County residents who received assistance from the state Department of Public Welfare via a crisis grant during the 2012-13 heating season will receive additional money from the federal government.
A $200 grant payment will go to 3,428 county residents, Ann Bale, deputy press secretary for the DPW, said in an email Thursday.
So far this year, county residents received $1.4 million in Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program crisis funds, excluding the additional payment, Bale said.
The fund provides grants to people with low income who qualify for heating assistance.
The department announced Tuesday that state residents who received the funds for the most recent heating season will get the funds.
"This supplemental federal funding will especially assist older adults and people with disabilities in paying their remaining utility bills or give them additional financial support for the coming winter," Beverly Mackereth, DPW secretary, said in a press release.
Recipients will soon receive letters from DPW about funds, which will be paid this month.
"In the 2012-13 heating season, crisis grants were approved for more than 122,000 households, 76 percent of which contain a person who is disabled, age 60 or older, or who has a child under five years old. Each of these households will now receive the $200 supplemental cash grant," the release said.
The upcoming heating season is scheduled to start Nov. 4.