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Series: Audits of the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program for Fiscal Years 2021 and 2022

Announced on  | Last Modified on  | Series Number: SRS-A-25-004
Status
Active
Agency
Administration for Children and Families

OBJECTIVE

The Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) assists low income households in meeting their immediate home energy needs. LIHEAP funds can be used to help pay for heating and cooling, crisis assistance, and services (such as counseling) to reduce the need for energy assistance. At the Federal level, LIHEAP is administered by the Administration for Children and Families (ACF). States either administer the LIHEAP program or award LIHEAP funds to subgrantees that administer the program on a State's behalf. Federal requirements allow for 10 percent of total grant funds to be used for planning and administering LIHEAP. Previous OIG and Government Accountability Office audits revealed that ACF oversight of LIHEAP was not adequate to ensure that States and subgrantees consistently administered grant funds in accordance with Federal requirements. Since March 2020, the Federal Government has appropriated $9.3 billion for LIHEAP through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, the American Rescue Plan Act, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, and the annual LIHEAP block grant. We plan to conduct a series of audits of LIHEAP in high-risk States to determine whether the selected States monitored subgrantees to ensure compliance with Federal and State LIHEAP requirements.

There are 2 projects in this series.

Project titles will remain unpublished until projects are complete and reports are posted.

ACTIVE PROJECTS IN THIS SERIES (1)

Project A-02-23-02005 • Announced on Mar 9, 2023

COMPLETED PROJECTS IN THIS SERIES (1)

LIHEAP: Michigan Compliance Review

Project A-01-22-02502 • Completed on June 25, 2025

TIMELINE

  • September 19, 2022
    Series Number SRS-A-25-004 Assigned
  • September 19, 2022
    Project Announced

    LIHEAP: Michigan Compliance Review - A-01-22-02502

  • March 9, 2023
    Project Announced

    Project A-02-23-02005

  • June 25, 2025
    Project Complete - A-01-22-02502

    LIHEAP: Michigan Compliance Review has been marked as complete. This audit resulted in 7 recommendations.

  • Today
    1 Audit In-Progress
  • Est FY2026
    Estimated Fiscal Year for Series Completion

1 REPORT PUBLISHED

Michigan Did Not Effectively Monitor Home Heating Benefits Provided Under the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (A-01-22-02502)

Because Michigan did not effectively monitor its HHC program, it was unaware that approximately $25 million in benefits were processed and paid without being reviewed. In addition, Michigan:

  • was unaware that credits were not prorated for part-year residents as required,
  • did not ensure that quarterly monitoring reviews of HHC payments were done in a timely manner, and

did not ensure that high risk payments were included in quarterly monitoring reviews. As a result, Michigan did not detect overpayments of $26,763.

25-A-01-074.01 to ACF - Open Unimplemented
Update expected on 12/24/2025
We recommend that the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services take corrective action for the 17 improper payments in our sample of 90 HHC applications by refunding $26,763 to the Federal Government for the 15 HHC benefit overpayments.

25-A-01-074.02 to ACF - Open Unimplemented
Update expected on 12/24/2025
We recommend that the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services take corrective action for the 17 improper payments in our sample of 90 HHC applications by paying $264 in additional HHC benefits to the 2 HHC applicants that received underpayments.

25-A-01-074.03 to ACF - Open Unimplemented
Update expected on 12/24/2025
We recommend that the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services revise the interagency agreement to require MI Treasury to notify MI DHHS of any changes in procedures for processing HHC payments, including edits to the Bridge system.

25-A-01-074.04 to ACF - Open Unimplemented
Update expected on 12/24/2025
We recommend that the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services determine the feasibility of reprocessing the approximately 118,000 HHC applications paid while the Bridge system edits were turned off, or work with OCS to develop a statistical sampling methodology to obtain information about the extent of payment errors that were made while the Bridge system edits were turned off and take appropriate action to correct them.

25-A-01-074.05 to ACF - Open Unimplemented
Update expected on 12/24/2025
We recommend that the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services revise its Home Heating Credit Audit Process to incorporate a risk-based approach that includes high-risk HHC applications, such as those with high dollar payments and out-of-State mailing addresses, and require and maintain documentation to support findings identified and corrective actions taken during the monitoring process.

25-A-01-074.06 to ACF - Open Unimplemented
Update expected on 12/24/2025
We recommend that the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services adhere to the interagency agreement's requirements and timeframes for quarterly monitoring.

25-A-01-074.07 to ACF - Open Unimplemented
Update expected on 12/24/2025
We recommend that the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services test the HHC program data it receives from MI Treasury via the data warehouse to confirm that the data are complete and accurate before reporting HHC program information to ACF.

View in Recommendation Tracker
Work Plan Type
Office of Audit Services
HHS Agencies
Administration for Children and Families
Issue Areas
COVID-19 Financial Stewardship
Target Groups
Children and Families
Financial Groups
Grants