A single person in El Dorado County can have gross income of up to $3,331.67 a month and still apply for help with energy bills. That is the one-person limit in the county’s 2026 income table, and El Dorado County Health and Human Services says its Home Energy Assistance Program is accepting applications now.
The figure is a ceiling. Someone earning less than $3,331.67 a month is under the line, and someone earning more is over it. The county lists no closing date for the 2026 program.
What $3,331.67 measures
The county’s table is headed “Gross Monthly Income (before deductions).” So the number is gross, meaning before taxes and other amounts come out, and it is monthly. Multiplied by twelve, it comes to $39,980.04 a year.
Gross means the total before anything is taken out. The county’s page does not break income into types, so the table is the guide to the line itself. As an example, a single person with gross income of $3,300 a month is under the line by $31.67, and one at $3,400 is over it by $68.33.
The program serves El Dorado and Alpine county residents, and it helps homeowners and renters. A household under the line may qualify for a credit on its electric utility account, or for help getting firewood, propane, pellets or heating oil. For anyone in either county who lives alone, the question is simple: does monthly gross income come in at $3,331.67 or less.
Retirement deadlines, in your inbox: Miss an enrollment or claim deadline and the money can be gone. The Retirement Money Brief keeps you ahead of the ones that matter, every weekday.
Get the Retirement Money Brief →
We may earn a commission from links on this page.
The rest of the income table
Larger households get higher lines. The county lists $4,356.84 a month for two people, $5,382.01 for three, $6,407.17 for four, $7,432.26 for five and $8,457.42 for six. A seven-person household is at $8,649.67, eight at $8,841.84, nine at $9,034.09 and ten at $9,226.26.
Those are the 2026 limits, the county says, and they apply to the program year now accepting applications. A household that already received 2026 assistance is not eligible again until the 2027 program year.
Points and priority
Income under the line is not the whole test. The county runs a Priority Plan, and applicants must reach a minimum point threshold. Proof is required of a child under 5 or a disabled or senior person over 60 in the home. El Dorado County Health and Human Services set up the plan because funding is limited, and the county’s page does not say how many points each factor earns.
The 60-day contact promise has a practical side. An application filed in the last days of October would hear back by about December 26, which is well into the heating season. That is why the county tells households with a shutoff notice to say so on the application.
Funding is limited, and the county states that applying does not guarantee benefits. Applicants are contacted within 60 days, and all required documents must be received before the county can decide on eligibility.
Households facing a shutoff get a different instruction. Anyone whose power is off, or who has a disconnection or past-due notice, is told to apply as soon as possible and to say the case is urgent.
The same line over a year
Monthly figures can hide how much a year of income adds up to. The county’s two-person line of $4,356.84 a month comes to $52,282.08 over twelve months, and the three-person line of $5,382.01 comes to $64,584.12. These are straight multiplications of the county’s own table.
Because the table is gross, a household counts income before anything comes out. A couple needs the combined total for the two-person line, and a household of three looks at the three-person line, so the number of people at home decides which row applies.
What the aid looks like depends on the household. The county says homeowners and renters may get a credit applied to the electric utility account, or help getting firewood, propane, pellets or heating oil. For wood, propane, oil or pellet help, the county says to use an authorized vendor from the WPO Vendor List, a PDF on its page. Households in Alpine County apply through the same El Dorado County program.
Mail, online or in person
The county’s program page gives three ways in. Mail goes to LIHEAP, 937 Spring Street, Placerville, CA 95667. Online applications go through caliheapapply.com, where an account is created first.
In person, the Placerville front desk takes applications during business hours and an outside drop box is available after hours. A South Lake Tahoe office sits at 1360 Johnson Blvd., #103. Questions go to (530) 621-6150 or [email protected].
Applicants missing paperwork can send it through the county’s Missing Document/Application Submission link, because eligibility is not decided until every required document arrives. The county’s separate Weatherization Program provides free energy efficiency measures to income-eligible households. Fraud, waste or abuse can be reported to the HHS Inspector General’s hotline at 1-800-447-8477.
The open question for an applicant at the edge of the line is which income counts. The county’s table is before deductions, so a person whose take-home pay sits well under $3,331.67 can still be over the ceiling on gross income.
Does the monthly income clear $3,331.67?
Gross, before deductions, for one person: that is the line the county uses.
An energy-aid application that is turned down for income, or that waits on missing documents, can leave a winter bill unpaid. The line is a ceiling on gross income, and the paperwork has to show it.
The Senior Property Tax & Home-Cost Relief Kit covers heating, cooling and home-repair help, so an energy application is read next to the other programs that cut what it costs to keep a house running.
Part 5 of the kit, Utilities and Home Costs, goes through the bills, and Part 8 collects worksheets, contacts and sources for the applications.
Get the guide to heating, cooling and home-repair help for a tight monthly budget →
More Financial Reading
- 21 Ways to Stretch a $2,087 Social Security Check
- 15 Places to Find Your Share of the $4.25 Billion States Give Back
- The New $6,000 Senior Deduction and 14 More Tax Moves for Retirees
This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
