By Rita Moore and Stacey Isaac Berahzer

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Low-Income Household Water Assistance Program (LIHWAP), a temporary relief program, was created and funded. This was the first time that an assistance program, specifically for water, had been created. Congress appropriated $1.13 billion under the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 and the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. Georgia received $37,173,132 to launch its LIHWAP program. As of June 30, 2022, 282 water utilities in the state are participating in the program that helps customers with their water bills. Is it too late for your utility to be one of them?

Customer Eligibility

When applying for LIHWAP, each state had to come up with criteria and guidelines for the program. Georgia chose to offer “categorical eligibility” to customers who were already enrolled in the following assistance programs:

• Low Income Energy Assistance Program,

• Supplemental Security Income,

• Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, and

• Temporary Assistance for Needy Families.

 “Categorical eligibility” means those customers who are already enrolled in the above programs will be eligible for LIHWAP.

Amount of Assistance

Apart from which customers were eligible, the state also had to set parameters on how much assistance an eligible customer could receive. Georgia decided that the amount of assistance is determined by household size, income, and composition. If a household has a past due amount for a water bill, the program will pay the entire arrearage/past due amount AND provide either a $200 or $300 one-time benefit—depending on the household’s income—toward the current water bill. The state has found that the average award amount for households has been $391, including the arrearages paid. In a specific example, for one metro Atlanta utility, the average customer payment was $405.44 at the end of March 2022.

However, arrearages in some cases were up to $30,000. So, for fiscal year 2023 (starting November 1, 2022), the administrators of the program plan to cap arrearage payoffs at $5,000.

Roll out and implementation

When Georgia launched LIHWAP on November 15, 2021, it took a tiered or phased approach to LIHWAP. Initially, families with a past due water bill were prioritized for receiving assistance with their water bills. Then on January 3, 2022, the program shifted towards helping serve households with the elderly (age 60 and older) and households with children under five. All other households that met the relevant criteria became eligible for LIHWAP starting in February.

With LIHWAP, the bill assistance does not go into the hands of the customers. Instead, water utilities must sign an agreement with the Georgia Department of Human Services to enroll in this program. Once this agreement was signed, those needing assistance could begin the process to qualify for LIHWAP.

As Georgia LIHWAP is rolling out, households have to meet these four requirements:

1. Total gross income at or below 60 percent of the State Median Income Guidelines for Georgia,

2. Be responsible for paying the cost of drinking water or wastewater for the household or can verify a water burden,

3. Be U.S. citizens or a lawfully admitted immigrant, and

4. Submitted required documents to verify eligibility.

Based on the first two-quarters of the LIHWAP database, ranging from its launch on November 15, 2022, and January 1 to March 31, 2022, Georgia enrolled a total of 19,750 households. As a result, 70 percent or 14,393 of households enrolled were helped via a reduction in their water bills. In addition, 28 percent or 5,764 households were helped to prevent shut-off. Furthermore, two percent or 315 households had their water restored through LIHWAP. The following graph (figure 2) shows this information.

Opportunities to Participate

It has been almost a year and a half since the initial blog post introducing an increase in water financing in Georgia. Many utilities across the state have been able to participate in this program as seen in the provider’s map above. As of August 5, 2022, Georgia is continuing to accept new water utilities in this program. If your utility wants to participate in this program or needs any further assistance, please reach out to Cynthia Bryant at cynthia.bryant@dhs.ga.gov.

This is part of a blog post series funded by the Georgia Environmental Finance Authority (GEFA).

Disclaimer: The opinions of the writers should not be considered legal advice or endorsement by GEFA.

[1] There are three LIHWAP priority groups:

• Restoration of Services: Households with disconnected water services. The initial priority is to target assistance to those households whose services are already disconnected.

• Prevention of Disconnection: Households with pending disconnections of water services. The second priority group are the households that currently have service but are at risk of being disconnected because of nonpayment. This means they have a disconnection notice or an outstanding balance.

• Reduction of Rates Charged: Households seeking help with current water bills. The third and last priority group are households who have working service, but are seeking help with current bills and are otherwise not behind on their bills.

This is part of a blog post series funded by the Georgia Environmental Finance Authority (GEFA).

Disclaimer: The opinions of the writers should not be considered legal advice or endorsement by GEFA.

Editor’s note: This post has been updated as of 08/17/2022

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