Winter Heating

Winter LIHEAP

The winter LIHEAP program awards a onetime payment for a household’s primary source of home heating. Households apply during an open-enrollment period; it usually begins in December each year and lasts until the allocated funds run out.

The payment may help pay for natural gas, electricity, propane, kerosene, firewood, coal, or butane, but it does not cover heating equipment or appliances, home repair, or blankets.

LIHEAP preauthorization

The LIHEAP section preauthorizes households who meet certain criteria. These beneficiaries receive a LIHEAP payment without needing to apply.

The household may only be preauthorized for one LIHEAP component each federal fiscal year. For example, if the household is preauthorized for summer cooling, the household is not eligible for a winter heating preauthorization and vice versa.

You must check the 105hq screen, the NL screen, or the NI screen in IMS when the household

is uncertain whether DHS preauthorized them or

needs you to determine whether DHS preauthorized the correct utility provider and account.

Correcting pre-authorizations	Is the preauthorization wrong? When you go to the 105hq screen (type 105hq, Space bar, case number, and Enter in IMS), review the account holder's name, the supplier’s name and code, account number, and the action and reason codes. When the 105hq screen has a 1 in the action field, look at the account number and supplier information, and determine if we are paying the correct account. When the action 6 and reason 10 appear, the supplier could not identify which account to pay, so DHS denied the authorization. The account information is likely incorrect. How to make corrections? When DHS has preauthorized the wrong account, the household must provide the correct account information. To correct the error, you may either email the correct provider name and account number to the LIHEAP unit or image the utility bill to the 90L inbox. Do not do both.

LIHEAP applications
Households who LIHEAP did not preauthorize must apply for eligibility.

Processing Time Limits

60 calendar days from the application date

What does LIHEAP pay?

The amount approved is the amount on the Appendix C-7-A. The payment amount depends on the household’s income, size, and heating source and on whether the household pays for its heating costs as a separate bill or as a part of its rent.