New Opportunities Inc., a Waterbury-based nonprofit that has for years served as an administrator of federal heating assistance for low-income households, made headlines in December of 2025 when they failed to pay Eversource $1.5 million in federal heating assistance funds after diverting the money to their operational costs.

The lapse forced the Connecticut Department of Social Services (DSS) to intervene, but according to documents received from the Connecticut Office of Policy and Management (OPM) and DSS, NOI may have misused roughly $1.5 million more than initially reported, pushing to total to $3 million, and, according to a review of the organization’s 990s and annual audits submitted to OPM, it has been facing financial difficulties for years.

According to an amendment to the $75 million contract between NOI and DSS signed in late January, “DSS determined that NOI had failed to pay approximately $2,411,400 in CEAP [Connecticut Energy Assistance Program] funds owed to Eversource,” and that NOI “used CEAP funds to support other NOI operational costs without DSS approval or consent.”

An analysis by CohnReznick, a financial consulting firm used by the state, indicated “that, potentially, over $541,000 in LIHEAP [Low Income Household Energy Assistance Program] funds provided by DSS to NOI for the purpose of making utility assistance payments to deliverable fuel vendors may have, likewise, been used by NOI to support other NOI operational costs and are no longer available to support payments under CEAP,” the amendment reads.

The $541,000 in missing payments to “deliverable fuel vendors,” is no surprise to Chris Herb, President and CEO of the Connecticut Energy Marketers Association (CEMA), who says some of Connecticut’s small home heating delivery companies were left high and dry for months, not receiving payment for fuel deliveries until recently and forcing them to push the boundaries of their credit lines with fuel suppliers during the coldest winter in ten years.

“The small, family-owned businesses that deliver fuel to energy-assistance customers in the New Opportunities Inc. (NOI) territory have been propping up this program out of their own pockets since early December, ever since the agency abruptly stopped paying for oil and propane deliveries,” Herb wrote in a press release. “Although payments finally resumed last Friday, only a fraction of what is owed has been reimbursed. This is unacceptable. We urge the state to act immediately and decisively to resolve the failures that led to this mess.”

DSS and a financial consultant have since taken over the “financial and operational decisions of NOI,” as investigations continue, according to an emailed statement by OPM Spokesman Chris Collibee.

“OPM and DSS have also installed a fiscal intermediary to manage cash flow and payments and is in the process of engaging (1) a forensic auditor and (2) an independent consultant who will assess and make financial and operational recommendations to improve NOI’s overall fiscal stability,” Collibee wrote. “Payments to fuel vendors under CEAP for the remainder of the heating season will be effectuated under DSS’s strict control and oversight as well as that of the fiscal intermediary.”

However, this is not the first time NOI has diverted federal funds intended to help the poor to their operational and administrative costs and, according to a review of the organization’s 990s and annual audits submitted to OPM, the nonprofit has been in financial trouble for years, with the 2024 audit, which was received by OPM in October of 2025, warning the organization likely couldn’t continue

In 2016, NOI was investigated for using $4 million in federal funds to pay for administrative costs, forcing DSS officials to step in to ensure that payments owed to energy companies were made and launch a forensic audit of the nonprofit. Regardless of the findings that NOI was essentially using heating funds to prop itself up while relying on future state funding to make up the difference, state officials continued to contract with NOI.

Despite the organization apparently getting back on its feet following the 2016 issues, a review of the organization’s 990s show that between 2017 and 2024 the NOI was in the red by hundreds of thousands of dollars five out eight years – most of the exceptions coming during the COVID era.

Moreso, the organization’s independent audits submitted annually to OPM consistently showed NOI had financial and internal control deficiencies since at least 2022, when the auditors reported a “working capital deficiency of $(2.83) million” and “a deficiency in net assets of approximately $(1.31) million,” and was essentially relying on the kindness of creditors to keep the nonprofit moving forward.

“As a result of its significant working capital deficiency, the Agency is dependent on the willingness of its creditors to continue extending credit and to remain flexible with payment terms,” the auditors from Whittlesy PC wrote in the 2022 audit. The audit was delivered to OPM in November of 2023. 

Also noted in the 2022 audit was NOI’s for-profit subsidiary, Connecticut Food 4 Thought Inc (CTF4T), a hydroponic greenhouse in Torrington that provided green jobs and training opportunities to the developmentally disabled, formerly incarcerated, and unemployed. 

Although, the subsidiary organization had started in 2016, NOI revamped it as an LLC in 2022, and CTF4T’s costs weigh heavily on the organization when auditors in 2024 reported they had “substantial doubt about the organization’s ability to continue,” due to “the startup and expansion efforts of Connecticut Food 4 Thought,” in an audit submitted to OPM in October of 2025, roughly a month and half before Eversource reported a failure to pay.

By that point, the auditors reported the NOI had a net operating loss of more than $6 million and a net deficiency in assets of $1.6 million due to a $3 million loss related to CTF4T. In response, NOI officials were trying to renegotiate loans – including a loan from the Department of Economic and Community Development – and making efforts to secure a $1 million Community Investment Grant, which they reportedly received in October of 2025.

Also noted in the audit was that the former president of NOI would be paid roughly $100,000 per year to make up for $607,058 in deferred compensation under his contract.

The audit submitted to OPM in October of 2025 was actually the third audit submitted to the agency that year. NOI’s 2023 audit, which showed the nonprofit $4.3 million in the red, was submitted in January of 2025. 

“NOI has been transparent with its regulators and funders regarding its financial challenges,” said Stephanie E. Cummings, the attorney representing NOI. “The organization is working closely with its counterparts at DSS and OPM. With their guidance and partnership, NOI has made progress in stabilizing its financial health and overcoming the challenges it faces. NOI remains wholly committed to providing services to the most vulnerable members of its communities.”

Regardless of the audit findings of consistent losses and debt problems, the agency continued to receive state and federal taxpayer funds. According to the state’s open records website, NOI received $26.5 million in state and federal funds in 2025, and $15.2 million so far in fiscal year 2026, including $1.2 million in federal grant revenue and $540,000 in state revenue through the General Fund after DSS had to intervene in December of 2025. 

The three-year, $75 million contract between DSS and NOI runs from October 2023 through September 2026, and NOI has agreed to pay back all the missing funds. NOI’s problems come on the heels of several other issues involving nonprofits and the use of state and federal tax dollars, including a federal investigation, a forensic audit, and electric bill charges being used for questionable expenses.

“When informed that payments had not been made by New Opportunities in accordance with its obligations under CEAP, the state stepped in to assure that all CEAP-eligible households obtained necessary heating assistance, with NOI’s agreement to ultimately repay all state funds utilized to replace NOI’s past-due accruals under CEAP,” Collibee said. “The Lamont administration has zero tolerance for wasting taxpayer dollars—period.”

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