LIHEAP DCL 2023-05 Third Block Grant Funding Release FY 2023

Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program

Dear Colleague Letter

DCL#:   LIHEAP-DCL-2023-05

DATE:   March 16, 2023

TO:   Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) Grant Recipients

SUBJECT:  Third FFY 2023 LIHEAP Funding Release

ATTACHMENT(S):       

1. Third Funding Release of LIHEAP Funds to States and Territories for FFY 2023
2. Third Funding Release of LIHEAP Funds to Indian Tribes and Tribal Organizations for FFY 2023

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Office of Community Services (OCS), Division of Energy Assistance (DEA), is releasing over $560 million in funding for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) for Federal Fiscal Year (FFY) 2023. Congress appropriated these funds under the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023 (Public Law 117-328 ), which provided the final budget for FFY 2023 and which the President signed into law on December 29, 2022. 

Congress appropriated these funds in two allocations under the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023.  The first consisted of $4 billion of regular block grant funds, of which $1.5 billion came from the main appropriation, and $2.5 billion came from the Disaster Relief Appropriation Act, 2023.  The legislation directed HHS to account for these two sources as one amount for regular block grant funds accounting purposes. HHS needed to make accounting adjustments to the grant award system for the regular block grant funding.

The second appropriation under the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023 also consisted of $1 billion in supplemental disaster funds; these funds were released on February 22, 2023. 

As the regular block grant funds released in the fall, under the Continuing Resolution, exceeded the $1.5 billion (officially referred to as regular funding) that the final appropriation allocated to LIHEAP, HHS had to perform accounting adjustments to establish the appropriate Common Accounting Numbers (CANs), for each source of FY 2023 LIHEAP funding, and reconcile those amounts to avoid the appearance of exceeding the obligation amount for any particular source.  As a result, ACF’s Office of Grants Management had to de-obligate each grant recipient’s CR funding accordingly and subsequently obligate $2.5 billion in Disaster Supplemental funds from the CAA into a new CAN. The funds are now available again and normal financial activities can commence.

As of today, OCS has allocated 99.75 percent of the total LIHEAP funds available to LIHEAP grant recipients across all sources of funding for FFY 2023. To summarize, those sources of funding include the:

• $1.5 billion of regular block grant funding from the final appropriation (grant number ending in “LIEA”; CAN:  G992201);
• $2.5 billion of disaster funding that is being treated as regular funding under the final appropriation (grant number ending in “LIEA”; CAN:  G993134);
• $1 billion of supplemental funding from the Continuing Resolution (grant number ending in “LIEE”; CAN:  G991606);
• The $100 million of Infrastructure supplemental funding (grant number ending in “LIEI”; CAN:  G992605); and,
• $1 billion in disaster supplemental funding from the final appropriation (grant number ending in “LIEE”; CAN:  G993135);

At this point, the only FFY 2023 funding being reserved by HHS is 15 million, which is 1 percent of the $1.5 billion available as regular block grant funding under the final appropriation. Consistent with past practice at this stage in the fiscal year, this 1 percent is being held in the event it may later be needed for a Secretary's transfer.

Recipients must obligate 90 percent of their total FY 2023 award, including the funds released today, by September 30, 2023, and may carryover the remaining 10 percent to obligate in FY 2024.  Recipients may use these funds for any purpose normally authorized under the federal LIHEAP statute (42 USC 8621 et seq.), including heating, cooling, crisis, weatherization assistance, case management for the reduction of home energy burden, and administrative costs. LIHEAP can also be used to help with immediate and temporary home energy needs caused by natural disasters.

For further details about today’s funding release, see the attached tables that show the release amounts for states and territories, and to tribes and tribal organizations.

Please contact your federal LIHEAP liaison 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 grant recipients.

/s/
Dr. Lanikque Howard
Director
Office of Community Services