LIHEAP: Help With a Heating or Cooling Bill Before the Shutoff

There is money to pay part of your heating or cooling bill, it comes as a payment straight to the utility, and you do not have to repay it. It runs out most years before the winter does — which is why the most useful thing anyone can tell you about LIHEAP is when to apply rather than whether you qualify.

What LIHEAP is

The Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program is a federal block grant from the Department of Health and Human Services to states, tribes and territories. Each one designs its own version, which is why your neighbor in the next state gets something different.

Most run four components:

• Heating assistance — a payment toward winter energy costs, normally once per season.
• Cooling assistance — summer bills, and in some states an air conditioner or fan.
• Crisis assistance — faster help when you have a shutoff notice, have already been disconnected, or are nearly out of fuel.
• Weatherization and repair — insulation, weather-stripping, or repairing a broken furnace.

Payments almost always go directly to the energy supplier as a credit on your account, not to you. Renters whose heat is included in the rent may still qualify in many states.

Who qualifies

Federal rules let a state set its income ceiling at the higher of:

• 150% of the federal poverty level, or
• 60% of the state median income

Household size	150% of poverty, annual
1	$23,940
2	$32,460
3	$40,980
4	$49,500

48 contiguous states and DC, using the 2026 poverty guidelines. Many states use the state median income route instead, which is frequently more generous — in higher-income states the limit can sit well above these figures. Your state’s actual threshold is the one that counts.

Already on SNAP, TANF, SSI or certain veterans’ benefits? Most states treat you as automatically income-eligible. Bring the award letter and the income part of the application is done.

The rule that matters most: it is not an entitlement

Unlike SNAP or Medicaid, LIHEAP is funded by a fixed appropriation. When the money is spent, the program stops taking applications — regardless of how many eligible households have not yet applied. Nationally, only a minority of eligible households receive it in a given year, and the reason is usually timing rather than eligibility.

Practical consequences:

• Find out when your state’s season opens, and apply in the first weeks. Many open in October or November.
• Do not wait for a crisis. Regular assistance is a larger payment and a calmer process than the crisis component.
• Apply even if you think you are late. Many states hold back crisis funds all season.
• Reapply every year. It does not renew automatically.

If you have a shutoff notice

The crisis component exists for exactly this, and it moves quickly by design: states must generally respond within 48 hours, and within 18 hours where the situation is life-threatening.

• Call the LIHEAP office and say the words “energy crisis”. That phrase routes the application differently. Have the shutoff notice in front of you.
• Call the utility too. Tell them you have applied. Many will hold the disconnection while an application is pending — but only if they know.
• Ask about medical protection. Nearly every state prohibits disconnection where someone in the home relies on electrically powered medical equipment or has a serious condition. It usually needs a doctor’s certificate, renewed periodically.
• Ask about cold-weather and hot-weather rules. Many states bar disconnection below or above certain temperatures, or across fixed winter dates.

The National Energy Assistance Referral line will tell you where to apply in your state: 1-866-674-6327.

Weatherization: the part that keeps paying

LIHEAP pays a bill once. The Weatherization Assistance Program, funded separately by the Department of Energy, reduces the bill permanently — and it is free to eligible households, not a loan.

A crew assesses the home and may install insulation, seal air leaks and ducts, repair or replace an unsafe heating system, fit efficient lighting, and carry out health and safety work such as fixing a carbon monoxide hazard.

Renters can qualify with the landlord’s agreement. Households with an older person, a person with a disability, or a child are typically prioritized. Waiting lists are long, which is a reason to join one now rather than a reason not to bother. Start at the Department of Energy’s WAP page.

Other help on the same bill

LIHEAP is rarely the only option, and these stack:

• Utility hardship funds. Most large utilities run their own grant program, often funded by customer donations and administered by a charity. Ask your supplier directly — these are barely advertised.
• Percentage of income payment plans. Several states cap the energy bill at a set share of household income, with the remainder subsidized. Where one exists it is usually worth far more over a year than a single LIHEAP payment.
• Arrears forgiveness. Many suppliers will write off a portion of an old balance for each on-time payment made under a plan.
• Budget billing. Not assistance, but it converts a spiking winter bill into a level monthly amount, which is often what actually causes the crisis.
• Discounted rates. Some states mandate a reduced tariff for low-income customers. You usually have to ask.
• Local charities. Dial 211 — faith groups, community action agencies and the Salvation Army all run utility funds, and 211 knows which have money this week.

Applying

Applications go to your state agency or, in most places, to a local community action agency. Find yours through the HHS LIHEAP page or by calling 1-866-674-6327.

Bring:

• Photo identification, and Social Security numbers for the household
• Proof of income for everyone, usually for the last 30 days or 12 months
• Your most recent energy bills — or the shutoff notice, if you have one
• Proof of address, such as a lease
• Award letters for SNAP, SSI or TANF if you receive them

A tip that costs nothing: ask the caseworker to check you for every program the agency runs. Community action agencies typically administer weatherization, food assistance referrals, Head Start and emergency rent aid from the same desk, and they will screen you for all of it if you ask.