Rushmore State News

PIERRE – A program helping South Dakotans who own their home afford the repair or replacement of their furnace has more funding available and eligible low-income households in need are encouraged to apply.

An additional $1 million in one-time funding has been added to the Energy Assistance program for furnace repair and replacement through the American Rescue Plan Act, doubling its size. Repair and replacement for air conditioners has also been added for this year only and is available until September 30, 2022.

“For low-income families in South Dakota, unexpected costs due to a furnace or air conditioner that is not functioning properly can be a struggle,” said Department of Social Services (DSS) Cabinet Secretary Laurie Gill. “By putting additional funding into this program, we can help ensure families will have reliable and efficient systems when they need them.”

Eligibility for repair or replacement is based on income for households whose furnace or air conditioner is not working or not working properly.

Four Community Action Programs administer the program for DSS and cover every county in the state:

• Inter-Lakes Community Action – Ph: 605-256-6518 (www.interlakescap.com) serves Brookings, Clark, Codington, Deuel, Grant, Hamlin, Kingsbury, Lake, McCook, Miner, Minnehaha, and Moody counties.
• Grow South Dakota - Ph: 605-698-7654 (https://www.growsd.org/) serves Beadle, Brown, Campbell, Day, Edmunds, Faulk, Hand, Hughes, Hyde, McPherson, Marshall, Potter, Roberts, Spink, Stanley, Sully, and Walworth counties.
• Rural Office of Community Services - Ph: 605-384-3883 (www.rocsinc.org) serves Aurora, Bon Homme, Brule, Buffalo, Charles Mix, Clay, Davison, Douglas, Gregory, Hanson, Hutchinson, Jerauld, Jones, Lincoln, Lyman, Mellette, Sanborn, Todd, Tripp, Turner, Yankton, and Union counties.
• Western South Dakota Community Action - Ph: 605-348-1460 (www.wsdca.org) serves Bennett, Butte, Corson, Custer, Dewey, Fall River, Haakon, Harding, Jackson, Lawrence, Meade, Perkins, Oglala Lakota, Pennington, and Ziebach counties.

DSS also provides energy assistance to help low-income South Dakotans pay for home heating costs. Eligibility and assistance amounts are based on the number of people, income of everyone in the home, type and cost of heating, and location. Applications may be submitted any time for the upcoming winter. Assistance for eligible households that have outstanding heating costs for this past winter may be available if they apply by April 30.

For more information on Energy Assistance and Weatherization Assistance including furnace repair and replacement, visit  https://dss.sd.gov/economicassistance/energyassistance/ or your local Community Action Agency at https://dss.sd.gov/economicassistance/communityassistance.aspx.

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The South Dakota Department of Social Services is dedicated to strengthening families to foster health, wellbeing, and independence. For more information, please visit dss.sd.gov.

Original source can be found here.