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Colorado's LIHEAP Gets Another $10 Million

Colorado Gov. Bill Owens has provided $10 million in relief to help low-income Colorado families pay their heating bills. Owens will use a portion of the billions in economic-stimulus money that Colorado and other states have received from the federal government under the Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act. The majority of Colorado's $111 million share will go for highway construction.

The money comes at a critical time; newspapers report that because of the skyrocketing price of natural gas, the average residential customer of Xcel Energy, the state's largest gas utility, will pay about 73 percent more to heat their homes this winter than they did a year ago. According to the Denver Post, a record one in five Xcel customers, or 256,865, were behind on their payments for one day or more as of Nov. 30, up 88 percent from the same period a year ago.

Additionally, local charities are running low on private donations and report having to turn away people seeking help. Energy Outreach Colorado, a private assistance fund, which received $2.5 million in donations from Xcel and another $1 million from Xcel customers in addition to other donations, said that demand for help has increased substantially from a year ago.

The $10 million represents a 30 percent increase in funding for this year's low-income heating program, the governor's office said.

Page Last Updated: January 27, 2010