© 2024 KMUW
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Help Available for Winter Utility Bills

Simon Li, flickr Creative Commons

Despite our mild weather lately, winter is far from over. Now’s the time to apply for a program that offers help when it comes to paying heating bills this year. KMUW’s Deborah Shaar reports.

The Kansas Department for Children and Families is now accepting applications for its Low Income Energy Assistance Program or (LIEAP).

LIEAP is a federally funded program that providesan annual benefit to help qualifying households pay winter heating bills. Persons with disabilities, older adults and families with children are the primary groups assisted.

The DCF says in a release that nearly 48,000 households took advantage of the program last year. An average benefit totaled about $522.

Applications will be accepted until March 31. Applicants must meet income eligibility standards. LIEAP applications are available at local DCF offices, through partnering agencies and online.

Deborah joined the news team at KMUW in September 2014 as a news reporter. She spent more than a dozen years working in news at both public and commercial radio and television stations in Ohio, West Virginia and Detroit, Michigan. Before relocating to Wichita in 2013, Deborah taught news and broadcasting classes at Tarrant County College in the Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas area.