Help With Your Electric Bill in Vermont: Seasonal Fuel Assistance

Seasonal Fuel Assistance: Not stated. No opening or closing date is published and the page does not say applications close when funds run out; households that got it last season are sent an annual review form. Crisis Fuel Assistance has hard dates: bulk fuels (oil, kerosene, propane, wood, pellets, coal) from the last Monday in November to the second Friday in April; metered fuels (natural gas, electric, metered propane) from the last Monday in November to the last regular working day in April.

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 Fuel Assistance, for a heating crisis in the winter months - e.g. out of fuel with no money to buy more. Income limit 200% FPL. It can buy your primary heating fuel, pay the electricity needed to run the heating system, negotiate a payment plan, and work with the electric or gas company to stop a disconnection. Apply in person at your local Community Action Agency; call 1-800-479-6151 first. Do not wait until the tank is empty - emergency deliveries carry a trip fee, and nothing can be paid once fuel has been delivered or furnace work finished.

Seasonal: online through the myBenefits portal (dcf.vermont.gov/benefits/fuel), by paper application requested on 1-800-479-6151, in person at a district office, or with the printable fuel-only form. Crisis: in person at your local Community Action Agency - call first. Weekends and holidays, households with someone elderly, disabled, or a child under 6 can call 1-800-479-6151 from the last Saturday in November to the first Sunday in April, then must still complete the application at the Community Action Agency.

Vermont 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 fuel page; the application asks for household members and their income, and lists people who are not part of the fuel household (caretaker, roomer). Community Action Agencies say what to bring for Crisis Fuel when you call.

PUC Rule 3.300 section 3.304, Winter Disconnections: between November 1 and March 31 inclusive no gas or electric utility may disconnect a residential customer without extra steps - a real attempt at oral contact 96 hours ahead, a further contact within 24 hours of a remote disconnection, and one contact outside business hours. Disconnection is prohibited outright when temperatures are forecast below 10F in the 48 hours from the disconnection date, and for any household with a member aged 62 or older when forecast below 32F in that period, if the account holder gave the utility advance written notice. The disconnection notice must also carry the state list of agencies that help pay bills and an offer of a monthly instalment plan.

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

The crisis window is the tightest thing here and it is a moving date: the last Monday in November 2026 is November 30, and the last Saturday (for the weekend/holiday line) is November 28. Anyone with an empty tank in October has no crisis programme to call. Fuel page last updated 3/19/2026; income guidelines page created 3/23/2026.

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