The American Gas Association (AGA) on Wednesday gave high marks to the Senate for approving an additional $1 billion for the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) for fiscal year 2006, bringing total funding for the year to nearly $3.2 billion.

The Senate by voice vote on Tuesday approved the transfer of $1 billion included for LIHEAP in a recent deficit-reduction measure from fiscal year 2007 to the current fiscal year. The measure (S 2320) was sponsored by Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) and other Northeast senators.

If passed by the House, this will be a 50% hike in funding for LIHEAP this year, arriving just in time to prevent energy-assistance programs from running out of money to help low-income energy customers pay their heating and cooling bills, said the Washington, DC-based AGA, which represents natural gas local distribution companies.

“This is the first meaningful increase to LIHEAP in 20 years,” said Steve Crout, AGA’s managing director of government relations. “However, even now that total funding is up to $3.2 billion, it is still not enough to help the 33 million households that are eligible to receive LIHEAP.”

He noted that the AGA will continue to press for full funding of $5.1 billion for the LIHEAP program — the level authorized by the Energy Policy Act of 2005 that was enacted last summer.

The average LIHEAP household received $318 to help pay its home energy bill in 2005 — far less than the $700-$1,200 that the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said it cost the average American household to pay for home heating last winter and significantly less than the $800-$1,400 the EIA has projected the average American household will pay for home heating this winter, the AGA said.

©Copyright 2006Intelligence Press Inc. All rights reserved. The preceding news reportmay not be republished or redistributed, in whole or in part, in anyform, without prior written consent of Intelligence Press, Inc.