White House announces $13.5 billion funding to help households with energy bills

[November 02, 2022]  (Reuters) -President Joe Biden's administration will make $13.5 billion available to help low-income households lower their heating costs this winter, the White House said on Wednesday.   

Utility poles lead to downtown Dallas during a heat advisory due to scorching weather in Dallas, Texas, U.S. July 12, 2022. REUTERS/Shelby Tauber

As part of the initiative, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is providing $4.5 billion in low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) funding, it said in a statement.

The new funding will help Americans with heating costs and unpaid utility bills and repairs of home energy appliances that will help lower their energy costs, the White House said.

"These steps will provide additional support for low- and moderate-income families, and complement tax credits that families and building owners can use under the Inflation Reduction Act to install energy-saving equipment and to make building upgrades," it said.

Separately, the U.S. Department of Energy will also allocate $9 billion in funding from the Inflation Reduction Act to support up to 1.6 million households in upgrading their homes to lower energy bills.

(Reporting by Anirudh Saligrama and Akriti Sharma in Bengaluru; Editing by Andrew Heavens and Tomasz Janowski)

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