Virginia households with low incomes have until Friday, Nov. 13 to apply for fuel assistance, the state’s help with winter heating bills. The Virginia Department of Social Services says eligibility notices go out in late December, so a household that misses the window will hear nothing until the next one.
The program is one of four parts of the state’s Energy Assistance Program. According to the Department of Social Services, fuel assistance “offsets home heating costs for households responsible for heating bills.” Its application window runs from the second Tuesday in October through the second Friday in November. This year that is Oct. 13 through Nov. 13, which leaves six days from today.
The income test is gross monthly income at or below 150% of the federal poverty level. The department says poverty level is figured on yearly income and household size, and its page does not print dollar amounts. A household also needs a heating or cooling expense. A retiree who pays the heating bill and falls under that income line is the person the program describes. Anyone in that spot who has not applied has until Friday.
Retirement deadlines, in your inbox: Miss an enrollment or claim deadline and the money can be gone. Join the Retirement Money Brief and we’ll send you our Property Tax & Utility Relief Finder as a welcome gift.
Get the Brief + the relief finder →
We may earn a commission from links on this page.
Three ways to file in six days
The state page lists three routes. Applicants can file online through CommonHelp, Virginia’s benefits portal. They can call the Enterprise Customer Service Center at 855-635-4370, open Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Or they can print the paper application, which comes in English and Spanish, and send it in.
A fact sheet posted by the Prince George County social services office also lists the local department of social services as a place to apply in person. The state page does not mention walk-in filing for fuel assistance, and the county sheet is built on an older state form, so anyone planning to go in person should call the local office first. The phone line is the safer choice for someone without internet.
Why the notice does not arrive until late December
The window closes in mid-November, but the answer comes weeks later. The department says eligibility notices are sent in late December. The county fact sheet says the state processes applications as soon as possible but no later than late December, and it adds a warning in capital letters that all benefits are based on availability of funds. Until that notice arrives, a household has no word on the result.
The dates themselves are set by the state Board of Social Services. Under the state’s regulation, the fuel assistance period can begin no earlier than Sept. 1 and must end no later than March 31, and the board picks the specific dates inside that range. This year the board chose Oct. 13 to Nov. 13. The state page does not say how much a household can expect to receive, and it does not say whether the benefit goes to the household or to its fuel dealer.
What is left after Friday
Fuel assistance is not the only piece. The same department runs Crisis Assistance for a heating emergency, meaning no heat, a cut-off notice or unsafe equipment. Its window opens Nov. 1 for equipment repairs and security deposits and runs to March 15. Help with fuel and utility bills under the crisis program opens in January and also runs to March 15.
That matters for a household that discovers the problem late. A shutoff notice in December does not reopen the fuel assistance window, but the department lists a cut-off notice as one of the emergencies crisis help covers. Cooling Assistance, which has its own June 15 to Aug. 17 window, is for households with someone 60 or older, a person with a disability or a child under 6. The department also links a 2026 information sheet and a complete program manual for anyone who wants the full rules before filing.
Weatherization is the fourth piece of the Energy Assistance Program, and it works on the house rather than the bill. The state page lists it beside fuel, crisis and cooling help. Households that apply for fuel help this week can ask the same caseworker whether the home qualifies for that work, since a drafty house raises next winter’s bill too.
What the state page does not say
The page does not list required documents, a benefit amount or the dollar income limit for each household size. Those answers sit in the program manual the department links, or with the caseworker on the 855-635-4370 line. A household that cannot settle the paperwork question by Friday has the most to lose by waiting, because the window is the only fuel assistance period of the season.
Anyone who is unsure whether the household counts as responsible for heating bills, for example in a rental where the landlord pays, can ask that question on the same call. The department’s own wording is the test: the household must be responsible for the heating bill and meet the 150% income line.
Heating bill already past due before Nov. 13?
A household that lets Friday pass has no fuel assistance application on file, and the notice that would have come in late December never comes. The next stretch of cold then falls on a bill the state has not offered to help with.
The Senior Property Tax & Home-Cost Relief Kit is a 64-page guide for older homeowners. It covers heating, cooling and home-repair help, and Part 5 walks through utility and home costs. It also includes an application log and renewal calendar, so the Virginia dates and the next program’s dates sit in one place.
This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
