Help With Your Electric Bill in Washington: LIHEAP

Program year October 1 to September 30. You can apply once each program year, and only if your household has not already had a LIHEAP grant in the current year. Commerce does not publish a closing date or say benefits end when funds run out; each local provider sets its own appointment scheduling, so the practical opening date depends on the agency in your county.

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.

Not published as a separate named programme on the state page. Commerce says LIHEAP aims to help households 'avoid disconnection' and can pay to repair or replace an unsafe or inoperative heating or cooling unit. Crisis help is arranged through the local LIHEAP provider found on the county map; there is no statewide crisis hotline on this page. State contact: [email protected], 360-725-2857.

You cannot apply to the state. Use the LIHEAP public map at fortress.wa.gov/com/liheappublic/map.aspx, pick your county, and follow that agency's own procedure to schedule an appointment. Commerce does not determine eligibility or award grants to households.

Income limits are set at 150% of the Federal Poverty Level (published in Commerce's Eligibility Guidelines PDF). Eligibility also depends on heating cost, household income and household size, and is finally decided by the local provider.

Washington 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.

Varies by provider. Typically proof of identity, residence, heat costs and income. Ask the local agency what to bring before the appointment.

WAC 480-100-143, Winter low-income payment program: between November 15 and March 15 an electric utility may not cut off residential space heating service if the customer does all of the following - tells the utility they cannot pay (within five business days of the delinquency notice), self-certifies the last twelve months of household income to a state LIHEAP grantee (who confirms the income is within the state LIHEAP limit and gives the utility a figure equal to 7% of household income), applies for home energy assistance and puts any assistance received on the bill, applies for low-income weatherization if available, and agrees to pay everything owed by the following October 15 plus a monthly winter payment of no more than 7% of monthly income plus one-twelfth of billings from the application date to March 15. It is a conditional protection, not an automatic one. Parallel gas rule: WAC 480-90-143. The moratorium is also in statute via WAC 365-100-010.

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

Fuel type does not matter - electric, gas, propane, oil, coal and wood all qualify, and cooling is now included. The state has no single application: everything runs through the county provider on the map. Commerce was consulting on the 2027 LIHEAP Model Plan with a hearing on August 4, 2026 - that consultation date has already passed.

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