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Thousands Of ND Poor Families Get Heating Cost Rebates

By Dave Thompson

Bismarck, ND – Low-income North Dakota families who signed up for the state's fuel assistance program will see a rebate on last winter's heating costs.

The state Department of Human Services is distributing one-point-four million dollars in rebates to more than 14-thousand households. The refunds are part of a federal program that helps poor families pay high heating bills. It's called the "Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program" -- and Ron Knutson is the director:

"The federal government gave us extra money last year because of the high prices of everything, all of the fuels were shooting up at. We, at the end of the season, or near the season, we saw that we would have some of that left over and we thought the best way to spend it would be to give it to the people who were on the program, who had to pay extraordinarily high costs last year."

Knutson says the rebates will vary depending on what type of fuel was used to heat the home. Checks will range from 38 dollars for people who used fuel oil for heat -- to 145 dollars for people who used natural gas.