Which income does Pennsylvania’s LIHEAP application measure, last year’s or last month’s? Whichever one you pick.
DHS gives applicants the right to choose: the household’s gross income from the month before the month you apply, converted to a yearly amount, or its gross income over the last 12 months. For a household whose hours were cut or whose job ended this year, those two figures can land on opposite sides of the income line.
The rest of the answer is shorter. The 2026-27 LIHEAP season is scheduled to open Monday, Nov. 2, 2026, and the state’s 2026-27 fact sheet runs it through Friday, Apr. 23, 2027. If you got LIHEAP last season, watch for a postcard with a registration number that lets you apply before Nov. 2. Everyone else applies on or after Nov. 2.
You qualify if your household’s gross yearly income is at or under DHS’s current limit, $23,940 for one person or $49,500 for four, whether you rent or own. The cash grant is $200 to $1,000, one per season, sent to your utility or fuel company as a credit on your bill, and you don’t pay it back. Your county, fuel, income and household size set the amount, and you can look it up in DHS’s benefit table.
Crisis help is a separate grant of up to $1,000 a season for households that are without heat or within 15 days of it, and it has to be arranged through your County Assistance Office before the delivery or repair.
Household Size, Gross Income and the Month You Choose
Start with who lives with you. DHS counts everyone in the home: all children and adults, relatives rooming there, and unrelated people who share household expenses. Their income counts too.
Then compare the household’s gross income, before taxes, with the line for its size.
| People in the household | Gross yearly income at or under |
|---|---|
| 1 | $23,940 |
| 2 | $32,460 |
| 3 | $40,980 |
| 4 | $49,500 |
| 5 | $58,020 |
| 6 | $66,540 |
| Each additional person | +$8,520 (10 people: $100,620) |
Renters and homeowners both qualify, and you don’t need an unpaid heating bill or another benefit to apply. What counts as income, and how heat included in your rent or subsidized housing is handled, are spelled out on DHS’s LIHEAP application page.
Now the choice from the top of this page. You can use your gross income from the month before the month you apply, multiplied out to a yearly amount, or your income over the last 12 months. Either figure is compared with the same line, and the lower one can make you eligible or raise your grant.
Here’s a hypothetical, not a real applicant. One person in Philadelphia who heats with natural gas worked full time until August 2026. Gross income from November 2025 through October 2026 came to $27,600, over the $23,940 line for one person. October’s income, from unemployment benefits, was $1,000. Applying in November with the one-month option, that’s $1,000 × 12 = $12,000, under the line. In the Philadelphia gas table DHS showed on Oct. 24, 2026, the $12,000–12,999 band for one person reads $232.
The one-month option helps only when last month’s income, times 12, comes in below your 12-month total. If last month ran higher than that, the 12-month figure is the lower of the two.
I wouldn’t fill in this part on autopilot with last year’s total. Work out both figures first, because the lower one decides whether you qualify and which row of the benefit table you read.
$200 to $1,000, Set by Four Things You Can Look Up
Pennsylvania pays one cash grant per season, from a $200 minimum to a $1,000 maximum. It goes to your utility or fuel company as a credit on your bill, not to you as a check, and it isn’t repaid.
Four inputs set it: your county, which places you in a heating region, the fuel you heat with, your household income and your household size. DHS publishes the combinations in its LIHEAP benefit amount table. To find your number:
- Choose your county and the fuel you heat with. If you aren’t sure which fuel type applies, your utility or fuel company can tell you.
- Find the row for your yearly income band, using the income period you chose above.
- Read across to your household size. That amount is your estimate.
Keep two limits in mind. The table carries no season label, so until DHS updates it, it may still show last season’s amounts; check it again after Nov. 2. And the official amount comes with DHS’s decision on your application.
A hypothetical family of four in Philadelphia that heats with natural gas shows how the lookup works. At $9,500 a year, the $9,000–9,999 band shows $358. At $30,000, the family is well under its $49,500 line but above the table’s last row, $22,999. DHS’s minimum cash grant is $200, so an eligible household above that last row can expect the $200 minimum.
In five of DHS’s tables checked on Oct. 24, 2026 (Philadelphia gas, Allegheny electric, Allegheny gas, Erie fuel oil and Lancaster propane), income moved the amount far more than household size did. The $1,000 maximum appeared only in the lowest bands, which ended between $1,999 and $4,999 a year for one person.
Amounts reached the $200 floor somewhere between $13,000 and $16,999 of yearly income, depending on the table. An extra person added only a few dollars: in the Philadelphia gas table, the $8,000–8,999 band shows $400 for one person and $410 for four.
So there’s no single income at which every Pennsylvania household drops to $200. Your county and fuel move that point, and they move the amount at the same income too. Take one hypothetical person earning $9,500 a year: Erie fuel oil shows $483, Philadelphia gas $349, Allegheny electric $336, Allegheny gas $332 and Lancaster propane $319.
There’s no average grant worth planning around. Your own cell in your own county-and-fuel table is the estimate.
Where to Apply, and Who Can Start Before Nov. 2
If your household got LIHEAP last season, the state’s 2026-27 fact sheet says to watch for a 2026-27 application or a COMPASS postcard with a registration number. That number lets you apply before Nov. 2.
Everyone else requests an application on or after Nov. 2, in one of three ways: online through COMPASS, through your County Assistance Office by phone or in person, or by calling the LIHEAP helpline at 1-866-857-7095.
Last season’s grant doesn’t carry over. You must apply every year, and after you apply you can follow the application at trackmybenefits.pa.gov.
If you received a $100 payment in July or August 2026, the fact sheet says it came from last season’s funds and doesn’t affect your 2026-27 eligibility. Dates and amounts on this page are DHS’s as of late October 2026.
Within 15 Days of No Heat, the County Office Comes First
The crisis grant is separate from the cash grant. It pays $25 up to $1,000 per season; more than one emergency is allowed, but together they’re capped at $1,000. The amount is whatever resolves the emergency, such as stopping a shutoff or one tank fill.
You qualify for crisis help only if the household is without heat or within 15 days of it. DHS lists three situations:
- Fuel running out, with less than a 15-day supply left
- A shutoff, or a shutoff notice, on your main or secondary heat source
- Broken heating equipment or leaking lines
How you ask matters as much as whether you qualify. Request crisis help through your County Assistance Office, not the fuel company. The office must authorize the vendor before the delivery or repair, and crisis won’t pay for a delivery the office didn’t authorize or for an emergency that’s already been resolved.
Any fuel credit left from your cash grant is used first. On automatic delivery? Call the office before the scheduled delivery solves the emergency, because once it does, there’s no crisis left for the grant to pay.
Already applied for cash this season? You don’t need a new application unless you moved or someone moved in. Haven’t applied? You have to apply for LIHEAP to be considered. DHS says benefits come within 10 business days, or sooner for a life-threatening crisis.
Picture a hypothetical household on delivered oil whose cash grant is already a credit on its fuel account. That credit is used first. If the tank would still be under a 15-day supply, the office can authorize a crisis amount for one fill, and every crisis authorization that season counts toward the same $1,000 cap, which sits on top of the cash grant rather than inside it.
When you call, have the details ready:
“Our household heats with [heating oil / propane / natural gas / electricity] from [company]. We have [less than a 15-day supply / a shutoff notice dated (date) / a heater that stopped working]. We [applied for LIHEAP cash on (date) / haven’t applied yet this season]. Can you authorize a crisis grant with our vendor before the delivery or repair, and what else do you need from us?”
Weatherization can include heater repair, so ask the County Assistance Office about it too. Utility assistance programs and hardship funds, such as the $1 Energy Fund outside Philadelphia and UESF in Philadelphia, have their own rules, listed on DHS’s LIHEAP page.
The Date You Call Matters as Much as the Amount
Two dates do most of the work in this program. The month you apply decides which month’s income the one-month option measures, so if your income just dropped, run both figures in the week you apply.
If a postcard with a registration number is already in your mail, you can apply now; otherwise, Nov. 2 is your first day. Then open the benefit table for your county and fuel and find your cell, knowing the number may change once DHS updates the table.
If the phone or internet bill is squeezing the same budget, a separate federal program covers that one. Here’s who qualifies for the Lifeline phone and internet discount in 2026.
And if the tank gauge or a shutoff notice puts you inside 15 days, call the County Assistance Office first. A crisis grant pays for the delivery the office approved ahead of time, not the one already in your tank.
Sources: Pennsylvania DHS, Apply for LIHEAP and Apply for Home Heating and Energy Assistance; the DHS LIHEAP Benefit Amount Table; the state’s 2026-27 LIHEAP fact sheet for heating vendors. Checked Oct. 24, 2026. The households in the examples are hypothetical, not real applicants, and their amounts come from the tables DHS showed on that date.