New Jersey Heating Assistance: LIHEAP
New Jersey Department of Community Affairs runs the federal heating grant in New Jersey. Applications run October 1 to June 30. New Jersey Department of Community Affairs takes applications online, an authorized local agency in your county, by mail for people aged 60 or over or disabled and a home visit on request for people aged 60 or over or disabled.
Heating assistance in New Jersey, in one screen
Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP)
- Run by
- New Jersey Department of Community Affairs
- The season
- Applications run October 1 to June 30.
- The income test
- The test is gross household income at or below 60 percent of the New Jersey state median income, and responsibility for the home heating or cooling cost either directly or through the rent, measured against the state median income, so the qualifying figure moves with what households in that state actually earn.
- How to apply
- New Jersey Department of Community Affairs takes applications online, an authorized local agency in your county, by mail for people aged 60 or over or disabled and a home visit on request for people aged 60 or over or disabled.
- By phone
- 1-800-510-3102
The Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) is designed to help low-income families and individuals meet home heating and medically necessary cooling costs. This year, the application period, based on a first come first serve basis, is October 1, 2026, to June 30, 2027.Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program and Universal Service Fund FFY 2027 Fact Sheet, New Jersey Department of Community Affairs, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source
The heating benefit is set by income, household size, fuel type and heating region and is not printed as a single figure; the medically necessary cooling benefit is 300 dollars, and the Universal Service Fund credit on the same application is capped at 200 dollars a month.
The LIHEAP income test in New Jersey
The test is gross household income at or below 60 percent of the New Jersey state median income, and responsibility for the home heating or cooling cost either directly or through the rent, 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.
To be eligible for LIHEAP benefits, the applicant household must be responsible for home heating or cooling costs, either directly or included in the rent; and have a gross income at or below 60% of the State Median Income.Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program and Universal Service Fund FFY 2027 Fact Sheet, New Jersey Department of Community Affairs, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source
The crisis route in New Jersey
The program makes its own provision for emergency heating system service and emergency fuel, and the same form also applies a household to the Universal Service Fund credit on gas and electric bills.
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.
The Home Energy Assistance Program helps very low-income residents with their heating and cooling bills, and makes provisions for emergency heating system services and emergency fuel assistance within the Home Energy Assistance Program.Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program and Universal Service Fund FFY 2027 Fact Sheet, New Jersey Department of Community Affairs, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source
Whether New Jersey also stops the utility disconnecting
November 15 to March 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 New Jersey Board of Public Utilities’s own words, is on the New Jersey winter shutoff page.
Making the house cheaper to heat in New Jersey
New Jersey 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) assists elderly, handicapped, and low-income persons in weatherizing their homes, improving their heating system efficiency, and conserving energy.New Jersey Department of Community Affairs, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source
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.
New Jersey heating assistance questions
Heating assistance in other states
New Jersey read September 23, 2026 from Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program and Universal Service Fund FFY 2027 Fact Sheet, New Jersey Department of Community Affairs, 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.