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

Across the United States, programs mandated, funded or approved by federal or state governments to help low-income households initiate and maintain home energy and telephone service vary significantly with regard to the type and amount of assistance, the level of government support, the rate of participation, and the requirements for eligibility. To facilitate comparisons between and among states and across services, this AARP Public Policy Institute report by Ann McLarty Jackson, Christopher Baker and Robert Wilden organizes information about these programs within individual profiles of each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Each state profile 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 a total income below 150 percent of the federal poverty guideline. (318 pages)