LIHEAP energy assistance for SNAP households in 2026-2027

The Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) is a federal block grant that states use to help low-income households pay heating and cooling bills, get through an energy emergency and weatherize their homes. You apply to your state’s LIHEAP office, not to SNAP. Federal law lets states treat any household that gets SNAP as eligible for LIHEAP without a separate income test, and New York, for example, does exactly that (42 U.S.C. 8624; New York HEAP). LIHEAP also affects SNAP: a LIHEAP payment of more than $20 lets a SNAP household use the state’s heating and cooling utility allowance, which can raise the monthly food benefit. Since July 4, 2025, that link works only for households with a member who is 60 or older or disabled (Public Law 119-21, sec. 10103). For the 2026-2027 heating season, the federal government released $3.63 billion to LIHEAP grant recipients on October 9, 2026, under a stopgap funding law (HHS, October 9, 2026).

What LIHEAP pays for

LIHEAP is run nationally by the Office of Community Services in the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). HHS sends the money to states, the District of Columbia, territories and tribes. Each one runs its own program under its own name: HEAP in New York, LEAP in Colorado, CEAP in Texas and Connecticut, LIEAP in North Carolina and West Virginia. HHS does not pay individuals directly (ACF, LIHEAP).

Within federal rules, programs usually offer some mix of:

• Heating or cooling help. A one-time payment for the season, usually sent to the utility or fuel dealer and credited to your bill. Pennsylvania’s 2026-2027 cash grants run from $200 to $1,000 depending on household size, income and fuel type, and are paid to the utility or fuel company (Pennsylvania DHS).
• Crisis help. For a shutoff notice, an empty fuel tank or a broken furnace. Federal law requires the crisis program to give some form of help that resolves the crisis within 48 hours of an eligible household’s application, or within 18 hours if the situation is life-threatening (42 U.S.C. 8623(c)).
• Weatherization and repairs. A state may spend up to 15% of its LIHEAP funds on low-cost weatherization and energy-related home repair, or up to 25% with an HHS waiver (42 U.S.C. 8624(k)).

The law tells states to give the most help to households with the lowest incomes and the highest energy costs relative to income (42 U.S.C. 8624(b)(5)). Benefit amounts, seasons and covered fuels differ a lot by state.

New York’s 2026-2027 program shows the range inside one state (OTDA, HEAP):

LIHEAP does not have to be paid back. Under federal law, LIHEAP help is not counted as income or resources for SNAP, taxes or any other federal or state program (42 U.S.C. 8624(f)).

Does getting SNAP make you eligible for LIHEAP?

It can, but your state decides. Federal law lets a LIHEAP program serve two groups (42 U.S.C. 8624(b)(2)):

1. Households in which someone receives SNAP, TANF cash assistance, SSI, or certain needs-based veterans’ payments.
2. Households with income at or below the greater of 150% of the federal poverty guidelines or 60% of the state median income.

A state may set its own limits lower than that ceiling, and may add other rules, such as a resource limit or a requirement that the bill be in your name. It may not turn a household away on income alone if its income is below 110% of the poverty guidelines (HHS, LIHEAP IM 2026-01).

Two states show how differently this plays out for 2026-2027:

• New York lists SNAP receipt as one way to qualify for Regular and Emergency HEAP, next to the income table (OTDA, HEAP). Emergency HEAP also has a resource limit: under $2,500, or under $3,750 if someone in the household is 60 or older or under 6.
• Pennsylvania uses an annual income limit of 150% of the poverty guidelines: $23,940 for one person, $32,460 for two, $40,980 for three and $49,500 for four, plus $8,520 for each additional person. You do not have to be on public assistance and you do not need an unpaid heating bill (Pennsylvania DHS).

Even where SNAP does not qualify you automatically, most SNAP households fall well under LIHEAP’s income ceiling. SNAP’s gross income limit at 130% of poverty for one person is $1,729 a month in FY2027, or $20,748 a year (see SNAP income limits). LIHEAP’s federal 150% figure for one person is $23,940 a year.

FY2027 LIHEAP income ceilings by state

For federal fiscal year 2027 (October 1, 2026 to September 30, 2027), every LIHEAP program must use the 2026 poverty guidelines and the state median income estimates HHS published on April 24, 2026 (LIHEAP IM 2026-01). For households of one to four people, 60% of state median income is higher than 150% of poverty in every state and DC, so the figures below are the highest annual income limits a state program is allowed to use. Many states set their limits lower. Pennsylvania’s $49,500 for four people, for example, is under its federal ceiling of $77,809.

Annual gross household income, 60% of state median income, FY2027 (HHS, Attachment 4):

For comparison, 150% of the 2026 poverty guidelines is $23,940, $32,460, $40,980 and $49,500 for one to four people in the 48 contiguous states and DC; $29,925, $40,575, $51,225 and $61,875 in Alaska; and $27,540, $37,335, $47,130 and $56,925 in Hawaii (HHS, Attachment 2). HHS does not publish state median income figures for Guam or the U.S. Virgin Islands; it recommends poverty guidelines adjusted for Puerto Rico for the territories. Check your own program’s chart before you apply: the household for LIHEAP is everyone who lives together and buys energy in common or pays for it through rent, which may differ from your SNAP household (LIHEAP IM 2026-01).

How LIHEAP can raise your SNAP benefit

SNAP subtracts part of your housing costs from your income before it works out your benefit. Utilities enter that calculation through a fixed monthly figure called a standard utility allowance (SUA), set by each state. The largest one is the heating and cooling SUA, often written HCSUA. A bigger shelter deduction means lower countable income, and lower countable income means a larger SNAP benefit (the full formula is in how SNAP benefits are calculated).

Normally you get the heating and cooling SUA only if you pay for heating or cooling separately from your rent. LIHEAP is a second way in. A household that received a LIHEAP payment, or a payment from a similar energy assistance program, of more than $20 in the month it applies for SNAP or in the 12 months before gets the heating and cooling SUA automatically, even if heat is included in its rent (USDA memo, August 29, 2025).

What changed on July 4, 2025. Section 10103 of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (Public Law 119-21) limited that automatic route to households with an elderly or disabled member (Public Law 119-21). For SNAP, elderly means 60 or older. USDA’s guidance spells out who stands where (USDA memo, August 29, 2025; USDA Q&A, May 8, 2026):

A household that does not qualify for the heating and cooling SUA may still get a smaller utility allowance, or its actual costs, for the utilities it does pay, depending on the state’s rules. The 2025 law did not change what counts as a qualifying LIHEAP payment, and LIHEAP itself is still not counted as income.

Some states built their programs around this link. New York’s 2026-2027 HEAP pays $21 to eligible households in subsidized housing or a group home with heat included in the rent (OTDA, HEAP), an amount just over the $20 threshold. Illinois’s SNAP manual gives the heating and cooling standard to a household with a “Qualifying Member” that received LIHEAP of $21 or more in the application month or the past 12 months (Illinois DHS, WAG 13-01-08-b).

Worked example with Texas FY2027 figures

Texas’s SNAP standards from October 1, 2026: heating and cooling SUA $464, standard deduction $217 for one to three people, excess shelter cap $769, and the 30% of net income rounded up to the next dollar (Texas Works Handbook C-120). The FY2027 maximum benefit for one person is $306 (SNAP benefit amounts for FY2027).

Two people each live in their own one-person SNAP household. Each has $1,117 a month in unearned income, pays $600 rent with heat included, has no medical costs, and received a LIHEAP payment of more than $20 in the past 12 months.

Before July 4, 2025, B’s LIHEAP payment would also have brought the $464 allowance, and B would have received $220 too (B’s $614 excess shelter cost is under the $769 cap). Under the 2025 law, B gets $139 a month less than A in this example. If B had a separate heating bill, B would qualify for the $464 allowance on that basis instead. Both pass the FY2027 income tests: $1,117 is under the $1,729 gross limit, and both net incomes are under the $1,330 net limit.

If your SNAP had the heating allowance because of LIHEAP

USDA set out how states move existing cases to the new rule (USDA memo, August 29, 2025):

• New applications have been under the new rule since July 4, 2025.
• Ongoing cases must be moved over no later than the household’s next recertification. States may do it sooner if they have enough information about the household’s utility costs.
• A state may not take away the heating and cooling SUA in the middle of a certification period only because it learns the household has no elderly or disabled member. If you pay heating or cooling costs, you keep it.
• A state may send a voluntary notice asking for updated utility costs, but it may not close your case because you did not answer it during the certification period.
• If a household with an elderly or disabled member splits into two SNAP households, each new household keeps the LIHEAP-based allowance only if it has an elderly or disabled member of its own.

States set their own dates within these limits. Illinois applied the new rule to applications processed on or after September 26, 2025, and to active cases when a new utility expense is added; households already getting the full standard because of LIHEAP keep it until their next redetermination or a reported change in utility costs, whichever comes first (Illinois DHS, WAG 13-01-08-b).

What this means for you:

• At recertification, report every utility bill you pay separately: heat, air conditioning, electricity, gas, water, sewer, trash, phone. If you pay for heat or air conditioning, say so and keep a bill. That is what keeps the heating and cooling SUA for a household without an elderly or disabled member.
• If someone in your household is 60 or older or disabled, tell the SNAP office about any LIHEAP payment, including a small one such as a payment made because heat is in your rent. The state may already know if the same agency runs both programs.
• If your benefit drops and you think the utility allowance was applied wrongly, you can ask for a fair hearing. The deadlines are in SNAP denied, reduced or stopped. Internet bills no longer count toward the shelter deduction at all since the same 2025 law (USDA Q&A, May 8, 2026).

Weatherization and state energy programs

Weatherization payments count as “other similar energy assistance” for SNAP, so they too bring the automatic heating and cooling SUA only to households with an elderly or disabled member. A one-time payment to weatherize a home, or to repair or replace an unsafe or broken furnace or other heating or cooling device, is not counted as SNAP income for any household (USDA Q&A, May 8, 2026).

Some states pay energy help from their own programs under state law. Since July 4, 2025, SNAP treats those state-law payments differently by household (USDA memo, August 29, 2025):

• With an elderly or disabled member: the payment is not counted as income, and the bill it pays still counts toward the shelter deduction.
• Without one: the payment counts as income, and the bill it covers no longer counts toward the shelter deduction.

LIHEAP and HUD utility payments are paid under federal law, so this state-law rule does not apply to them (USDA Q&A, May 8, 2026).

LIHEAP funding for winter 2026-2027

LIHEAP money comes from annual appropriations, and the timing affects when states open. The record from HHS’s funding releases page (ACF, LIHEAP Funding Releases):

The FY2027 money is 90% of what the Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2027 (Public Law 119-103, signed September 2, 2026) makes available. States, DC and territories received $3,587,894,233 and tribes $43,965,767. Funds are restricted for any grant recipient without an approved FY2027 LIHEAP plan (HHS, October 9, 2026). Whether more FY2027 money follows depends on Congress. State opening dates for the 2026-2027 season are set by each state: Pennsylvania’s regular season and New York’s Regular HEAP are both scheduled to open November 2, 2026.

How to apply

1. Find your state program. The table below links each state’s official LIHEAP page. HHS’s own finder is Energyhelp.us, and the National Energy Assistance Referral line is 1-866-674-6327 (toll-free, 24 hours; staff answer weekdays 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. ET; email [email protected]) (LIHEAP Clearinghouse); the same number is on ACF’s LIHEAP page.
2. Check the season. Many programs open regular heating help in the fall and crisis help later or year-round. If you apply for a crisis grant in Pennsylvania and have not received a regular grant that season, you apply for the program first (Pennsylvania DHS).
3. Apply where your state says. Some states take LIHEAP applications through the same benefits portal or county office as SNAP, others through community action agencies or a separate energy office; federal law has states use local groups such as community action agencies and area agencies on aging for intake (42 U.S.C. 8624(b)(15)). Your state’s page in the table below gives the application and the documents it asks for. Pennsylvania lets you track a LIHEAP application at trackmybenefits.pa.gov (Pennsylvania DHS).
4. Tell SNAP. After you get LIHEAP, and especially if someone in your household is 60 or older or disabled, mention the payment to your SNAP office at your next contact or recertification.
5. If you are denied or nobody acts on your application, federal law requires your state to give you a chance at a fair administrative hearing (42 U.S.C. 8624(b)(13)).

LIHEAP never charges a fee, and HHS does not give LIHEAP grants to individuals. A call, text or message offering a “LIHEAP grant” or asking for a fee is a scam; HHS asks you to report it to its fraud hotline at 1-800-447-8477 (ACF, LIHEAP).

State LIHEAP and energy assistance pages

Your state page also lists the SNAP office, phone numbers and other programs: start at the state directory.

Sources

• Public Law 119-21 (July 4, 2025), sec. 10103 and 10104, GPO.
• SNAP Implementation of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act of 2025 – Treatment of Energy Assistance Payments, memo dated August 29, 2025, USDA Food and Nutrition Service.
• SNAP Provisions of the OBBB – Restrictions on Internet Expenses and Treatment of Energy Assistance Payments – Questions and Answers #1, May 8, 2026, USDA.
• 42 U.S.C. 8624, applications and requirements and 42 U.S.C. 8623, crisis assistance, U.S. Code (2023 edition), GPO.
• Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, HHS Administration for Children and Families.
• Need Help With Your Energy Bills? (Energyhelp.us), LIHEAP Clearinghouse, HHS.
• LIHEAP IM 2026-01: Federal Poverty Guidelines and State Median Income Estimates, April 24, 2026, with Attachment 2 and Attachment 4, HHS ACF.
• LIHEAP Funding Releases and First Block Grant Funding Release FFY 2027, October 9, 2026, HHS ACF.
• Apply for Home Heating and Energy Assistance (LIHEAP), Pennsylvania Department of Human Services.
• Home Energy Assistance Program (HEAP), New York State Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance.
• WAG 13-01-08-b: The Utility Allowance, Illinois Department of Human Services.
• Texas Works Handbook C-120, Revision 26-4, effective October 1, 2026, Texas Health and Human Services Commission.