Heating assistance applications open on different days across four states, and only one of them puts older residents at the front of the line. Pennsylvania and Ohio start Nov. 2, southern Kentucky follows on Nov. 9, and North Carolina opens Dec. 1 for households with someone 60 or older.
The programs are funded through the federal Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, known as LIHEAP, but each state sets its own dates, income limits and payments. In every case the money goes to the utility or fuel supplier, not to the household.
Pennsylvania and Ohio open on Nov. 2
Pennsylvania’s heating assistance season is scheduled to open Nov. 2, according to Gettysburg Connection, which cites the Department of Human Services. Grants do not have to be repaid. Renters and homeowners can qualify, and applicants do not need other public assistance or an unpaid heating bill.
Annual income limits are $23,940 for one person, $32,460 for two and $49,500 for four. A separate crisis program covers emergencies such as broken heating equipment, a utility shutoff or a dangerously low fuel supply. The statewide LIHEAP hotline is 1-866-857-7095, and the state’s own page still showed the previous season as closed when the report ran.
The question for most readers is when help opens where they live and what they have to file. In Pennsylvania, the filing is an application once the season opens, with proof of income under the limits above. The other three states ask for different paperwork on different dates, and the details are laid out below, state by state.
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Ohio’s date applies to its Winter Crisis Program, which runs Nov. 2, 2026, through March 31, 2027, according to the Ohio Community Development office fact sheet. It pays up to $175 for customers of regulated electric and natural gas utilities and up to $750 for customers of municipal utilities or cooperatives. Bulk fuel help reaches $1,200 for kerosene, propane or fuel oil and $650 for wood or coal, and heating unit repair or replacement can add up to $1,500.
Ohio’s program is for households that are disconnected, hold a shutoff notice, need new service, have defaulted on a PIPP Plus payment plan or have 25 percent or less of a bulk fuel supply left. Help comes once per winter, and booking an appointment makes regulated utilities hold off disconnection for 30 days, once a year.
Ohio income is counted on gross household income over the last 30 days or the previous 12 months. For up to seven people, the limit is 175 percent of the federal poverty guidelines, which works out to $27,930 a year for one person and $57,750 for four. Households of eight or more use 60 percent of state median income.
Southern Kentucky starts Nov. 9
Community Action of Southern Kentucky lists its LIHEAP Fall Subsidy window as Nov. 9 through Dec. 18, 2026, according to the agency’s program page. Applications are first come, first served, or until funds run out. Household income must be at or below 150 percent of the federal poverty guidelines, and no disconnect notice, past-due bill or eviction notice is required.
Applicants book an appointment with the local agency and bring photo ID, proof of Social Security numbers or green cards, the previous month’s income for every household member, and the latest electric bill. The central office in Bowling Green takes calls at 270-782-3162, extension 175.
Other parts of Kentucky run on other agencies’ schedules. The state’s preliminary plan for the year that began Oct. 1 lists a heating window of Nov. 3 through Dec. 14 and heating payments from $21 to $250. The same state plan says adults 60 and older on a fixed income may pre-register for heating help.
North Carolina lets older residents apply first
North Carolina is the one state of the four where age sets the order. The Department of Health and Human Services says households with someone 60 or older, or a disabled person receiving services through the Division of Aging and Adult Services, apply Dec. 1 through Dec. 31. Everyone else applies Jan. 1 through March 31, or until funds run out.
The state pays a one-time vendor payment toward heating bills. Households must include at least one U.S. citizen or qualifying non-citizen and meet an income test set at 130 percent of the federal poverty level. Applicants verify identity, address, Social Security number and citizenship status, and caseworkers review income, assets and heating expenses.
Paperwork to gather early includes wage stubs or award letters, bank records and copies of heating bills. Applications go through the local Department of Social Services office or online at epass.nc.gov, and the customer service line is 1-800-662-7030. The page lists no payment amounts, so the size of the check is not known until a household applies.
Whether the December window is enough for every older applicant is the open question. North Carolina gives the 60-and-older group 31 days before the general public may apply, and each household’s payment is not known until it applies.
Heating bill already past due?
A household that waits past its state’s opening date can find the money gone, because Kentucky’s window is first come, first served and North Carolina’s general window runs only until funds run out. A bill that is already past due makes that wait more expensive.
The Senior Property Tax & Home-Cost Relief Kit puts heating, cooling and home-repair help for older homeowners in one 64-page guide, with the property-tax breaks that often sit beside it. It includes an application log and renewal calendar, so each state’s opening date and each renewal land on one page.
Get the heating-aid application log and renewal calendar from the home-cost relief kit →
This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
