42 U.S.C. § 8626b — Residential Energy Assistance Challenge option (R.E.A.Ch.)

(a) This program, called the Residential Energy Assistance Challenge (R.E.A.Ch.), has four goals: reduce the health and safety risks that come from low-income families paying too much for energy; prevent people from losing their homes because they can't pay energy bills; help low-income families use energy more efficiently; and make sure help goes to the people who need it most. (b) The Secretary can fund this program in two ways. First, each year the Secretary may set aside up to 25 percent of certain funds (from section 8621(d)) into a R.E.A.Ch. fund. States with approved plans get incentive grants from this fund to plan, run, and evaluate their R.E.A.Ch. programs. Second, the Secretary must reserve part of that money for extra payments to state programs that have quality energy-efficiency education plans (approved together with the Department of Energy) and that could serve as models other states can copy. States use this extra money to run and evaluate their education efforts. (c) By May 31, 1995, the Secretary had to set the rules: how state plans get approved, what quality standards apply to energy-efficiency education, and how the money gets split among states. The Secretary can also require a state to prove, with documentation, that what it's actually doing matches its approved plan — even though a different section normally limits how much the Secretary can control state plans. (d) A state can choose to run R.E.A.Ch. everywhere, or just target it at part of the state or part of its eligible population. (e) Each state's plan must include a long list of specific promises and descriptions. It must show the state will deliver services through community-based nonprofit groups — either by giving those groups grants or contracts to provide services and payments directly to eligible people, or, if the state pays people directly itself, by contracting with nonprofits to handle eligibility decisions, outreach, and non-payment benefits. It must promise to prioritize certain kinds of organizations for grants and contracts — community action-type agencies, groups with a proven track record in home energy assistance, and groups that already get weatherization funding — though no organization can be forced to take part in R.E.A.Ch. It must promise that grant or contract recipients will offer a range of services: energy bill payments, energy-efficiency education, home repairs and efficiency upgrades coordinated with federal weatherization programs, family counseling on budgeting for energy, and negotiating with energy suppliers on a household's behalf. It must describe how the state will decide which households get which kind of help, when non-cash help works better long-term than cash payments alone, and how much help each household needs. It must describe a method for targeting non-cash benefits to the right households. It must describe how the state will handle energy crises and emergencies in a way that discourages crises from happening, encourages responsible behavior from both vendors and consumers, and only uses incentives that encourage people to pay their bills — not just bail them out. It must describe how the state will encourage recipients to pay their energy bills and encourage vendors to help lower recipients' energy burdens. It must promise that grantees will ask eligible people for their input and listen to it when designing the local program. It must describe specific performance goals — lowering participating households' energy costs over time, getting households to pay their bills more regularly, and getting energy vendors to contribute more toward reducing burdens — along with the specific measurements the state will use to track progress toward those goals. It must show that the plan follows the rules in section 8622 (definitions) and specific parts of sections 8624 and 8625. It must promise that R.E.A.Ch. benefits come in addition to, and are coordinated with, the regular benefits under this law. And it must promise that no regulated utility taking part will be forced to break its normal regulatory rules. (f) None of the money spent on R.E.A.Ch. services counts toward the administrative-cost limits that otherwise apply under this law.