Although federal authorities agreed to triple utility aid to Arizona's poor this year, the needy will receive comparatively little help with their heating and cooling bills.

The federal program that remains tilted heavily toward those in the Northeast and the Rust Belt, said Sandra Mendez, who directs Arizona's portion of a federal program to help the needy cope with energy costs.

Amid a recession and with taxpayers on the hook for hundreds of billions of dollars in bailouts, funding for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program doubled to $5.1.billion this fiscal year.

Arizona's share of LIHEAP funds is expected to grow from about $9 million last year to $29 million in the current federal budget plan _ by far the most the state has ever received.

Last year, the program helped 28,000 households, about 5 percent of those who were eligible.

Mendez said up to 80,000 of the most needy households could get help this year though about 620,000 households are eligible in Arizona.

”It's great that we are receiving additional funds,'' said Mendez, a program manager for the Arizona Department of Economic Security. ”But we're still extremely behind the mark in serving everyone.''

New Hampshire, which has a fifth of Arizona's population and about a 10th as many people in poverty, will receive $48 million in LIHEAP funding this year.

Last year, those who received help in Arizona got an average of $348 in utility aid.

This year, the most anyone can get is $600 in one-time aid.