Help With Your Electric Bill in West Virginia: LIEAP

Short and announced season, not fixed dates: the DoHS fact sheet says 'the opening and closing of the Regular LIEAP component will be announced as appropriate' and that the program can close without advance notice, only during the heating season. Last season DoHS mass-mailed applications from January 5, 2026, which marked the start of the LIEAP season. Emergency LIEAP opens after Regular LIEAP closes and runs until the money is gone. Nothing published for the 2026-2027 season as of 10 Sep 2026.

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.

Emergency LIEAP. It must be applied for IN PERSON at a DoHS office, and only when you have a termination notice from your heating vendor or you have run out, or nearly run out, of bulk fuel. You must verify it is a real heating emergency under DoHS policy, and any extra documents are due within 5 business days or it is denied. Information line 1-800-642-8589.

Get a form at a local DoHS office, a Community Action agency or a senior center once the program opens, or from https://www.wvpath.wv.gov. Mail it or drop it at a local DoHS office, or apply in person. Targeted households get an application - or an automatic payment - by mail before the opening date. Do not send LIEAP forms to your heating company; it delays everything.

West Virginia 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.

Name, Social Security number and date of birth for everyone in the home; proof of all earned and unearned income; a recent heating bill showing the account number, or a bulk fuel receipt (or a landlord/utility note); a phone number where you can be reached. Zero-income households may have to document how they have paid living costs for the last 30 days.

Winter moratorium roughly November 1 to March 31, plus a delay when cutting off service would be especially dangerous to the health or safety of a household member. Source used here is the federal LIHEAP Clearinghouse seasonal-termination table (liheapch.acf.gov), not a WV PSC page - the PSC rule text could not be opened in this session, so confirm dates with the Public Service Commission of West Virginia before relying on them.

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

Regular applications are processed within 30 days of receipt or of the program opening, whichever is later. Once the program closes, applications are denied - including ones already in the mail. Emergency LIEAP is the only door outside the Regular window and it requires an in-person visit.

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