Indiana Heating Assistance: Energy Assistance Program

Q: What is heating assistance called in Indiana?

Indiana runs the federal program as Energy Assistance Program, administered by Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority. 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 Indiana actually needs.

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

Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority sets a separate rule on that, and its short form is: Once the household files, Dec 1 to Mar 15. In several states the two are linked, because receiving assistance is itself what switches the disconnection protection on. The winter shutoff page for Indiana carries the rule.

Q: Is there help making the house cheaper to heat in Indiana?

Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority runs Weatherization Assistance Program, which is the companion to the bill payment side. Its own words: "The Weatherization Program can serve clients whose household incomes are up to 200% of the federal poverty level or who are deemed eligible for the Energy Assistance Program (EAP), and who have homes that are safe to weatherize."

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

Both, in the way that matters to a household. The money is a federal block grant; Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority 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.

Energy Assistance Program

What it is called here

Energy Assistance Program

Ask locally

The season

Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority publishes no fixed opening date

60%

The income limit

of state median income

Yes

Crisis component

a separate, faster application

The answer

Heating assistance in Indiana, in one screen

Energy Assistance Program

Run by: Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority
The season: Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority publishes no fixed opening date for the season.
The income test: The test is 60 percent of the state median income or less, measured on the most recent three months of income., measured against the state median income, so the qualifying figure moves with what households in that state actually earn.
How to apply: Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority takes applications online, local service provider, in person appointment, by mail and drop off.
By phone: 317-232-7777

Energy Assistance Program (EAP), Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority

The Energy Assistance Program (EAP) can help you pay your heat and electric bills! EAP provides a one-time annual benefit that can assist you with the high cost of home energy and can help if you are disconnected or are about to get disconnected.

Energy Assistance Program (EAP), Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source

The authority describes a one time annual benefit paid straight to the utility vendor rather than to the household, and says it will not cover a year of heat and electricity. Applications go through 24 Community Action Agencies acting as local service providers. As read on this date the authority's page says the 2025-2026 application closed on April 20, 2026 at 5:00 PM Eastern and the portal reopens in fall of 2026, without naming the reopening date.

Who qualifies

The Energy Assistance Program income test in Indiana

The test is 60 percent of the state median income or less, measured on the most recent three months of income., 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.

Indiana households that make 60% of the state median income (60 SMI) or less may qualify for these benefits. See below for a detailed breakdown of income qualifications. Income eligibility is based on the most recent three months of income.

Energy Assistance Program (EAP), Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source

If you cannot wait

The crisis route in Indiana

A household with a disconnection notice, already disconnected, or within ten days of running out of bulk fuel tells its local service provider, which must take a mitigating action within 48 hours, or within 18 hours when a documented medical need makes it life threatening.

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.

When a heating crisis situation exists (defined as when a utility disconnection notice has been received, utility has already been disconnected, propane or fuel oil at or below 25% of a tank, or within 10 days of running out of other bulk deliverable fuel), LSPs must provide a mitigating action within 48 hours.

Energy Assistance Program (EAP), Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority, 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 Indiana also stops the utility disconnecting

Once the household files, Dec 1 to Mar 15

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 Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority’s own words, is on the Indiana winter shutoff page.

Next winter

Making the house cheaper to heat in Indiana

Indiana runs Weatherization Assistance Program. 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 Program can serve clients whose household incomes are up to 200% of the federal poverty level or who are deemed eligible for the Energy Assistance Program (EAP), and who have homes that are safe to weatherize.

Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source

Weatherization Assistance Program in Indiana

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.

Indiana heating assistance questions

What is heating assistance called in Indiana?

When can a household apply for heating assistance in Indiana?

Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority publishes no fixed opening date for the season. That is the date as the agency describes it rather than a fixed calendar day. The agency's own words: "The Energy Assistance Program (EAP) can help you pay your heat and electric bills! EAP provides a one-time annual benefit that can assist you with the high cost of home energy and can help if you are disconnected or are about to get disconnected."

What is the income limit for Energy Assistance Program in Indiana?

The test is 60 percent of the state median income or less, measured on the most recent three months of income., measured against the state median income, so the qualifying figure moves with what households in that state actually earn. Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority puts it this way: "Indiana households that make 60% of the state median income (60 SMI) or less may qualify for these benefits. See below for a detailed breakdown of income qualifications. Income eligibility is based on the most recent three months of income."

How does a household apply in Indiana?

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

A household with a disconnection notice, already disconnected, or within ten days of running out of bulk fuel tells its local service provider, which must take a mitigating action within 48 hours, or within 18 hours when a documented medical need makes it life threatening. The agency's own words: "When a heating crisis situation exists (defined as when a utility disconnection notice has been received, utility has already been disconnected, propane or fuel oil at or below 25% of a tank, or within 10 days of running out of other bulk deliverable fuel), LSPs must provide a mitigating action within 48 hours."

Does Indiana also stop a utility disconnecting heat in winter?

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

Is heating assistance in Indiana 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

Indiana winter shutoff rulesWhether Indiana 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.

Indiana read September 23, 2026 from Energy Assistance Program (EAP), Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority, 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.