Help With Your Electric Bill in Massachusetts: Home Energy Assistance Program

OPENS SOON. The online application opens October 1 - about three weeks away - for a heating season that runs November 1 to April 30. Households must apply every year. First-time applicants have to go through an intake appointment, so start early. Returning households are mailed an application after their first year and can renew online, in person or by mail.

Dates move every year and most states stop taking applications when the money runs out, not on the closing date. Checked Sep 10, 2026 — confirm before you count on it.

Massachusetts does not publish a separate LIHEAP crisis grant on its state pages. If you are facing a shut-off, the protection route is the DPU rules below - call your utility company directly and give them proof (birth certificate, doctor's note, or income proof of inability to pay), and if service is still not restored call the Department of Public Utilities at (617) 737-2836 or 1-877-886-5066. Other emergency money: Salvation Army Good Neighbor Energy Fund, for people between 60% and 80% of state median income who do NOT qualify for state or federal energy help - (800) 334-3047 (area codes 617, 508, 781, 978) or (800) 262-1320 (413). Joe-4-Oil gives one free 100-gallon oil delivery per heating season - 877-563-4645.

Online at https://www.toapply.org/MassLIHEAP, in person at the HEAP agency for your area, or by mail. Find your agency through the portal, the lookup tool at https://hedfuel.azurewebsites.net, or by calling the Cold Relief Heatline (800) 632-8175. It is free to apply - the state warns explicitly about scammers charging an 'application fee'.

Household income cannot exceed 60% of the Massachusetts estimated State Median Income. FY 2027 maximum income: 1 person $53,585; 2 $70,073; 3 $86,561; 4 $103,049; 5 $119,536; 6 $136,024; 7 $139,116; 8 $142,207; 9 $145,299; 10 $148,390. Not all income counts, so confirm with your local agency. Homeowners AND renters qualify, including households whose heat is included in the rent.

Varies each year with the federal allocation, and by household size, income, fuel type, dwelling type and energy burden; housing subsidies also affect the level. Payment goes straight to the heating vendor for actual usage or fuel delivery, covering costs from November 1 to April 30. Any primary heat source counts: oil, electricity, natural gas, propane, kerosene, wood, coal. Being HEAP-eligible also triggers an automatic discount rate on investor-owned electric and gas bills.

Photo ID for the head of household or primary applicant; a list of everyone in the household; your heating bill details (company name and account number); your housing situation (active lease or mortgage statement); proof of income for the 30 days before you apply.

Winter moratorium November 15 to March 15 (G.L. c. 164 sec. 124F; 220 CMR 25.03), and it has been started early and extended in recent seasons. Gas or electric cannot be shut off without DPU permission if you are in financial hardship AND one of these applies: someone in the home is seriously ill; there is an infant under 12 months; all the adults are 65+ and a minor child lives there; or it is between November 15 and March 15 and the service heats your home. Separately, if EVERY resident is 65 or over, service cannot be shut off without DPU permission at any time of year. Water has its own list, plus protection for tenants whose landlord holds the bill. Oil, propane and wood have NO legal protection at all - those customers must negotiate with the supplier.

This comes from the Massachusetts utility commission, not from the energy assistance programme — they are different offices and only one of them publishes it.

The mass.gov HEAP page still labels the heating season 'November 1, 2025 - April 30, 2026' while the income table on the same page is FY 2027 - the October 1 opening and the November-April season are the stable facts, the year label is stale. The brochure linked from the shorter Home Energy Assistance page is from the 2023-2024 season.

In most states the same office runs SNAP food benefits, and receiving one often makes the other automatic or faster. SNAP in Massachusetts →