ACF-OCS-LIHEAP-DCL-2024-09 Reallotment of Federal Fiscal Year 2023

Publication Date: September 23, 2024
Current as of:

Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program

Dear Colleague Letter

DCL#:  ACF-OCS-LIHEAP-DCL-2024-09

DATE:  September 23, 2024

TO:  All LIHEAP Grant Recipients

SUBJECT:  Reallotment of Federal Fiscal Year 2023 (FY23) LIHEAP Funds

ATTACHMENT(S):

(1) Table of FY24 releases and reallotment awards to states and territories (PDF)
(2) Table of FY24 releases and reallotment awards to Indian tribes and tribal organizations (PDF)

Dear Colleagues,

The Office of Community Services (OCS) within the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is releasing $15,494,946 of federal Fiscal Year 2023 (FY23) reallotment funds as the final funding issuance in FY24 for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP).

The reallotted funds must be obligated by no later than September 30, 2024 — or included in the grant recipient’s carryover into FY25 and obligated by September 30, 2025. Grant recipients must draw down from the correct Payment Management System (PMS) account to support those valid obligations.

Sixty LIHEAP grant recipients reported amounts available for redistribution from FY23. On May 16 through May 17, 2023, OCS notified these grant recipients and solicited comments on the next steps, including the expected return of these funds, the deobligation of any portion of these funds that have not been drawn down, and the redistribution of them to grant recipients for FY24. OCS considered these responses in its approach and ultimately based the final reallotments on $15,494,946 of these funds that the grant recipients reported on their FY23 Carryover and Reallotment Reports (CRRs) and their FY23 Federal Financial Reports (SF-425s). OCS also reduced the amounts to be redistributed according to the grant recipients’ available balances in PMS. $15,494,946 consists of the total of such funds that were reclaimed from FY23 appropriations other than the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) (Pub. L. 117-58).

ACF will redistribute the remaining $108,197 as part of the FY25 IIJA appropriation.

Utilizing the LIHEAP formula, OCS determined that all FY24 LIHEAP grant recipients would receive a Notice of Award (NOA) for the reallotted funds except for 22 tribes or tribal organizations. These recipients didn’t receive funds for different reasons. Thirteen have previously received the annual amount of funds to which they had agreed with their co-territorial states. The other nine had allocations that would otherwise have been less than $25, which is the minimum amount of reallotted LIHEAP funds that 45 CFR Part 96.81(c) allows OCS to award to any recipient.

Each NOA shows the breakout of the grant recipient’s award by Common Accounting Number (CAN). Each CAN categorizes the funds by the FY23 source from which the funds were reclaimed. For this award, there are three CANs, broken out as follows:

  • CAN G992208, which categorizes the funds reclaimed from FY23 CANs G992201 and G9922C1 (FY23 regular funds including FY22 reallotments).
  • CAN G992202, which categorizes the funds reclaimed from FY23 CAN G991606 (supplemental funds from FY23’s continuing resolution).
  • CAN G992209, which categorizes the funds reclaimed from FY23 CANs G993134 and G993135 (other FY23 supplemental funds other than those from IIJA).

All of these funds, regardless of CAN, will be otherwise categorized for each grant recipient as FY24 regular funds, under the recipient’s grant number ending in “LIEA.”

Grant recipients must ensure that the reallotted funds are included in their total of FY24 LIHEAP funds received for purposes of calculating the LIHEAP limits on administrative costs, Assurance 16 activities, carryover to FY25, and weatherization programs. To calculate these limits, grant recipients must add these reallotment awards, if any, to the total of any LIHEAP awards received for FY24.

Grant recipients may carryover up to 10% of this combined total to obligate for LIHEAP purposes in FY25 through September 30, 2025. OCS generally advises grant recipients to budget their program year in a fashion that anticipates a carryover balance that is slightly less than the 10% limits. The amount below the limit should allow grant recipients to include in that balance vendor refunds, refunds from subrecipients, any late-year federal awards, and any other funds that might remain unobligated or become deobligated in their carryover balance without exceeding the limit.

All LIHEAP grant recipients must submit a SF-425 that combines these funds—totaled across all three CANS—with other funds received for FY24 under a grant number that ends in “LIEA.” These consist of all FY24 funds except those appropriated by the IIJA which will be reported under the grant number that ends in “LIEI.” The initial SF-425s are due by December 31, 2024 and must be submitted in PMS.

In addition, state grant recipients must also ensure that the reallotted funds are included in the Grantee Survey sections of their FY24 LIHEAP Performance Data Forms.

This is the final LIHEAP funding distribution for FY24. Two Federal Register notices accompany this release. The first was published on September 19, 2024 (89 FR 76844 ). The second will be published approximately five weeks later.

For further details, see the attached tables that show the release amounts for 1) states and territories and to 2) Indian tribes and tribal organizations. 

Please contact your DEA program specialist if you have any questions or need any assistance.

Thank you for your attention to these matters. OCS looks forward to continuing to provide high-quality services to OCS partners.

/s/
Megan Meadows
Director, Division of Energy Assistance
Office of Community Services 

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