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 2026. 

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 program will 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. 

Heating Assistance is offered the first Monday after the New Year holiday and ends the last business day in April. Intake agencies have the option to begin serving priority (elderly, disabled, children under 6) households up to 30 days earlier. Crisis during the Heating Assistance period extends the full duration of the period, whereas rate reduction (Regular) households end the last business day of March.   

Cooling Assistance begins the first Monday after the July 4 holiday and ends the last business day in September. Intake agencies have the option to begin serving priority (elderly, disabled, children under 6) households up to 30 days earlier. Crisis during the Cooling Assistance period extends the full duration of the period, whereas rate reduction (Regular) households end the last business day of August. 

If LIHEAP funding significantly varies from what is estimated, AEO may increase or decrease the proposed benefit levels accordingly.  Additionally, AEO reserves the right to shorten or extend the program as well as offer supplemental benefits depending on the availability of funds, increased demand, or other factors that impact the expenditure of LIHEAP funds.  

Heating Assistance: For FFY2026, Subgrantees will begin taking applications on August 1, 2025 and will continue taking applications through May 29, 2026. 

Weatherization Assistance: Funding for the Weatherization Assistance components is made available to Subgrantees during the program year and is obligated for use through March 31, 2027 or as extended by contract. 

• 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 start 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 before the heating season begins. 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 Water, Energy, and Environment (DWEE) 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 before the cooling season begins. 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 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 exc

Supplemental payments are typically issued to the utility provider; however, below are some situations in which a supplemental payment would be issued to the household:

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

Section 1.2: DHHS utilizes 9% of available funds for administrative and planning costs; however, a portion of the funds awarded to NDEE for weatherization are for administrative costs and planning costs. Thus, a portion of the expended administrative costs are considered in the amount for weatherization.

Regular benefits under the Heating Assistance component will operate from 11/3/2025 through 4/7/2026 or until funding allocated to this benefit is exhausted, whichever comes first. Benefits under the Regular component may be extended beyond the proposed 4/7/2026 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 under Winter Crisis Assistance, which will operate from 1/2/2026 through 4/7/2026. 

New York State will operate a Cooling Assistance Component (CAC) from 4/15/2026 through 6/22/2026, or until funding allocated to this benefit is exhausted, whichever comes first. If additional funds are made available, NYS will consider the operation of Weatherization assistance, emergency Heating Equipment Repair and Replacement (HERR), and/or heating equipment Clean & Tune (C&T).

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 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.