Mississippi calls it LIHEAP

Mississippi Heating Assistance: LIHEAP

Q: What is heating assistance called in Mississippi?

Mississippi runs the federal program as Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), administered by Mississippi Department of Human 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 Mississippi actually needs.

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

Mississippi Public Service Commission sets a separate rule on that, and its short form is: Once the household files, Dec 1 to Apr 1. In several states the two are linked, because receiving assistance is itself what switches the disconnection protection on. The winter shutoff page for Mississippi carries the rule.

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

Both, in the way that matters to a household. The money is a federal block grant; Mississippi Department of Human 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.

Mississippi Department of Human Services, Division of Community Services runs the federal heating grant in Mississippi. Mississippi Department of Human Services publishes no fixed opening date for the season. Mississippi Department of Human Services takes applications online pre-application through the common web portal on access ms and in person appointment at the county community action agency.

LIHEAP

What it is called here

Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP)

Ask locally

The season

Mississippi Department of Human Services 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 Mississippi, in one screen

LIHEAP

Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP)

Run by: Mississippi Department of Human Services, Division of Community Services
The season: Mississippi Department of Human Services publishes no fixed opening date for the season.
The income test: The test is household income at or below 60 percent of the state median income for the household size, measured against the state median income, so the qualifying figure moves with what households in that state actually earn.
How to apply: Mississippi Department of Human Services takes applications online pre-application through the common web portal on access ms and in person appointment at the county community action agency.
By phone: 1-800-421-0762

Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, Mississippi Department of Human Services

LIHEAP is offered in each of the 82 counties in Mississippi, pending the availability of funds. Vulnerable households receive the greatest priority among families who qualify for services.

Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, Mississippi Department of Human Services, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source

The state takes a pre-application year round and routes it to the county Community Action Agency, which schedules the in person appointment; funding is limited and vulnerable households are served first.

Who qualifies

The LIHEAP income test in Mississippi

The test is household income at or below 60 percent of the state median income for the household size, 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.

Has a household income at or below the 60% of the state median income for their household size

Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, Mississippi Department of Human Services, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source

If you cannot wait

The crisis route in Mississippi

The Energy Crisis Intervention Program is the emergency side of LIHEAP and covers natural gas, wood, electricity and propane.

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.

Households may qualify for regular LIHEAP assistance and/or the emergency Energy Crisis Intervention Program (ECIP) for natural gas, wood, electricity, liquid propane/butane gas and other energy-related services.

Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, Mississippi Department of Human 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 Mississippi also stops the utility disconnecting

Once the household files, Dec 1 to Apr 1

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

Next winter

Making the house cheaper to heat in Mississippi

Mississippi 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.

The Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP) improves the energy performance of people's home to reduce their monthly energy costs.

Mississippi Department of Human Services, Division of Community Services, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source

Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP) in Mississippi

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.

Mississippi heating assistance questions

What is heating assistance called in Mississippi?

When can a household apply for heating assistance in Mississippi?

What is the income limit for LIHEAP in Mississippi?

How does a household apply in Mississippi?

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

Does Mississippi also stop a utility disconnecting heat in winter?

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

Is heating assistance in Mississippi 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

Mississippi winter shutoff rulesWhether Mississippi 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.

Mississippi read September 23, 2026 from Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, Mississippi Department of Human 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.