Assistance to High Energy Cost Rural Communities

The summary for the Assistance to High Energy Cost Rural Communities Federal Grant is detailed below. It contains information such as the Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) number, who is eligible for the grant, how much grant money will be awarded, important deadlines, and a sampling of similar government grants. Verify the accuracy of the data FederalGrants.com provides by visiting the webpage noted in the Link to Full Announcement section or by contacting the appropriate person listed in the Grant Announcement Contact section. If these sections are incomplete, please visit the website of the government agency that is offering this grant.


	Federal Grant Title:	Assistance to High Energy Cost Rural Communities
	CFDA Number:	10.859
	CFDA Description:	Assistance to High Energy Cost_Rural Communities
	Federal Agency Name:	Utilities Programs
	Category of Funding Activity:	Energy
	Category Explanation:	Information not provided
	Opportunity Category:	Discretionary
	Funding Opportunity Number:	USDA-RD-RUS-HECG03-2
	Document Type:	Grants Notice
	Funding Instrument Type:	Grant
	Posted Date:	May 25, 2005
	Creation Date:	May 25, 2005
	Original Closing Date for Applications:	Jul 25, 2005 Paper applications must be postmarked on or before Monday, July 25, 2005 or hand delivered to RUS by 5:00 p.m. EDT on July 25, 2005. Electronic applications must be filed with Grants.gov on or before Monday, July 25, 2005.
	Current Closing Date for Applications:	Information not provided
	Archive Date:	Aug 24, 2005
	Expected Number of Awards:	Information not provided
	Estimated Total Program Funding:	$19,500,000
	Federal Grant Award Ceiling:	$5,000,000
	Federal Grant Award Floor:	$75,000
	Cost Sharing or Matching Requirement:	No

Applicants Eligible for this Grant: Unrestricted (i.e., open to any type of entity above), subject to any clarification in text field entitled "Additional Information on Eligibility"
Additional Information on Eligibility: To be eligible to receive a grant under this program you must meet all of these requirements: You must be an eligible applicant that is located in the United States or a U.S. Territory, Possession, or other area authorized by by law to participate in programs of the Rural Utilities Service. The grant project must serve an eligible extremely high energy cost community and not be for the benefit of a single household or business. The proposed project must improve energy generation, transmission, or distribution services for an eligible community. The administrative costs of the project must not exceed 4 percent of grant funds.
Grant Description: The RUS High Energy Cost Grant Program offers financial assistance to provide, improve, or reduce the costs of energy generation, transmission, and distribution services for rural communities with home energy costs that are over 275 percent of the national average. Your community is eligible if average per unit costs for home energy or average annual household expenditures by fuel or for total energy meet or exceed under one or more of the following high energy cost benchmarks: Electricity: $0.239 per kilowatt hour, or $2,509 per year Natural gas; $26.85 per thousand cubic feet, or $1,859 per year Fuel oil: $3.35 per gallon, or $1,882 per year LPG/propane: $3.61 per gallon, or $1,514 per year Total household energy: $43.91 per million Btus, or $4,013 per year. Grants may be used for the acquisition, construction, installation, repair, replacement, or improvement of energy generation, transmission, or distribution facilities in high energy cost communities. On-grid and off-grid renewable energy projects, and implementation of energy efficiency, and energy conservation projects are eligible. An activity that meets the objectives of improving energy service or reducing the costs of energy services to eligible communities is an acceptable grant purpose. Examples of eligible project activities include the acquisition, construction, replacement, repair, or improvement of: (1) Electric generation, transmission, and distribution facilities, equipment, and materials, including associated and supporting activities; land or right of way acquisition, engineering and professional expenses, permitting costs; (2) Natural gas distribution or storage facilities and associated equipment; (3) Petroleum product storage and handling facilities; (4) Renewable energy facilities and equipment for power generation, water, space or process heating (renewable energy sources include solar, wind, hydropower, or biomass technologies); and (5) Backup up or emergency power generation or energy storage equipment, included distributed generation installed on consumer premises. Grant funds may not be used for: payment of utility bills, fuel purchases, routine maintenance or other operating costs, purchase of equipment, structures, or real estate not directly associated with provision of community energy services, or preparation of the grant application. All timely and complete applications will be reviewed and ranked by an RUS rating panel according to the evaluation criteria set out in the NOFA. Priority consideration is given to communities experiencing economic hardship and to rural communities based on population. The RUS Administrator will award grants based on rank order and panel recommendations.
Link to Full Grant Announcement: High Energy Cost Grant Program
http://www.usda.gov/rus/electric/hecgp/index.htm
Grant Announcement Contact: Larsen, Karen, Management Analyst, Phone 202-720-9545, Fax 202-690-0717, Email energy.grants@usda.gov energy.grants@usda.gov Larsen, Karen