Peter Ellingwood delivers heating oil, Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2023, in Farmington, Maine. Many Mainers have received $450 energy relief checks, following a $473 million emergency funding bill passed in early January. Credit: Robert F. Bukaty / AP

All of the $450 relief checks intended to help Mainers pay their heating bills this winter have been mailed out.

The final round of checks was recently sent out, completing the relief payments that went out to 876,187 eligible Maine taxpayers, according to a spokesperson for the Maine Department of Administrative & Financial Services.

The payments were passed as part of the  $473 million heating aid bill signed by Gov. Janet Mills in early January.

The checks went to single tax filers making less than $100,000 and couples making less than $200,000, as long as they had filed their 2021 taxes by the October deadline.

The other major part of the package was $50 million for an   existing heating aid program for low-income Mainers that was strained by high fuel prices. Another $21 million of the budget went to emergency housing and homeless shelters.

Anyone can check the status of their relief payment at the state’s relief check portal.

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Leela Stockley

Leela Stockley is an alumna of the University of Maine. She was raised in northern Maine, and loves her cat Wesley, her puppy Percy and staying active in the Maine outdoors.