Telephone Assistance in the States II: Public Programs that Help Low-Income Households

Low-income households across the United States face constant challenges in meeting rising utility costs, specifically in maintaining telephone service and paying to heat and cool their homes. This report identifies and describes programs that federal and state governments have mandated, funded, or approved to help low-income households initiate and maintain energy and telephone service. The report facilitates comparisons between and among states and across services. Each state profile describes the primary low-income assistance programs that the particular state has developed, administered, authorized, or funded, including key data such as benefit amounts, eligibility requirements, funding, and participation levels. To provide a basic understanding of each state’s unique environment, each profile also includes demographic data such as state population, state median income, percentage of households in the state headed by persons age 50 and older, and percentage of households in the state with total income below 150 percent of the federal poverty guideline.
http://www.aarp.org/research/assistance/lowincome/2008_06_energy.html