How Florida's LIHEAP program works — a guide to getting help with cooling and heating bills
In most states, energy assistance means heating help. Florida is different: the electric bill that gets hardest to pay is usually the summer one, when air conditioning runs day and night. LIHEAP, the federal Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, covers both cooling and heating here, and help is available in every season as funding allows. This page covers what the LIHEAP benefit provides, the EHEAP emergency benefit available only to households with at least one resident age 60 or older, and the free home weatherization that can be combined with either program.
FloridaCommerce, the state's Department of Commerce, runs these programs through local provider agencies in every county, mostly community action agencies and county human services offices. When you are approved, the payment goes directly to your utility company as a credit on your account.
- SCAM WARNING: Scammers copy Florida LIHEAP’s legitimate text‑message outreach, but the real program never charges fees, never asks for bank or card numbers, and never collects documents through a link. Applications only go through FloridaLIHEAP.com or your local provider, so any message pressuring you to pay or share account details is fake.
What the money can pay for
LIHEAP funds can go toward electric, natural gas, propane, wood, coal, or other refillable fuel costs for cooling or heating your home, including the taxes on the bill. The money can cover a past-due balance, and it can also pay deposits and fees to start, connect, or restore service, along with late fees and disconnection fees. It cannot pay for water, sewer, internet, or phone service. One limit to know: gas or propane bills are covered only in the cool months and only if that fuel is your main source of heat. A propane tank that just runs the stove or water heater is not covered.
The Home Energy award helps with the regular bill
The basic LIHEAP benefit is a once-a-year credit toward your energy bill. How much your household gets depends on how many people live in the home, your gross income for the past month, and whether the household includes anyone elderly, any children, or a person with a disability. Eligibility for this award resets one year after your last one, and the amounts depend on the funding available in your county. Keep paying whatever you can on the bill while your application is reviewed, since the award is not guaranteed and takes time to process.
The Crisis award can stop a shutoff or turn the power back on
If your service has been disconnected or you have a disconnection warning in hand, apply for the Crisis award. It pays the amount needed to fix the emergency, such as restoring your service, up to a yearly limit per household. Unlike the Home Energy award, a household can receive Crisis help more than once in a program year, and eligibility resets each fall when the new federal program year begins.
Read your approval carefully, because if you owe the utility more than the award covers, you may have to pay the difference before the company restores your power. If the situation is life-threatening, call 911, and dial 211 to find other agencies that can help while your application is processed.
Who qualifies, including some rules people miss
Your household qualifies on income if the gross total for the past thirty days is at or below the limit for your household size, which Florida sets at 60 percent of the state median income or 150 percent of the federal poverty level. There is a second option many people never hear about: if your household receives SNAP, TANF, or SSI, you already meet the income test. Renters qualify as long as they are responsible for the energy bill, even when the bill is in someone else's name, by showing a lease or a note from the landlord about how utilities are paid.
Two more rules matter to families. Only one member of the household needs to be a U.S. citizen, permanent resident, or other qualified immigration status, so a mixed-status household can still apply, though income for everyone in the home must be reported. And unemployment compensation does not count as income in Florida's LIHEAP calculation, which helps people who just lost a job and assume the benefits will disqualify them.
Three ways to apply
Florida now has an official statewide online application at https://floridaliheap.com/relief_program, run by FloridaCommerce with a company called Promise, and online applications are processed fastest. You can instead download a paper application from that site in English, Spanish, or Haitian Creole and mail it to your local provider, or go through the provider directly if you need help completing it. FloridaCommerce keeps a provider directory on its website at https://floridajobs.org/community-development/Low-Income-Home-Energy-Assistance-Program/find-your-local-low-income-home-energy-assistance-program-provider-for-help, and your local community action agency in Florida is usually the place that handles it for your county.
Gather this information before you start: names, birth dates, and Social Security numbers for everyone in the home, income documents showing last month's gross pay for every member, photo identification for the applicant only, proof of citizenship or immigration status, your most recent energy bill with the account number visible, and the disconnection notice if you have one.
If no one in the home earned income last month, a signed statement saying so takes the place of pay documents. Reviews can take up to fifteen business days, and your local provider makes the decision and notifies you.
EHEAP is the emergency program for households with someone 60 or older
Florida runs a separate LIHEAP fund for elders called the Emergency Home Energy Assistance for the Elderly Program. It is handled by the Department of Elder Affairs through the Area Agencies on Aging rather than the regular LIHEAP providers. If at least one person in the home is 60 or older and there is an energy emergency, such as a past-due bill, a shutoff notice, or an empty fuel tank, EHEAP can pay the utility company or fuel supplier directly.
The bill does not need to be in the elder's name; proof that the elder lives there is enough. Households can receive this emergency help more than once in a program year up to a state limit, covering electricity, natural gas, propane, fuel oil, kerosene, or wood, and in some areas the program also provides items like fans and blankets. Call the statewide Elder Helpline at 1-800-963-5337 or your Area Agency on Aging to apply - and see the NHPB page that covers other Florida senior citizen focused assistance programs.
Weatherization cuts the bill permanently instead of paying it once
The Weatherization Assistance Program takes a different approach: free improvements to the home so every future bill is smaller. In Florida the work leans toward cooling. Crews can add attic insulation and attic ventilation, seal air leaks with caulking and weather stripping, install solar screens, put reflective coating on manufactured homes, replace failing doors and windows, and repair or replace inefficient air conditioning units and water heaters.
Weatherization has its own income limit, set at 200 percent of the federal poverty level, which is more generous than the LIHEAP cutoff, so a household denied LIHEAP on income can still qualify here. Preference goes to people 60 and older, people with physical disabilities, families with children under 12, and homes with repeated high bills. FloridaCommerce funds the program with federal Department of Energy money and runs it through local agencies, and you apply through your local weatherization office rather than online. Renters can be served with the property owner's cooperation.
How to tell real program outreach from a scam
Florida's program does something unusual: FloridaCommerce and its partner Promise sometimes send text messages to households identified as likely eligible, asking if they want the assistance. Scammers imitate exactly this kind of message. The real program never charges a fee to apply or to move you up the list, never asks for your bank account or card number, and never takes your documents through a link in a text.
Applications and documents go only through FloridaLIHEAP.com or your local provider agency. If a message pressures you to pay anything or share account numbers, it is a fake, and you can check any claim by contacting your county's provider directly.
Related Content From Needhelppayingbills.com
|
Need help navigating programs?