Senators Markey and Warren Announce $307.5 Million in Home Energy Funding to Support Massachusetts Families – Ed Markey

Historic LIHEAP funding coming to
Commonwealth through American Rescue Plan

Washington
(January 10, 2021) – Senators Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and Elizabeth Warren
(D-Mass.) today announced that Massachusetts will receive a record $307.5
million for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) for the 2022
fiscal year. The Biden administration reported that in addition to an annual
appropriation of $120.5 million for Massachusetts, the state received an
additional $187.1 million in funds from the American Rescue Plan – more than
double the state’s typical annual funding for the energy assistance program. LIHEAP is the main
federal program that helps low-income households and seniors with their energy
bills, providing critical assistance during the cold winter and hot summer
months.

“This
historic amount of funding to help households cover home energy costs in
Massachusetts means no family or senior has to go cold this winter,” said Senators Markey and Warren. “Thousands of
additional Massachusetts residents will qualify for vital fuel assistance, and
we will once again ensure that our most vulnerable residents are taken care of
– especially in the midst of this pandemic. But as climate change makes
seasons more extreme and supply chain disruptions continue to exacerbate energy
burdens for families, LIHEAP funding must be allocated to not only give
families the annual subsidies they need, but also to provide support for
weatherization, which will help them reduce their energy burdens over time. We
thank the Biden administration for its efforts to distribute this funding and
look forward to continuing to expand this home energy assistance program.”

As
a part of the American Rescue Plan, Senators Markey and Warren advocated for $20 billion in
funding for Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA) and $4.5 billion in additional
funding to LIHEAP.

On
Wednesday, Senator Markey, Congressman Jamaal Bowman (NY-16), and Congresswoman
Jan Schakowsky (IL-09) led a bicameral letter to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC)
urging the agency to use its authority to protect consumers from unfairly high
energy costs.

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