MINNESOTA, USA — The Minnesota Department of Commerce is making eligible Minnesotans aware of a $167 million infusion of federal funding to the state's Energy Assistance Program.
The program is designed to assist with household energy costs and furnace repairs for qualified households, and the department is strongly encouraging those with past-due energy payments – at risk of utility service disruptions – to apply.
The department says eligible Minnesotans could receive aid in the form of $1,600 to be put toward energy bills, with the potential to qualify for an additional $1,200 to cover past-due bills – that will be sent directly to utilities to cover lapsed accounts.
"Almost 340,000 Minnesota households served by regulated utilities have past-due utility bills for electric and gas energy, owing about $140 million, according to the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (PUC)," the department of commerce says.
The funds were funneled by way of the American Rescue Plan, a roughly $1.9 trillion relief bill signed into law earlier this year to offset the economic toll placed on America by the coronavirus pandemic.
An end to Minnesota's COVID-19 peacetime emergency put an end to a restriction preventing utility companies from disconnecting energy services for Minnesotans with past-due bills.
To see a full range of benefits available to eligible Minnesotans, visit the department of commerce's website.
To apply, click here.
