State and Territory LIHEAP Program Duration: Heating, Cooling, and Crisis

Arizona has identified date ranges for heating and cooling and has assigned a date range to each county for FFY 2025.

HEATING (November 1-March 31) and COOLING (April 1-October 31) for counties: Coconino, Yavapai, Navajo, Apache, Greenlee, Graham,Cochise, and Santa Cruz.

HEATING (December 1-March 31) and COOLING (April 1-November 30) for counties: Mojave, La Paz, Yuma, Maricopa, Gila, Pinal, and Pima.

The heating and cooling months overlap due to weather conditions. Since the LIHEAP adjudication and application processing portion of this programwill be administered within DES through the utilization of an online portal, DES will be allocating monthly LIHEAP funds based on the heating and cooling needs of each location. DES will budget in this manner in order to keep the LIHEAP program operating throughout the entire year. The heating and cooling months illustrate when heating and cooling begins for each Arizona region. The above dates are based on the calendar year. Funding for the Federal Fiscal Year is not affected by the heating and cooling months listed above.
 

The heating assistance program is scheduled to start Tuesday, October 1, 2024 beginning with a priority for older adults, individuals with a disability, families with at least one child age 5 years and under and disconnected/imminent disconnected utilizing FY2024 and FY2025 HHS funds. The program will continue until August 15, 2025, or until funding is exhausted. The Weatherization program started July 1, 2024 utilizing 2024 HHS funding. Illinois will not administer a separate Cooling assistance program during FY2025. Eligible customers will be assisted with both gas and electric until August 15, 2025, or until funding is exhausted.

Beginning October 1, 2024, the new Low Income Discount Rate (LIDR) will provide a monthly discount on natural gas bills from Ameren
Illinois, Nicor Gas, North Shore Gas and Peoples Gas customers with qualifying household incomes. Their discount rate will depend on their household income level.

For Heating Assistance FFY2025, Subgrantees will begin taking applications on July 22, 2024 and will contiue taking applications through May 31, 2025.

Funding for the Weatherization Assistance component is made available to Subgrantees during the program year and is obligated for use through 3/31/2026 or as extended by contract.

Crisis assistance is delivered as expedited support, in accordance with Code of Maryland Regulations (COMAR) 07.03.21.10. In FY25, Maryland will also offer an additional one-time crisis assistance benefit during the winter months to prevent or mitigate a crisis if the customer's heating benefit is insufficient. Additionally, crisis assistance funds are allocated to the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development through an Inter-Agency Agreement for emergency heating and cooling system repair and replacement.

• Primary Heat and Crisis will be made available upon receipt of initial federal award
• ERR will begin 10/1
• Crisis may be obligated through 7/1
• ERR may be obligated through 9/15
• Applications must be received or postmarked by May 31

The Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) provides heating assistance to eligible households during the heating season (October through March).
DHHS may determine a household's eligibility for heating assistance after the heating season if a household applied for/requested LIHEAP assistance during the heating season and eligibility was not determined, eligibility was incorrectly determined, or a household had a current application (a pending or active economic assistance program case) during the heating season and eligibility was not determined.

DHHS may begin determining eligibility for heating assistance prior to the beginning of the heating season. If this occurs, heating assistance payments will not be issued until the beginning of the heating season. DHHS will make this decision based on operational and technical capabilities. Eligibility staff will be notified via guidance if eligibility will be determined prior to the begin date for the heating season.

DHHS currently provides a year-round crisis assistance program. For each program year (October through September), DHHS accepts and processes applications and crisis assistance requests according to the earliest application date until DHHS determines that pending payments will exhaust available funds for the program year. Upon making this determination, DHHS will accept no more applications for crisis assistance for the program year.

DHHS contracts with the Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy (NDEE) to administer the weatherization assistance program.

The availability of the cooling assistance program and the variables used to determine eligible households will depend on the LIHEAP funding received and available for the current federal fiscal year. DHHS typically provides cooling assistance to eligible households during the cooling season (June through August).

DHHS may determine a household's eligibility for cooling assistance after the cooling season in certain situations, such as eligibility for a timely application or request was not determined by the end of the cooling season, or eligibility was incorrectly determined.

DHHS may determine a household's eligibility for cooling assistance prior to the beginning of the cooling season. If this occurs, cooling assistance payments will not be issued until the beginning of the cooling season. DHHS will make this decision based on operational and technical capabilities. Eligibility staff will be notified via guidance if eligibility will be determined prior to the begin date for the cooling season.

For heating or cooling eligible households, an extra payment may be made in the form of a supplemental payment or an increase in the regular season's payment. The supplemental payments may be processed and issued at any time during the current LIHEAP program year (October through September). The need for a supplemental payment for households that received heating and/or cooling assistance may be identified during or following the heating or cooling season, as the reason for the supplemental issuance may be due to circumstances including but not limited to: high energy costs; extreme weather; disasters; pandemics; excess funding; or receipt of additional funding.

For example, a supplemental payment may be issued in September (or any month of the year) for LIHEAP eligible households that received heating assistance or for LIHEAP eligible households that received cooling assistance if it identified excess funds exist. Processing and issuing the supplemental payments late in the program year allows DHHS to more easily project the number of households that will receive the
supplemental payment. These payments may be issued to either a provider or to the household. Supplemental payments are typically issued to the utility provider; however; below are some situations in which a supplemental payment would be issued to the houshold:

• The utility provider does not cooperate with DHHS in accepting payments; or,
• An economically vulnerable household's utilities are included in rent.

Regular benefits under Heating Assistance component will operate from 11/1/2024 through 3/17/2025 or until funding allocated to this benefit is exhausted, whichever comes first. Benefits under the Regular component may be extended beyond the proposed 3/17/2025 closing date if New York State receives additional funding. This Plan is based on an assumption of flat Federal funding.

NYS will offer a 1st Emergency benefit and a 2nd Emergency benefit under Winter Crisis Assistance, which will both operate from 1/2/2025 through 3/17/2025.

New York State will operate a Heating Equipment Repair and Replacement component under Crisis Assistance from 10/01/2024 through 9/30/2025, or until funding allocated to this benefit is exhausted, whichever comes first.

New York State will operate a Clean and Tune benefit under the Heating Assistance component and will operate from 10/01/2024 through 09/30/2025, or until funding allocated to this benefit is exhausted, whichever comes first.

New York State will operate a Cooling Assistance Component (CAC) from 4/15/2025 through 8/29/2025, or until funding allocated to this benefit is exhausted, whichever comes first.

Weatherization assistance in New York State is administered by the New York State Homes and Community Renewal (HCR) and the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA).

Weatherization is managed by the Oklahoma Department of Commerce and subcontracted to Community Action Agencies throughout the state.

OKDHS offers crisis, heating and cooling assistance during open enrollment periods on the dates listed above. Applications are accepted until allocated funding is encumbered. End dates above are estimates.

OKDHS accepts telephone referrals for crisis assistance year round from households with a member that has a medical condition that would be life threatening without the utility service or during extreme temperature. Regular crisis is accepted on or after March 15th to meet the crisis requirement. As a result of client feedback, the anticipated open enrollment dates for all program components have been shared on the external OKDHS website and internally on Teams with staff. The anticipated open enrollment dates are communicated in advance with participating utility
suppliers through email.

Applications for heating assistance are processed year-round by the Vermont Department for Children and Families (DCF), Economic Services Division (ESD). Applications for winter crisis assistance are processed by Vermont's five Community Action Agencies under grant agreements with ESD, beginning the last Monday in November up to and including the last business day in April, or until crisis funds are exhausted, whichever occurs first. Vermont also operates a year-round, limited-funded, crisis fuel tank replacement program for fuel tanks that have been "red- tagged," or are at imminent risk of failure. The crisis tank replacement program is operated under an interagency agreement with the Department of Environmental Conservation and a second agreement is in place with the DCF Office of Economic Opportunity.

In addition, DCF Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO) also operates under our Crisis program a year round furnace repair and replacement program. Weatherization assistance operates year round and is overseen by the DCF Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO), Weatherization Program.

LIHEAP Reg season will run from Nov. 1st thru the 15th. Applications for vulnerable households will be mailed to them Oct. 21st. The only cooling assistance for WV is with the WVDED and the weatherization and repair or replacement. starting 12/01/24.

Weatherization dates being later due to funding availability. Cooling assistance is just for a supplemental payment if necessary. The dates for weatherization coincide with the grant for Economic Development. Repair or Replace is now under Heating & cooling assistance.
 

Applications for regular seasonal heating assistance will be accepted through 3/31/2025.

Heating bill payments for approved applications are paid November 1 through May 31 for those submitting applications until the recipient exhausts their benefit amount or the season end date is reached, whichever comes first. Regular Crisis assistance is available through 04/15/2025, unless extended due to continued severe weather and/or increased fuel prices. Applications for Weatherization assistance are accepted year round. Wyoming is a cold weather state with very few months of hot weather. Wyoming does not provide Cooling assistance at this time due to long winters and limited funding. Wyoming does offer some cooling system repairs/installs via the Weatherization Assistance Program. Season begin and end dates are: Heating assistance regulated utilities (seasonal benefit) November 1, 2024 - May 31, 2025; Crisis assistance (Special Situations) October 1, 2024 - April 15, 2025 (Wyoming exercises a contingency plan allowing an extension of the Crisis season beyond 04/15 if Wyoming experiences a severe and prolonged winter season, or in the event prices for deliverable fuels increase significantly mid-season); Weatherization assistance (LIEAP WAP) October 1, 2024- September 30, 2025. Unregulated deliverable fuels heating assistance (seasonal benefit) October 1, 2024 - May 31, 2025. Wyoming uses a centralized application intake and processing procedure so having an application deadline for heating assistance applications ensures that we have enough time to follow up and process incomplete applications before the season end date. The heating assistance benefit is retroactive to the heating season start date and benefits will be paid out until the benefit is exhausted or the season end date is passed, whichever comes first. Our outreach efforts ensure that applicants and the public are aware of the heating assistance application submission deadline.