Delaware Heating Assistance: DEAP

Q: What is heating assistance called in Delaware?

Delaware runs the federal program as Delaware Energy Assistance Program (DEAP), administered by Division of Social Services. 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 Delaware actually needs.

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

Applications run October 1 to March 31. The agency's own words: "Low-income Delaware households may be eligible for help with energy costs to warm or cool their homes, especially during extreme weather, through the Delaware Energy Assistance Program (DEAP)."

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

Delaware Public Service Commission sets a separate rule on that, and its short form is: At or below 35F. In several states the two are linked, because receiving assistance is itself what switches the disconnection protection on. The winter shutoff page for Delaware carries the rule.

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

Both, in the way that matters to a household. The money is a federal block grant; Division of Social Services 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.

DEAP

What it is called here

Delaware Energy Assistance Program (DEAP)

Oct 1

The season opens

through Mar 31

60%

The income limit

of state median income

Yes

Crisis component

a separate, faster application

The answer

Heating assistance in Delaware, in one screen

DEAP

Delaware Energy Assistance Program (DEAP)

Run by: Division of Social Services, Delaware Health and Social Services
The season: Applications run October 1 to March 31.
The income test: The test is household income at or below 60 percent of Delaware's state median income, counted after federal and local taxes, measured against the state median income, so the qualifying figure moves with what households in that state actually earn.
How to apply: Division of Social Services takes applications online through the assist self-service portal, by phone or in person through catholic charities, diocese of wilmington and by phone or in person through first state community action agency.
By phone: 302-255-9875

Utility Assistance, Division of Social Services, Delaware Health and Social Services

Low-income Delaware households may be eligible for help with energy costs to warm or cool their homes, especially during extreme weather, through the Delaware Energy Assistance Program (DEAP).

Utility Assistance, Division of Social Services, Delaware Health and Social Services, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source

The Division calls the program supplemental and prints no benefit figure: it says the help can greatly reduce household energy expenses but may not cover all heating or cooling costs. Electricity, natural gas, oil, kerosene, propane, coal and wood all count as heating sources.

Who qualifies

The DEAP income test in Delaware

The test is household income at or below 60 percent of Delaware's state median income, counted after federal and local taxes, 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.

Eligibility is based on income, capped at 60% of Delaware's State Median Income (SMI) after federal and local taxes.

Utility Assistance, Division of Social Services, Delaware Health and Social Services, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source

If you cannot wait

The crisis route in Delaware

Crisis Assistance runs all year for a household holding a shutoff notice, sitting at or below a tenth of a tank of fuel, or carrying a past due energy bill, and it can be used on top of the winter heating benefit.

A crisis application and a regular one are different transactions on different clocks. A household with a disconnection notice, an empty tank or a dead furnace should start with this one, say plainly on the call what the emergency is, and have the notice or the delivery ticket to hand.

Provides emergency help for households experiencing: A utility shut-off or disconnection notice, Fuel tank level at or below 10%, Past-due energy bills

Utility Assistance, Division of Social Services, Delaware Health and Social Services, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source

A white residential propane tank standing on a concrete pad beside a mown yard, with bare trees and a wooded ridge behind it — For a household on propane or heating oil the benefit usually arrives as a delivery to a tank like this one rather than as a credit on a bill, which is why a state that pays vendors directly will ask which dealer you use before it asks anything else. “Propane Tank - panoramio”, Corey Coyle, CC BY 3.0

The other half

Whether Delaware also stops the utility disconnecting

At or below 35F

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 Delaware Public Service Commission’s own words, is on the Delaware winter shutoff page.

Next winter

Making the house cheaper to heat in Delaware

Delaware runs Weatherization Assistance Program through Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, Division of Climate, Coastal and Energy. 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.

The Weatherization Assistance Program operates throughout the year and is a statewide program overseen by the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, and administered by local agencies working under contract to DNREC's Division of Climate, Coastal and Energy.

Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, Division of Climate, Coastal and Energy, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source

Weatherization Assistance Program in Delaware

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.

Delaware heating assistance questions

What is heating assistance called in Delaware?

When can a household apply for heating assistance in Delaware?

What is the income limit for DEAP in Delaware?

The test is household income at or below 60 percent of Delaware's state median income, counted after federal and local taxes, measured against the state median income, so the qualifying figure moves with what households in that state actually earn. Division of Social Services puts it this way: "Eligibility is based on income, capped at 60% of Delaware's State Median Income (SMI) after federal and local taxes."

How does a household apply in Delaware?

What happens if the heat is about to go off this week in Delaware?

Does Delaware also stop a utility disconnecting heat in winter?

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

Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, Division of Climate, Coastal and Energy runs Weatherization Assistance Program, which is the companion to the bill payment side. Its own words: "The Weatherization Assistance Program operates throughout the year and is a statewide program overseen by the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, and administered by local agencies working under contract to DNREC's Division of Climate, Coastal and Energy."

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

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

Delaware winter shutoff rulesWhether Delaware 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.

Delaware read September 23, 2026 from Utility Assistance, Division of Social Services, Delaware Health and Social Services, 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.