WASHINGTON (AP) – Maine will get an infusion of $2,628,208 in federal energy assistance just as winter weather is about to settle over the state.

The money is part of $100 million in Low-Income Heating and Energy Assistance Program funds released Thursday after lawmakers complained that utilities were cutting off heat for thousands of senior citizens and low-income families.

The Department of Health and Human Services is distributing the money from a $300 million LIHEAP fund.

About $1.2 billion was sent to states in October as part of the LIHEAP assistance. Most of the money goes to cold-weather states in the Northeast and Midwest.

Dr. Wade Horn, HHS assistant secretary for children and families, said the move was necessary because many parts of the country have already felt a blast of winter weather. HHS said it was also sending an additional $65 million in regular LIHEAP funding that had been held up by delays in a congressional spending bill.

Members of Congress – Maine Republican Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins among them – had been pressing the Bush administration to release the full $300 million heating aid emergency reserve. The issue of when to release the LIHEAP money, and how much, is often a point of contention between Northern lawmakers and the White House.

“This fraction of the $300 million is not sufficient to meet the demands the states are facing,” Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., said after the release was announced. More than 21,000 Rhode Island families had their utilities shut off as of October because of nonpayment of heating bills, Reed said.

Others, like New York’s Gov. George Pataki, have pressed Congress to put more money in the program.

LIHEAP aids an estimated 4.5 million households nationwide each year.

The largest benefactor of the program, New York, will receive nearly $17 million of the fresh infusion of aid. Pennsylvania will get $7.5 million, and Massachusetts $5.6 million.

Two other cold-weather states, Minnesota and Michigan, each will receive more than $4 million. Louisiana, by comparison, will get about $600,000.

Sun Journal writer Doug Fletcher contributed to this report.