Kansas energy program left in limbo when Trump administration pulled grant

Dorothy Barnett, executive director of Climate + Energy Project, says a grant of $400,000, which was expected to be an annual allocation, allowed the organization to launch Energy Navigators to help people struggling to pay their utility bills. But the grant went away in January and they've never been notified about what will happen in the future. (Submitted)

TOPEKA — Federal grant money to help Kansans struggling to pay utility bills disappeared in January, leaving a nonprofit no choice but to lay off employees and roll back a program it hoped would create systemic change. 

Climate + Energy Project received a $400,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Energy in 2023 to establish the Energy Navigators program, said Dorothy Barnett, executive director. It was patterned after health navigators, who help people understand the complex health care system and get signed up for needed support, she said. 

The idea had been percolating within her organization, she said. Staffers wanted to figure out how to help people who were behind on utility payments connect with community resources and then help them weatherize their homes to conserve energy and their budget. In addition, they wanted to prepare educational resources for community workers across the state to connect people with weatherization resources, Barnett said.

Social workers and others will often help people access resources to get utilities turned on, but they don’t know how to find resources for home repair, closing leaking roofs or windows, making a long-term difference for bills. 

In its almost 20-year history, Climate + Energy Project has operated with philanthropic grants and donations from individuals, Barnett said.

This was its first large grant, and the funding was expected to continue for three to five years, as long as CEP showed it were making progress, she said. 

The first year, CEP sub-awarded about half of the dollars to partners to develop the program, Barnett said. They also hired their first navigators, one in Wichita and one to serve Wyandotte County. 

“As we were developing the program, we were very intentional about not just jumping in and saying, here’s this great program,” Barnett said. “We really co-developed the program.”

As it prepared for the second year, a meeting scheduled with Department of Energy contractors during President Donald Trump’s inauguration in January was cancelled. Although she told it would be rescheduled, Barnett said, it never was. 

Repeated attempts to contact the department to report first-year results and prepare for the second round of funding generated no response except reports the funding was “on pause,” she said. CEP continued work with technical assistance providers. 

Janeth Boose was hired as an project coordinator for the Energy Navigator program in Wyandotte County. On her final day of work in that role last week, she spoke about the good she saw the program do before funding disappeared.  

Many client referrals for energy help came from the Community Health Council of Wyandotte County, she said. Boose would do a triage call with individuals to see their immediate needs, connect them with programs to help, including filling out paperwork, and then create a long-term plan. 

Immediate needs to turn utilities back on or to keep services from being shut off was a priority, she said. 

Clients sometimes had to choose between paying for their lights or their medication, Boose said. Educating community health workers about energy poverty was important to the program’s success, she said. 

“We have to have more discussions about how energy, energy burden and how issues pertaining to energy affect health — mental health and actual health,” Boose said. “If we’re able to make those connections, we might be able to get more people on board to see how important this work is.”

In a paper presented at the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association in July 2025, researchers found about 18% of households were “vulnerable or in crisis for home energy services.”

Boose said along with energy needs, she connected people with Supplemental Food Nutrition Assistance and other resources to support household needs. CEP even considered how to make a difference in Wyandotte County’s housing stock, which was older and often less energy efficient, she said. 

The program’s end is a loss for the community, she said. 

“Not having that guidance through these systems can really put a burden on your mental health,” she said. 

Other programs offer energy support, Boose said, but there aren’t enough resources overall. Funding is always a problem. 

Evergy runs a program similar to the navigator program, focused on helping customers struggling to pay bills and also supporting winterization, said Maria Lopez, who heads up the utility’s customer affairs group. 

Along with taking customer calls and operating two walk-in facilities in Kansas and Missouri, the utility goes to community events to educate Kansans on energy efficiency, she said. 

Like the navigator program, Lopez said, Evergy connects people with resources to apply for assistance and offers help to make a bigger difference. 

“Let’s figure out what is really going on, if they don’t know what to set their thermostat on, energy efficiency education and even weatherization,” Lopez said. 

Like Boose, she sees a consistent need for community resources. Evergy helped customers secure $25 million in bill payment resources from programs in 2025, including the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, which is federally funded. 

“I think there is always going to be a need,” Lopez said. “It’s just finding ways that we can connect with our customers, whether it’s encouraging them to come to us, to call before they get that disconnect notice to see what options they have, or meeting them where they are by attending community events.”

The consistent need for energy support as the program ends frustrates Barnett. The goal of Energy Navigators after setting up initial services was to address systemic issues. 

They hoped to build long-term sustainability as the weather grows more extreme and people are faced with increasingly high utility bills, she said.

They also hoped to find new resources and options for people struggling. Barnett talked about an 84-year-old individual who came into the Energy Navigator’s office recently. Their electricity had been off since October. 

Beyond restoring utilities, Barnett said they connected the client with resources to do small home repairs and help in ways that would stabilize the person’s budget. 

“Trying to take a more holistic report approach is what we have been excited about, what the potential for Energy Navigators was,” she said. “Now what we find ourselves in is crisis management, which doesn’t help the long-term, systemic issues.”

Barnett said she remains hopeful the program can continue.

“CEP will continue to work with partners and hopefully foundations across the state to tackle energy affordability for folks who continue to struggle with high utility bills,” she said.