DULUTH, MN:  Minnesota Commerce Commissioner Grace Arnold was joined in Duluth today by Citizens Utility Board Executive Director Annie Levenson-Falk and Arrowhead Economic Opportunity Agency Energy Assistance Coordinator Jean Pelletier to explain the impacts for northern Minnesota homeowners and renters if federal funding for Minnesota’s Energy Assistance Program is eliminated. 

Minnesota’s Energy Assistance Program, administered by the Minnesota Department of Commerce, is fully funded by the federal Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP). The proposed White House budget for Fiscal Year 2026 would eliminate LIHEAP, with Minnesota standing to lose an estimated $125 million in funds each year. These funds currently help about 125,000 income-eligible households each winter pay their utility bills and provide emergency services like propane tank refills or furnace repair.    

“Minnesota’s Energy Assistance Program has proven its value as an effective, efficient way to ensure families have homes that are safe and warm,” said Commissioner Arnold. “For more than four decades, the federal government has been a reliable partner in funding LIHEAP to keep energy affordable for all Minnesotans. Eliminating this vital program is not government efficiency. It’s abandonment.”  

“Minnesotans are facing serious energy affordability challenges,” said CUB Executive Director Annie Levenson-Falk. “Nearly 91,000 Minnesota households had their regulated electric or gas service shut off for nonpayment last year, more than any year for which our organization has compiled data, going back to 2015. And that doesn’t include customers of municipal or cooperative utilities, or families who struggled to afford propane or fuel oil refills.” 

Homeowners and renters in northern Minnesota would be hit hardest, as a higher percentage of households receive energy assistance. They also receive significantly larger benefits, on average, due to the region’s higher energy costs. 

“During the winter months, we receive urgent calls almost every day from people in Duluth and across the Iron Range who are facing disconnect notices, running out of propane or heating oil, or dealing with a broken furnace,” said Jean Pelletier, AEOA Energy Assistance Program coordinator. “These are life-threatening emergencies, and energy assistance allows us to step in and help. If LIHEAP disappears, we will have no options to help our neighbors, including people in our communities who live on fixed incomes. I know people who could lose their homes without this support.” 

The federal budget proposal to eliminate LIHEAP has numerous inaccurate statements about the program and how federal funds are used. The facts addressing those inaccuracies are presented by the National Energy Assistance Directors Association in this statement.  

“When it comes to energy assistance, Congress needs to act based on facts, not fiction,” added Commissioner Arnold.  

FACTS ABOUT MINNESOTA’S ENERGY ASSISTANCE PROGRAM:  

• Energy assistance helps lower costs for all utility ratepayers by reducing the costs of past-due or unpaid utility bills passed on to other customers.  
• Payments are made directly to the utility companies and fuel vendors servicing households that qualify for assistance.   

Without energy assistance, thousands of Minnesotans would be at risk of: 

• Having their utilities shut off.  
• Receiving no help when their furnace breaks down or their propane fuel tanks run dry.  
• Being forced to choose between heating their homes and buying groceries or medications.  
• Losing their homes altogether because of their inability to pay for heat and power for their home. 

Weekly updates to the Minnesota Energy Assistance Program Dashboard track where benefits are distributed and the average payment per household. As of May 12:  

• Two-thirds of homes receiving energy assistance are in Greater Minnesota. 
• Seventy-five percent of recipients are seniors, people with disabilities, or families with young children—the Minnesotans most vulnerable to living in homes without proper heating. 
• Over 116,000 households have already qualified for benefits this year, with an average household benefit of $759.  
• Almost half of those households have received emergency services. As of May 12, those services included: 
  • Almost 28,000 utility disconnections prevented  
  • Over 10,000 emergency fuel deliveries 
  • Almost 6,900 emergency furnace repairs 

About the Minnesota Department of Commerce

The Minnesota Department of Commerce regulates the insurance industry, promotes strong consumer protections, and provides resources for Minnesotans in times of emergency or disaster.

Get updates and news from the Minnesota Department of Commerce by following Commerce at mn.gov/commerce or @MNCommerce on social media.

Contact
Mo Schriner
Minnesota Department of Commerce
651-363-1227
mo.schriner@state.mn.us