Arkansas Heating Assistance: LIHEAP

Q: What is heating assistance called in Arkansas?

Arkansas runs the federal program as Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), administered by Arkansas Energy Office. 18 different program names appear across the states compiled here, which is why a search for the federal acronym often misses the page a household in Arkansas actually needs.

Q: When can a household apply for heating assistance in Arkansas?

Applications close April 30. That is the date as the agency describes it rather than a fixed calendar day. The agency's own words: "LIHEAP applications are accepted through the CBOs on a first-come, first served basis typically from January to April 30 and from July to September 30 of each year."

Q: Does Arkansas also stop a utility disconnecting heat in winter?

Arkansas Public Service Commission sets a separate rule on that, and its short form is: At or below 32F. In several states the two are linked, because receiving assistance is itself what switches the disconnection protection on. The winter shutoff page for Arkansas carries the rule.

Q: Is heating assistance in Arkansas a state program or a federal one?

Both, in the way that matters to a household. The money is a federal block grant; Arkansas Energy Office decides what it is called, when it opens, who is eligible and what it pays. Across the states compiled here that produces 18 program names and 8 different opening months, so the answer is a state answer even though the funding is federal.

Q: Where does Arkansas publish its own heating assistance rules?

On Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), Arkansas Energy Office, which is the page every figure here was read from. Arkansas Energy Office is the agency to go back to when a date or a threshold changes, because a state can move either between program years.

LIHEAP

What it is called here

Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP)

Ask locally

The season

Arkansas Energy Office publishes no fixed opening date

Set locally

The income limit

the agency publishes a rule rather than a figure

Not separate

Crisis component

the one application covers an emergency

The answer

Heating assistance in Arkansas, in one screen

LIHEAP

Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP)

Run by: Arkansas Energy Office, Arkansas Department of Energy and Environment
The season: Applications close April 30.
The income test: The test is a maximum monthly countable income set by household size on the Energy Office's own chart, drawn from the state median income for households of one to seven and from the federal poverty guidelines for eight or more, measured against the state median income, so the qualifying figure moves with what households in that state actually earn.
How to apply: Arkansas Energy Office takes applications community-based organization.
By phone: 888-233-0326

Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), Arkansas Energy Office

LIHEAP applications are accepted through the CBOs on a first-come, first served basis typically from January to April 30 and from July to September 30 of each year.

Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), Arkansas Energy Office, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source

The winter heating round runs late in Arkansas: the Energy Office says applications are typically taken from January to April 30, with a second summer cooling round from July to September 30, first come first served, and the office itself takes no applications.

Who qualifies

The LIHEAP income test in Arkansas

The test is a maximum monthly countable income set by household size on the Energy Office's own chart, drawn from the state median income for households of one to seven and from the federal poverty guidelines for eight or more, measured against the state median income, so the qualifying figure moves with what households in that state actually earn.

Income is counted gross rather than after tax, and the household is everyone living at the address rather than everyone on the lease. Most states count the last thirty days or the last twelve months, not last year’s tax return, which means a household whose hours were cut in October can qualify in November on a year that looks too high on paper. Apply and let the agency do the arithmetic rather than ruling yourself out.

Check to see if the TOTAL income for all household members is at or below the maximum monthly income limit.

Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), Arkansas Energy Office, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source

The other half

Whether Arkansas also stops the utility disconnecting

At or below 32F

The two are separate: a heating grant is money and a shutoff rule is a restriction on the company. In several states an approved grant application is itself what satisfies the filing the shutoff rule asks for, which makes applying worth doing even for a household that thinks the grant will not cover much. The full rule, with Arkansas Public Service Commission’s own words, is on the Arkansas winter shutoff page.

Next winter

Making the house cheaper to heat in Arkansas

Arkansas runs Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP). It pays for the insulation and the air sealing rather than the bill, which is the only part of this that lowers next winter as well as this one.

Households with incomes that do not exceed 200% of Federal Poverty Guidelines may be eligible for the Weatherization Assistance Program. In addition, households are categorically eligible if they (1) have a member receiving SSI or (2) are receiving or eligible for LIHEAP benefits.

Arkansas Energy Office, Arkansas Department of Energy and Environment, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source

Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP) in Arkansas

In most states a household approved for the heating grant is automatically income eligible for weatherization, so the same paperwork does both. The waiting list is usually long and the work is usually free, which is a combination worth joining early rather than in the week it is needed.

Arkansas heating assistance questions

What is heating assistance called in Arkansas?

When can a household apply for heating assistance in Arkansas?

What is the income limit for LIHEAP in Arkansas?

The test is a maximum monthly countable income set by household size on the Energy Office's own chart, drawn from the state median income for households of one to seven and from the federal poverty guidelines for eight or more, measured against the state median income, so the qualifying figure moves with what households in that state actually earn. Arkansas Energy Office puts it this way: "Check to see if the TOTAL income for all household members is at or below the maximum monthly income limit."

How does a household apply in Arkansas?

Does Arkansas also stop a utility disconnecting heat in winter?

Is there help making the house cheaper to heat in Arkansas?

Arkansas Energy Office, Arkansas Department of Energy and Environment runs Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP), which is the companion to the bill payment side. Its own words: "Households with incomes that do not exceed 200% of Federal Poverty Guidelines may be eligible for the Weatherization Assistance Program. In addition, households are categorically eligible if they (1) have a member receiving SSI or (2) are receiving or eligible for LIHEAP benefits."

Is heating assistance in Arkansas a state program or a federal one?

Where does Arkansas publish its own heating assistance rules?

Icicles hanging in a row from the eaves of a low brick apartment building against a clear blue sky, with a balcony rail at the right edge — A renter whose heat is bundled into the rent can still qualify in most states, and is among the least likely to apply. Where a state sets its income test against the federal poverty level rather than state median income, the line can sit twenty points apart for the same household. “Icicles on the eaves of a house in Quebec City”, Wilfredor, CC0

Heating assistance in other states

Arkansas winter shutoff rulesWhether Arkansas bars a winter disconnection, and what a household has to do.Winter shutoff rules by stateWhether a window, a forecast or a filing decides it where you live.Heating oil and propane pricesWhat the fuel costs this week in the states that report it.Firewood cutting permitsWhere a permit lets a household cut its own firewood.Heating assistance in every stateThe program names, the opening dates and the income tests side by side.

Arkansas read September 23, 2026 from Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), Arkansas Energy Office, linked above. Opening dates, income limits and benefit amounts are set each program year and the agency can change them mid season, so the page linked above is the one that governs. Every state is on the heating assistance hub.