State officials warn of higher energy costs with proposed cuts to assistance

Minnesota officials say funds for this fiscal year’s low-income home energy assistance program, or LIHEAP, were finally received after months of delays, but concern remains as the Trump Administration proposes eliminating the program in 2026.

A release from the Minnesota Department of Commerce, which facilitates the program in the state, stated the agency stands to lose $125 million in funding. Minnesota's Energy Assistance program helps 125,000 income-eligible households each winter pay for utility bills. Participants also have access to emergency heating funds like propane tank refills and furnace repair.

“Minnesota’s Energy Assistance Program has proven its value as an effective, efficient way to ensure families have homes that are safe and warm,” said Minnesota Commerce Commissioner Grace Arnold. “For more than four decades, the federal government has been a reliable partner in funding LIHEAP to keep energy affordable for all Minnesotans. Eliminating this vital program is not government efficiency. It’s abandonment.”

Homeowners and renters in Northern Minnesota are expected to be heavily impacted by this funding cut, as a higher percentage of households receive energy assistance due to the region’s higher energy costs.

“Minnesotans are facing serious energy affordability challenges,” said Citizens Utility Board Executive Director Annie Levenson-Falk. “Nearly 91,000 Minnesota households had their regulated electric or gas service shut off for nonpayment last year, more than any year for which our organization has compiled data, going back to 2015. And that doesn’t include customers of municipal or cooperative utilities, or families who struggled to afford propane or fuel oil refills.”

The Minnesota Department of Commerce reports 75% of energy assistance recipients are seniors, people with disabilities or families with young children; and that the program helps lower the costs for all utility ratepayers by reducing the costs of past-due or unpaid bills onto other customers.

“During the winter months, we receive urgent calls almost every day from people in Duluth and across the Iron Range who are facing disconnect notices, running out of propane or heating oil, or dealing with a broken furnace,” said Jean Pelletier, an Energy Assistance Program coordinator in the Arrowhead.

“These are life-threatening emergencies, and energy assistance allows us to step in and help. If LIHEAP disappears, we will have no options to help our neighbors, including people in our communities who live on fixed incomes. I know people who could lose their homes without this support.”