Dangerous Record Heat Raises Importance of Government Program

Beaumont, Texas – Vernon Pierce, customer service director, Entergy Texas, Inc. and Judy Kelfstrom, Salvation Army regional resource development director for Southeast Texas, will join advocates from across the country in Washington, D.C. Tuesday to urge Congress to restore America''s energy safety-net program to its $5.1 billion funding level.

The effort is part of the National Fuel Funds Network’s LIHEAP Summer Action Day on Capitol Hill. LIHEAP is the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program. “Hot weather records are being shattered this summer across America,” Pierce said, “making this issue more critical than ever.”

Additionally, U.S. Rep. Gene Green (D-Houston) will be honored by the network at Tuesday night’s LIHEAP Day Congressional Reception. Green will receive the annual Extra Mile Award and become one of only three southerners to receive the award in its history. Green earned the recognition as a result of his work to ensure that LIHEAP funding is fair in its distribution to warm weather states that most need it during summer months.

Current 2012 funding for LIHEAP is $3.47 billion. U.S. House and Senate appropriators recently endorsed level-funding the program next year, even as poverty is rising to levels not seen since 1965. The measures await further review and votes in the full U.S. House and Senate.

“It’s hard to fathom why LIHEAP should be 30 percent smaller in 2013 than it was in 2009 through 2011,” Pierce said. “LIHEAP saves lives. It’s especially important to Texas’ elderly and infirm who are ill-equipped to handle these record temperatures.

“Combined with hotter temperatures,” he said, “America’s continued recession is endangering more and more of our neighbors. An additional 674,000 Americans became impoverished between 2008 and 2011 in just the four states Entergy serves. Texas families need LIHEAP more than ever.”

Pierce continued, “LIHEAP helps low-wage workers and low-income families in financial crisis afford their summer cooling and winter heating costs. However, LIHEAP’s positive impact to those in need depends entirely upon the financial commitment Congress chooses to make to this life-saving program.”

Although LIHEAP prioritizes households with seniors, disabled and preschoolers, the program is also increasingly reaching households of U.S. veterans and even active-duty members of America’s military services.

This summer the need for energy assistance is rising with the mercury. Record hot weather can drive such at-risk citizens to make risky choices with potential life-or-death implications. On average, there are 400 heat-related deaths a year in the U.S.

In Texas, an estimated 4.4 million live in poverty. LIHEAP helped nearly 210,000 Texas households in 2011—a number likely to fall to 148,000 in 2012. If the president’s fiscal year 2012 budget prevails, fewer than 120,000 could be reached.

In addition to engaging representatives in Congress, Entergy Texas also provides local assistance through the company’s Beat the Heat program and the Power to Care fund, which allows customers and employees to contribute toward helping low-income customers with monthly utility bills. New online tools recently introduced at entergy.com/savemoney provide customers interactive virtual assistance to help them manage their electricity usage and access payment options.

“Initiatives like these can really make a difference because energy costs as a percentage of income can be four times higher for LIHEAP-eligible families than for those with higher incomes,” Pierce said. “Through LIHEAP Summer Action Day, we are urging Congress to look to the future and provide the $5.1 billion needed for LIHEAP. By doing so, we are helping ensure warm-weather states like Texas get the necessary funds to help those in need manage the devastating heat of summer.”

Entergy Texas provides electricity to more than 400,000 customers in 27 counties. It is a subsidiary of Entergy Corporation. Entergy is an integrated energy company engaged primarily in electric power production and retail distribution operations. Entergy owns and operates power plants with approximately 30,000 megawatts of electric generating capacity, including more than 10,000 megawatts of nuclear power, making it one of the nation’s leading nuclear generators. Entergy delivers electricity to 2.8 million utility customers in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas.

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