Help With Your Electric Bill in Missouri: LIHEAP - Energy Assistance

Missouri staggers the opening by household. For Energy Assistance (the one-time heating/cooling payment, October-May): apply on or after October 1 if any household member is 60 or over or disabled; on or after November 1 if not. Winter ECIP runs November 1 - May 31 for elderly/disabled households and December 1 - May 31 for everyone else; Summer ECIP runs June - September, both subject to funding. the dates printed on the DSS application are for the 2025-2026 season (Oct 1, 2025 / Nov 1, 2025, ECIP to May 31, 2026) and have already passed - as of 10-Sep-2026 the state has not published the 2026-2027 dates, so check with your agency before Oct 1.

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.

Energy Crisis Intervention Program (ECIP). It covers a termination or disconnect notice with a specific disconnect date, a final billing statement saying the account is terminated, a propane or fuel-oil tank filled below 20%, cash-on-delivery customers, a pre-paid electric customer about to run out, or another fuel (wood, corn pellets, kerosene) about to run out. The amount depends on what you owe the provider. Winter ECIP Nov-May up to $800, Summer ECIP Jun-Sep up to $300, both funding-dependent. Crisis applications skip the normal 30-business-day review. Call 855-373-4636 or your Contracted Agency.

Online: download the LIHEAP application PDF (English or Spanish) from https://dss.mo.gov/utility-assistance/liheap, complete it, press submit, then upload the saved application with the required documents. Or print it and take, mail or fax it to your Contracted Agency. You can also call your agency or 855-373-4636 (855-FSD-INFO) and have an application mailed to you. You need Adobe Reader for the form.

Responsible for the home's utilities (renters included), Missouri resident, US citizen or lawful permanent resident, $3,000 or less in bank accounts, retirement accounts and investments combined, and income at or below the guideline for your household size. Not stated in text: DSS publishes the income guidelines only as an image/PDF chart on the LIHEAP page, so the dollar figures per household size have to be read there or asked of the agency.

Energy Assistance: a one-time payment for one fuel type. Winter ECIP: up to $800. Summer ECIP: up to $300. Agencies may also give blankets, emergency lodging, heating or cooling replacement or repair, window air conditioners and wood stoves.

The completed application plus the DSS 'Verification Documents' list: last month's gross income documents for everyone 18 or over (pay stubs, or proof of final wages and last day worked if a job ended in the last six months), Form 1040 with Schedule 1 for anyone self-employed, proof of other income (SSI, etc.), your child support case number if you pay court-ordered support, and your energy bill. For ECIP, the disconnect or termination notice.

The Missouri PSC Cold Weather Rule, November 1 - March 31: regulated investor-owned gas and electric utilities may not disconnect heat-related service when the temperature is forecast to drop below 32F in the following 24 hours, and qualifying customers are put on more lenient payment terms. It does NOT cover municipal utilities, cooperatives, or propane delivered by truck. You have to contact the utility and get on a payment agreement to be protected. Rule and flier at psc.mo.gov.

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

Non-crisis applications take about 30 business days. Keep paying your utility while you wait, and pay the utility directly - never the LIHEAP agency. If you already received EA between Oct 1 and May 31 of the same season and nothing changed, you do not file a new application; call your local agency. DSS also lists Missouri warming and cooling centers.

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