For those who need help with their most recent heating bill, time is running out.
Applicants have until March 31 to apply for funds through the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program.
The funds are distributed through the Topeka office of the Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services. Call 785-296-3271 or visit the department’s Web site, www.ks-energy-assistance.com to apply online.
The funds are for first-time applicants only. Those eligible are the disabled, the elderly and families with children whose incomes are 130 percent or lower of the federal poverty level.
Applicants also must have paid two out of the last three months of their utility bills. Those payments must be equal to at least 10 percent of the household’s gross income or $80, whichever is less.
The maximum allowable monthly income for one person is $1,174; for two, $1,579; three, $1,984 and a four-person household, $2,389.
The funds are available from January to March each year.
The average applicant has received $433.50 this year.
The Kansas department has $28 million left to distribute out of more than $45 million it received from the federal government for the program. Fifteen percent of the money goes toward weatherization projects through the Kansas Housing Resource Corporation.
So far, 17,000 applicants have been approved for the program. More than 25,000 applications are still being processed, which administrators expect all to be funded.
If money is left over from the program, it will be evenly distributed among the applicants this summer.
Utility funds available
