1. Telephone Lifeline Programs: Expanding the Enrollment Roger D. Colton Fisher, Sheehan & Colton National Low-Income Energy Consortium June 2003

2. “Express Lane Eligibility”: Primary Way to Increase Enrollment LIHEAP Food Stamps School lunch/school breakfast SLMB (health care) PAAD (prescription drug assistance) WIC (Women Infants & Children) Unemployment

3. Dangers of automatic enrollment Exclusion of nonparticipants (Iowa) Hispanics underrepresented in: 13 of 18 CAAs (2002) 12 of 18 CAAs (2001)

4. Dangers of automatic enrollment Exclusion of nonparticipants (Iowa) Hispanics underrepresented: Of 75,000 LIHEAP recipients, additional 4,400 Hispanics would have been needed to reflect their incidence in population. Increased Hispanic participation of 230% needed to reflect population.

5. Not a reflection on Outreach Efforts! Consider the NRRI Report: “Survey results show that when those of Hispanic origin look for help, close to half think first of friends of relatives.”

6. Not a reflection on Outreach Efforts! Consider the NRRI Report: “The results could suggest that utilities and commissions need to assess their outreach to Hispanic customers to inform them of programs like Lifeline and Link-up. Nontraditional consumer education such as grass-roots campaigns might be more appropriate for hard-to-reach groups such as Hispanics.”

7. Conclusion: Automatic outreach is a necessary component to LIHEAP outreach, BUT cannot be exclusive entrance into Lifeline or Link-up.

8. For more information: roger@fsconline.com