Help With Your Electric Bill in Nebraska: LIHEAP

Heating season is October 1 through March 31. Cooling season is June 1 through August 31. Crisis Assistance is year-round. So on 10 September 2026 the heating window has not opened yet, but crisis help is available today. DHHS issues automatic heating payments for eligible households once federal funds arrive and sends a notice at that point; no closing-when-funds-run-out language is published.

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.

Crisis Assistance, year-round, paid direct to the utility, and it covers deposits and reconnect fees. To qualify you must be LIHEAP-eligible, in a crisis, and unable to pay home energy costs within the last 90 days because of an unanticipated medical or household expense; a significant, permanent and involuntary loss of hours, wages or employment; the departure of a primary wage earner; a primary wage earner unable to work through illness or injury; or a significant income loss from a household death. The state page is explicit: if you have a shut-off notice or are in danger of one, call (800) 383-4278.

Households with an active or pending Economic Assistance case can request LIHEAP without a new application. Everyone else submits an agency-approved application: in person at a DHHS office (https://dhhs.ne.gov/Pages/Public-Assistance-Offices.aspx), online through the iServe portal at https://iserve.nebraska.gov/, or by calling ACCESSNebraska — Lincoln (402) 323-3900, Omaha (402) 595-1258, elsewhere toll-free (800) 383-4278.

Nebraska does not publish the benefit amounts on the page we read. It is paid to the utility, not to you, and depends on household size, income and fuel type.

Not itemised on the program page. Income verification and utility account details are needed; DHHS asks for an IM-55 signed by a licensed healthcare provider when cooling is claimed for a heat-aggravated illness, and estimates and documentation of necessity for furnace or air-conditioner repair.

Cooling assistance is narrow: only households with a child under 6 on ADC, a member 70 or older, a member with a heat-aggravated illness verified by a provider, or one that got an air conditioner from DHHS within four years. Weatherization and HCRRA are run by DWEE, (402) 471-2186, with different eligibility.

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