(Atlanta, GA) – Yesterday, NBC News reported that the Trump Administration’s sweeping cuts to the Department of Health and Human Services will include all of the staff responsible for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, known by its acronym LIHEAP. In Fiscal Year 2024, the program sent $93,284,394 to the State of Georgia. The program is divided into heating and cooling periods in the winter and summer months. April 1st marks the start of the cooling period. In 2023, the program paid the bills of residents 129,663 times during the summer heat and 111,620 times during the winter cold. The program helped residents an additional 16,000 times over the year for a total of 257,411 interventions. That same year, Georgia Power disconnected customers 222,991 times – bills the company could have absorbed using only 1.7% of their shareholder dividends for the year.
“The Public Service Commissioners have been prominent and vocal supporters of this Administration,” asked GCV Executive Director Brionté McCorkle, “And despite promises to make things more affordable for Georgians, they have done nothing but make decisions that result in higher costs and less assistance for power bills. Since LIHEAP funding helps Georgians keep up with their skyrocketing bills, much of it ends up in Georgia Power’s bank accounts. You would think the commission or Georgia Power would want it to stick around.”
The program’s funds are disbursed to the State of Georgia’s Department of Human Services Division of Family & Children Services and, from there, to one of nineteen Community Action Authorities around the state. Funding for this year has not been impacted, but the people who made it run have reason to believe next year’s will be. Speaking to NBC, Andrew Germain, who was director of fiscal operations and accountability for the Administration for Children and Families, the HHS division that leads dozens of programs from welfare assistance to child abuse prevention, warned us, saying, “Ultimately, I believe the program will crumble from within without the federal office there to manage it.”
In Georgia, the cries for help to Community Action Authorities have increased in frequency and severity. WTOC’s Shea Schrader recently spoke with Terry Tolbert, the Executive Director of the Economic Opportunity Authority (EOA) in Chatham County, who described the situation. “On December 1st, we had a call in, and all 650 appointments were taken in less than 5 minutes. The younger people who were there 25 years ago are now coming in asking for services, because they’re paying higher rents.”
There’s a reason this program lives within the Department of Health and Human Services – research found that if a nationwide moratorium on utility disconnections had been in effect from March to November 2020, COVID-19 infections would have been reduced by 8.7% and COVID-related deaths reduced by 14.7%. In Georgia, that translates to ~1,323 people. Georgia does have some protections for utility shutoffs during extreme heat and cold. Still, legally, the extreme heat designation must come from the National Weather Service, an agency that the Trump Administration has also recently slashed.
As real people suffer, profits accrue for investor-owned utilities. Georgia Power has admitted that record heat improves their bottom line. Cynically, clean-up operations after climate-fueled superstorms like Hurricane Helene become massive opportunities for the company. They get reimbursed for the costs through customer bills and use the tragedies as public relations coups – even earning mentions in Gov. Kemp’s State of the State speech this year. In addition, recent bill hikes more than cover lost funding from LIHEAP. In 2025, bill increases will reap an additional $307.6 million from customers for Georgia Power. In fact, Georgia Power spends nearly $60 million more on image-boosting marketing (~$150 Million) than LIHEAP costs.
After pressuring the state legislature to drop a Consumer Utility Counsel bill that might have begun to turn the tide for consumers, employees of companies with business before the Public Service Commission (PSC) can now turn their attention to donating to their reelection campaigns. Campaign finance disclosures reveal that, since January 2024, Tim Echols and Fitz Johnson have received $31,000 and $39,550 in contributions from employees of such enterprises or law firms contracted to the PSC – not counting any of Echols’ radio program sponsorships. These contributions come dominantly from Executive leadership in companies – not the rank and file employees whose risk and hard work the company centers in public relations campaigns.
Georgia Conservation Voters calls on all of Georgia’s congressional delegation, the Public Service Commission, State and Municipal leadership, and Southern Company to publicly support maintaining the LIHEAP program without cuts. This essential lifeline for working Georgians supports the operations of all utility providers in the state and protects the lives of our grandparents.
Contact: Paul Glaze (404) 431-5962
