#low-income-households

#low-income-households

Only 775 of the nearly 600,000 potentially eligible Con Edison customers have enrolled for the state's expanded energy assistance program since it opened last month, the company said. The Energy Affordability Program helps eligible New Yorkers struggling to afford their utility bills by providing monthly discounts. Discount levels vary by household size and income. In New York City, someone who uses gas heat and whose income is less than 60% of the area median income - $68,050 for a single person and $97,200 for a household of four - would see discounts of more than $135 per month.

Around six million low-income households will continue to receive 150 off their winter energy bills after the government confirmed its Warm Home Discount will remain for five more years. It follows a consultation on how best to continue the scheme, which has been in place since 2011, with eligibility widened last year to include a further 2.7 million families. Ministers said extending the scheme until the winter of 2030/31 would help with the ongoing high cost of living,

Slower job growth. Just look at the November employment report - very soft if you average the last couple of months. But real earnings growth, average hourly earnings growth, up 3.7% on a year-on-year basis. And that helps to weather a little bit of this inflation pressure that we are feeling right now. And I think that's the true storyline.

Rachel Reeves announced in her budget that she would cut 150 a year from the average energy bill, partly financed by axing the 1.3bn energy company obligation (ECO) scheme that helped fund upgrades for homes owned or rented by households earning under 31,000. This scheme is due to be end in March. The government plans to launch a warm homes plan to provide funding for heat pumps, insulation and other home upgrades but this has been beset by delays.

With temperatures beginning to drop in areas across the United States, some states are warning that funding for the program is being delayed because of the federal government shutdown, now in its fifth week. The anticipated delay comes as a majority of the 5.9 million households served by the federally funded heating and cooling assistance program are grappling with the sudden postponement of benefits through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, which helps about 1 in 8 Americans buy groceries.

Nearly two dozen states are suing the Trump administration over its cancellation of a $7bn grant program aimed at expanding solar energy in low-income communities, according to court papers. In a statement on Thursday, California's attorney general, Rob Bonta, announced two lawsuits by a group of states that received grants under the Environmental Protection Agency's Solar for All program. The EPA's administrator, Lee Zeldin, announced the termination of the program in August.

People living in 17 boroughs in the capital who need financial support will be automatically enrolled on the water company's social tariff scheme without having to go through the application process. Under data-sharing agreements, Thames Water said it was working with councils and the Policy in Practice social data platform to identify customers whose water bills exceed 5% of their net income. Eligible households will be signed up to the WaterHelp scheme, which cuts bills by 50%.