Help With Your Electric Bill in New Jersey: LIHEAP

Closed right now. The FFY 2026 season ran October 1, 2025 to June 30, 2026, first come first served. The DCAid portal states intake 'will open again on October 1, 2026' - about three weeks away. USF intake stayed open until August 15, 2026, which has also passed. Weatherization and the Lead Remediation portals stay open all year.

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.

LIHEAP includes emergency heating system service and emergency fuel assistance. The DCAid support page has an 'Emergency Assistance' option. Hotline 1-800-510-3102 (NJ 211 Home Energy Assistance Hotline), [email protected]. Note the LIHEAP window is currently closed, so the hotline is the route for an urgent shutoff before October 1.

Online at https://dcaid.dca.nj.gov (also reachable as www.energyassistance.nj.gov). Paper application can be downloaded from the DCA LIHEAP page and returned to your county Community Action Agency. Applicants aged 60+ or disabled can apply by mail or request a home visit.

Heating benefit varies by income, household size, fuel type and heating region. Medically necessary cooling benefit is a flat $300, credited to an active electric account. USF pays gas and non-heating electric costs above a set share of income, capped at $200 per month.

Not itemized on the pages read. The DCA fact sheet requires proof of responsibility for heating/cooling cost and gross household income; the application instructions PDF is linked from the DCA LIHEAP page.

Winter Termination Program (WTP), November 15 through March 15, run by the NJ Board of Public Utilities with DCA. Protects electric, gas, sewer and water customers who at the time of the intended shutoff show they receive LIHEAP/HEAP, TANF, SSI, PAAD, General Assistance, USF, LIHWAP or Lifeline - or who cannot pay for reasons beyond their control (job loss, illness, medical bills, recent death in the family). Utilities must notify all residential customers in the billing cycle before November 15.

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

The two state pages disagree: nj.gov/dca/dhcr/offices/hea.shtml still says 'the application period is currently open', while the DCAid portal - the one you actually apply on - says intake is closed until October 1, 2026. Trust the portal. LIHEAP and USF are one single application.

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