Kentucky Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program

Kentucky Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program

At a glance

This page is now a historical reference. The official FY 2025-2026 fact sheet confirms the dates above, and the most recent official materials reviewed do not publish a statewide FY 2026-2027 application opening or closing date. Do not treat the March 27, 2026 deadline as a live deadline. A household seeking help for a new cycle should contact the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services or its local Community Action Agency and ask whether a new component has opened.

What Kentucky LIHEAP covers

Kentucky LIHEAP is federally funded home-energy assistance administered by the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services. The Cabinet distributes the program through Community Action Kentucky and local agencies. The state describes LIHEAP as help with home heating and cooling needs, but the verified FY 2025-2026 fact sheet reviewed for this update describes two operating components: Subsidy and Crisis. A summer cooling component may be offered when additional federal or state funding is available; that possibility is not proof that a cooling round is open.

The Subsidy component provides a one-time seasonal payment for an eligible household’s primary heating fuel. It is not a standard cash payment to spend on unrelated bills. The benefit is issued as a voucher payable to the household’s primary heating-fuel vendor. A household may qualify even if the heating cost is included in rent, provided the cost is an undesignated part of the rent and the household meets the other requirements.

The Crisis component is for a household facing an immediate heating problem. The FY 2025-2026 fact sheet says crisis assistance can take the form of fuel delivery, service reconnection, blankets or sleeping bags, a temporary space-heater loan, or emergency shelter. The payment is directed to the energy provider, vendor, or landlord when heating is included in rent; it is not a direct cash payment to the applicant.

Verified status and dates

The official Community Action Kentucky fact sheet approved by the Cabinet lists the FY 2025-2026 Subsidy application period as November 3, 2025 through December 12, 2025. It lists the Crisis application period as January 5, 2026 through March 27, 2026. The crisis period was first-come, first-served and could end earlier if funds were depleted. Kentucky’s public notice for the crisis component also describes applications as available through March 27, 2026 or until funds were exhausted.

Those dates belong to the closed FY 2025-2026 cycle. They are retained in the front matter as the real closing date for this archive entry. They do not establish dates for the next winter season, and they should not be used to plan a new application. The state Cabinet page remains the main program information page, but it gives the recurring program rules rather than a confirmed FY 2026-2027 statewide calendar.

Who qualified in the verified cycle

The FY 2025-2026 fact sheet required household income to be at or below the published limit for household size. The listed gross monthly limits were:

The fact sheet says to add $688 for each additional household member. These figures are specific to FY 2025-2026 and may change with a future fact sheet. Kentucky’s regulation describes the base rule as gross household income at or below 130% of the federal poverty guidelines, subject to a possible Cabinet-approved change when funding permits. Use the current local agency’s table for a future cycle instead of carrying these figures forward.

The household also had to be responsible for home heating costs or pay those costs as an undesignated part of rent. The person applying needed to identify the household’s members, income sources, housing arrangement, and primary heating fuel. A household that received help in an earlier component was not automatically excluded from every later component, but each application still had to satisfy the applicable rules and funding limits.

Crisis eligibility

The crisis component added an emergency requirement to the income and heating-cost requirements. For a household using wood, coal, propane, fuel oil, or kerosene as its primary heat source, the household had to be within four days of running out of fuel. For natural gas or electric heat, the applicant needed a past-due, disconnect, termination, final, or comparable utility notice. A household on a pre-pay electric program needed documentation showing ten days or less of remaining prepaid service under the FY 2025-2026 fact sheet. If heat was included in rent, an eviction notice was required.

Kentucky’s current regulation also defines an emergency to include being without heat, facing utility disconnection within 48 hours, or being within four days of running out of bulk fuel. It sets an 18-hour resolution standard for a life-threatening situation and a 48-hour standard for an emergency after the agency receives the necessary information. Those standards describe agency benefit authorization and crisis response; they do not turn a closed application period into an open one.

How much assistance was available

There was no single statewide subsidy amount that every household received. The FY 2025-2026 fact sheet says the Subsidy benefit depended on the household’s poverty level and the type of heating fuel. Households with the lowest incomes using fuel with the highest seasonal heating cost received the highest benefits. The payment went to the primary heating-fuel vendor.

Crisis assistance was limited to the minimum amount necessary to relieve the crisis and could not exceed the maximum allowed by Kentucky regulation. Depending on the situation, the remedy could be fuel, reconnection, a temporary heater, blankets or sleeping bags, emergency lodging, or another listed emergency resource. The regulation identifies maximum crisis quantities of up to two tons of coal, two cords of wood, 200 gallons of propane, 200 gallons of fuel oil, 200 gallons of kerosene, or $400 for natural gas or electric service, unless funding or a Cabinet decision changes the applicable amount. These are caps or forms of assistance, not a guaranteed award.

Documents to prepare

For the verified cycle, the official fact sheet instructed applicants to bring:

• Proof of Social Security number or a Permanent Resident Card for every household member.
• Proof of all household members’ income from the preceding month.
• The most current heating bill, or a statement from the landlord if heating costs were included in rent.
• The account number and account name for the main heating fuel source and electric service.

Crisis applicants needed extra evidence tied to the emergency. For natural gas or electric service, that meant a disconnect, past-due, termination, final, or comparable notice, or a utility arrearage payment-plan balance. A pre-pay electric customer needed a utility statement showing ten days or less of remaining service. A household whose rent included heat needed a lease and eviction notice. The local agency could request clarification or additional information, so applicants should keep copies of everything submitted.

How to apply when a new component opens

Kentucky does not use one universal statewide form for the local intake described in the FY 2025-2026 fact sheet. Applications were taken at local Community Action Agency offices or designated sites in each county. When the next component is announced, use the Cabinet or Community Action Kentucky information route to identify the agency serving the household’s county.

1. Call the local Community Action Agency or 1-800-456-3452 and ask which LIHEAP component is open.
2. Confirm the filing dates, county intake location, appointment or walk-in rules, and the current income table.
3. Explain whether the request is a routine subsidy or an active crisis. If there is a disconnect notice, low fuel supply, prepaid-service risk, or eviction notice tied to rent-included heat, say so at the beginning of the call.
4. Gather identity or residency documents, preceding-month income proof, the current heating bill, account information, and any crisis notice before the appointment.
5. Submit the complete packet to the local agency and ask what follow-up deadline applies if a document is missing.
6. Keep the intake confirmation and contact the agency or energy vendor if a shutoff is still pending.

An applicant who cannot apply in person should ask the local agency about a designated representative or another arrangement. The FY 2025-2026 fact sheet states that a representative who is not the head of household or spouse needed a signed authorization. Only one person from each household should apply for the same component.

What happens after approval

Subsidy assistance is issued to the primary heating-fuel vendor. Crisis assistance is arranged with the energy provider, fuel vendor, landlord, or emergency-resource provider, depending on what resolves the problem. Because LIHEAP is not a general cash grant, the household should confirm with the utility or vendor how the payment, reconnection, or fuel delivery will appear.

If the case is incomplete, respond quickly to the local worker’s request. Kentucky’s regulation gives an applicant five working days from the application date to provide required information or the application may be denied. If assistance is denied or the agency does not act within the applicable time standards, ask the agency for the administrative review and appeal instructions. Keep the denial reason in writing so missing documents or an incorrect household detail can be addressed.

Official sources reviewed

• Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services LIHEAP page
• Community Action Kentucky FY 2025-2026 LIHEAP fact sheet
• Kentucky Administrative Regulation 921 KAR 4:116

The Cabinet page and the state regulation describe the standing program rules. The Cabinet-approved fact sheet supplies the verified FY 2025-2026 dates, income table, document list, and benefit descriptions. The next statewide cycle should be treated as unannounced until an updated official notice or fact sheet is published.