New Jersey will take federal heating-aid applications through June 30, 2027, two months past Iowa’s April 30 cutoff, and the fiscal 2027 windows in both states opened October 1, along with Rhode Island’s. Iowa’s October opening covers only households with a resident age 60 or older, a disabled resident or a housing crisis, while every other Iowa household waits until November 1. One federal program, the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, is running on three sets of state terms this winter.
Inside the guide: Eleven benefit programs, including heating and cooling help (LIHEAP), and the 2026 income limits, all in The Benefits Checklist.
Open the LIHEAP program and income limits in The Benefits Checklist →
New Jersey’s first-come window runs nine months
The New Jersey Department of Community Affairs fact sheet gives the application period for the federal heating program as “October 1, 2026, to June 30, 2027,” taken on a first-come, first-served basis. Households can apply online at energyassistance.nj.gov, through an authorized agency in their county, or by mail, a route the fact sheet singles out for seniors 60 and older and for disabled applicants. Home visits are available on request for eligible populations, and the state’s line is 1-800-510-3102.
New Jersey measures eligibility against 60 percent of state median income, and the fact sheet prints the ceilings as a ladder. A single-person household tops out at $51,273 a year, a four-person household at $98,602 and a six-person household at $130,154, with $2,952 added per year for each member beyond six. The benefit itself is not flat. The fact sheet says the heating payment varies by income, household size, fuel type and heating region, and the state’s fiscal 2027 federal plan lists a minimum heating benefit of $118 and a maximum of $1,278.
Iowa tests at 200 percent of poverty and splits its calendar
The Iowa Utilities Commission’s September 29 notice sets the income test at 200 percent or below of the federal poverty guidelines, and adds two more conditions: the household must have an energy burden, and residents must verify citizenship status for all household members. Applications opened October 1 for households with a resident age 60 or older, a disabled resident or those in a housing crisis. Applications from all other renters and homeowners who fall within the guidelines are accepted beginning November 1, 2026, and the period for everyone continues until April 30, 2027.
The notice states that a payment is made directly to the utility or heating fuel vendor, with limited exceptions for applicants whose heating source is included in their rent. It does not publish a dollar benefit. The commission says only that the program provides supplemental assistance based on household income, household size, dwelling type and heating fuel, and that LIHEAP “is not designed to pay a household’s total energy costs.” The line for finding a community action agency is 515-776-8871.
Rhode Island names October 1 and asks for early filing
The Rhode Island Department of Human Services says on its LIHEAP page that the federal fiscal year 2027 heating period “will open on October 1, 2026,” and that customers “are encouraged to apply as early as possible once applications open.” Applications can be completed online or with help from the community action agency serving the area. Heating assistance is paid as grants to fuel vendors, utilities or, occasionally, applicants, and a separate crisis track covers shut-offs over unpaid bills, inability to pay for deliverable fuel and heating systems that cannot be repaired.
The page as published does not state a closing date and points to the department’s fiscal 2026 low-income guidelines for the income limits rather than printing them. The DHS call center is 1-855-697-4347, with the online portal at healthyrhode.ri.gov.
Washington’s contribution is a repeat of last year’s funding level
The Iowa notice cites the Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2027, enacted September 2, 2026, and says it maintains LIHEAP funding at fiscal year 2026 levels. The federal line is a hold, not a change, which leaves the state-level terms above as the part that differs from one household to the next.
One federal program, three income tests, three closing dates
The difficulty here is comparison, not paperwork. New Jersey measures against state median income and prints a dollar ladder by household size. Iowa uses a percentage of the federal poverty guidelines. Rhode Island’s page defers to a separate guideline document. A household cannot carry a number from one state to another, and a relative helping a parent across a state line is working from different tests as well as different dates.
The closing dates diverge in the same way: June 30, 2027 in New Jersey, April 30, 2027 in Iowa and no date on Rhode Island’s page. Iowa adds a calendar split of its own, with October 1 for the priority households and November 1 for the rest, so the day a household may file depends on who lives in it.
The official route in each state is free and runs directly through the agencies named above: the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs, Iowa’s community action agencies and the Rhode Island Department of Human Services.
Three states’ heating-aid rules, side by side
New Jersey’s June 30 close, Iowa’s April 30 close and Rhode Island’s undated page leave the practical job of keeping track of which household qualifies where, and by when. The income ceilings are not interchangeable, so a household working across more than one state has to hold each state’s test separately.
The Benefits Checklist includes a 50-state phone directory and a printable tracker that comes with the download, which can hold the contacts and filing dates for each state’s LIHEAP application in one place.
Get The Benefits Checklist to line up the three states’ LIHEAP applications →
This piece was drafted with AI assistance; the dates, income limits and contact lines were checked against the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs, Iowa Utilities Commission and Rhode Island Department of Human Services pages.
