Help With Your Electric Bill in South Carolina: LIHEAP

About to open. The FFY2027 LIHEAP state plan filed by OEO sets Heating assistance October 1, 2026 - April 30, 2027; Cooling assistance May 1, 2027 - September 30, 2027; year-round Crisis assistance October 1, 2026 - September 30, 2027. Weatherization runs July 1 - September 30, 2027. The consumer-facing OEO webpage itself publishes NO dates - only the state plan does, and each Community Action Agency sets its own intake. If funds run out for the year no further benefits are paid until Congress appropriates more.

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.

Year-round Crisis Assistance, Oct 1, 2026 - Sep 30, 2027, up to $800. A crisis is: no active source of energy to heat or cool the home, a scheduled disconnection, or an extremely low or empty fuel tank caused by an unanticipated financial emergency (an act of God - tornado, hurricane, ice storm, flood - also counts). Proof of the financial emergency is required. Intervention within 48 hours; life-threatening cases (medical equipment plus a scheduled disconnection, empty tank or no energy) are faster. Apply at your county Community Action Agency.

You cannot apply to the state. Pick your county on https://oeo.sc.gov/managedsites/prd/oeo/help.html to get your Community Action Agency, and apply to that agency - it decides eligibility, sets the documents and pays the vendor. OEO says explicitly it has no applications and does not accept them.

60% of South Carolina state median income for heating, cooling and crisis alike (FFY2027 state plan, sections 2.1, 3.1, 4.1). Weatherization uses a different threshold: 200% of the HHS poverty guidelines. Dollar figures by household size are not published on the OEO site - the local agency has them.

Non-emergency minimum $200. Maximum $800 in the heating season and $700 in the cooling season; crisis up to $800. Extra amounts stack on the $200 base if a household member is elderly, disabled or a young child, or if the household has a high energy burden (20% or more of income going to utilities). A household gets one LIHEAP benefit - emergency or non-emergency - in the 2027 program year.

Not itemized on the South Carolina 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 winter moratorium. Under the ORS/PSC Electric Bill of Rights you can DEFER disconnection during December through March with a medical certificate signed by a licensed physician saying loss of service would be especially dangerous to your health or a household member's, delivered at least 3 days before disconnection or to the crew at the door; you also sign that you cannot pay by installments. It expires 31 days after the doctor signs and can be renewed up to three times, 30 days each - it does not cancel the debt. Utilities must publish their own termination procedures for extreme hot or cold weather. ORS Consumer Services: 1-800-922-1531 or 803-737-5230; PSC 803-896-5100.

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

Two-step appeal: first a written request for a formal hearing at the Community Action Agency within 30 days of the denial notice, then a written appeal to OEO Legal Counsel, 1205 Pendleton Street Suite 355, Columbia SC 29201, or [email protected]. Non-emergency applications must be processed within 10 business days. LIHEAP cannot pay water or sewer bills.

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