Cash grants help households pay their winter heating bills even when they’re not at immediate risk of having their utility service terminated, while crisis grants provide emergency help to fix broken heaters, buy fuel, avoid  shutoffs or restore terminated service.

LIHEAP cash grants go directly from the state to utilities, on behalf of customers. The average bill assistance payment made on behalf of a recipient in Pennsylvania this past winter was less than $300, while the average crisis grant amounted to more than $500, according to data provided by the state Department of Human Services. Each household can receive up to $1,000 in nonemergency bill assistance and $1,000 worth of crisis assistance.

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“This is a lifeline,” said David Konisky, a professor of environmental policy at Indiana University who co-directs the Energy Justice Lab.

If the program were to disappear, some LIHEAP recipients would face mounting utility debt and the threat of termination, Konisky said. Some might seek help from family and friends or faith-based organizations. Some might put more money toward their heating bills, while shortchanging other bills. Others might rely on electric space heaters or ovens to warm their homes.

“Those types of strategies, many of which are quite dangerous and can create significant health effects, are things people have to do to keep alive … to keep a safe temperature in their homes,” Konisky said.

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Konisky, co-director of the Energy Justice Lab at Indiana University, said it’s a pattern that could play out more broadly if LIHEAP funds were eliminated for a long period of time nationwide.

“Utilities would want to recoup that lost income one way or the other, and the easiest way for them to do that would be to sort of socialize those costs across the full rate base of their customers, which would often then entail them raising rates on other customers to sort of make up the difference,” he said.

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Konisky said while LIHEAP has had bipartisan support in the past, it’s not clear what will happen this year.

“Programs like this tend to have sufficient support in Congress to make it through the appropriations process during normal times,” he said. “But I don’t think we’re in normal times, so I think it’s hard to say if LIHEAP will survive this time around.”