Help With Your Electric Bill in Oregon: LIHEAP

Oregon does not publish its application dates. Call 800-453-5511 and ask when the current season opens — and ask about crisis help in the same call if your power is at risk.

OEAP is Oregon's disconnection-prevention program: an electric bill payment program for Pacific Power and Portland General Electric customers, aimed specifically at reducing service disconnections for people who cannot pay. Apply through your local CAA. OHCS energy assistance line: 1-800-453-5511, option 1; [email protected]. For other utilities, ask your CAA about LIHEAP crisis help.

Contact your local Community Action Agency - find it through the 'Find Your Community Action Agency / Find Your County' table at https://www.oregon.gov/ohcs/energy-weatherization/Pages/utility-bill-payment-assistance.aspx. Homebound or physically infirm applicants can ask for alternative methods: phone, mail or a home visit. OHCS itself does not determine eligibility or award grants.

Household gross income at or below 60% of Oregon's state median income by household size (table published on the OHCS page for FFY2026; gross means before any deductions). Renters and owners both qualify, but rental and utility agreements and landlord cooperation can change the benefit. The household must have documented energy costs.

Oregon 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 itemized on the Oregon page we read. Expect ID, a recent energy bill, proof of income for everyone in the household and, if you have one, the shut-off notice.

No calendar-month winter moratorium. Oregon PUC rule OAR 860-021-0407 forces a severe-weather moratorium: an energy utility may not disconnect residential service for nonpayment on any day the forecast high is below 32F, and an electric utility may not disconnect on any day a local Heat Advisory is issued. A moratorium once triggered lasts at least through the start of the next business day, and applies only to the geographic area that meets the condition. Separate protection exists through an Emergency Medical Certificate (OAR 860-021-0408).

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

Two programs sit side by side: LIHEAP is federal and statewide; OEAP is state-funded and only for Pacific Power and PGE customers. Both use the same 60% SMI limit and the same CAA intake.

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