New Mexico calls it LIHEAP

New Mexico Heating Assistance: LIHEAP

Q: What is heating assistance called in New Mexico?

New Mexico runs the federal program as Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), administered by New Mexico Health Care 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 New Mexico actually needs.

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

New Mexico Public Regulation Commission sets a separate rule on that, and its short form is: Once the household files, Nov 15 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 New Mexico carries the rule.

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

Housing New Mexico runs NM Energy$mart Weatherization Program, which is the companion to the bill payment side. Its own words: "Housing New Mexico's NM Energy$mart weatherization assistance program provides energy-saving retrofits and home modifications at no charge to eligible homeowners and renters."

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

Both, in the way that matters to a household. The money is a federal block grant; New Mexico Health Care 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.

Q: Where does New Mexico publish its own heating assistance rules?

On Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, New Mexico Health Care Authority, which is the page every figure here was read from. New Mexico Health Care Authority is the agency to go back to when a date or a threshold changes, because a state can move either between program years.

New Mexico Health Care Authority, Income Support Division runs the federal heating grant in New Mexico. New Mexico Health Care Authority publishes no fixed opening date for the season. New Mexico Health Care Authority takes applications online, local income support division office, by mail and by fax.

LIHEAP

What it is called here

Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP)

Ask locally

The season

New Mexico Health Care Authority publishes no fixed opening date

Set locally

The income limit

the agency publishes a rule rather than a figure

Yes

Crisis component

a separate, faster application

The answer

Heating assistance in New Mexico, in one screen

LIHEAP

Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP)

Run by: New Mexico Health Care Authority, Income Support Division
The season: New Mexico Health Care Authority publishes no fixed opening date for the season.
The income test: New Mexico Health Care Authority does not publish a single income figure for the program on its own page.
How to apply: New Mexico Health Care Authority takes applications online, local income support division office, by mail and by fax.
By phone: 1-800-283-4465

Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, New Mexico Health Care Authority

LIHEAP assists eligible persons and families with their heating and cooling costs.

Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, New Mexico Health Care Authority, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source

Payment goes to the heating or cooling vendor rather than to the household, and the decision arrives by letter within 45 days with a right to ask for a Fair Hearing.

Who qualifies

The LIHEAP income test in New Mexico

New Mexico Health Care Authority does not publish a single income figure for the program on its own page.

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.

If you cannot wait

The crisis route in New Mexico

Crisis LIHEAP moves an application faster for a household whose service is already off, that holds a disconnect notice, or that is nearly out of wood, propane or other bulk fuel.

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.

Crisis LIHEAP – ISD can help you faster if you have: disconnected utility service; disconnect notice; or almost out of wood, propane or other bulk fuels

Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, New Mexico Health Care 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 New Mexico also stops the utility disconnecting

Once the household files, Nov 15 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 New Mexico Public Regulation Commission’s own words, is on the New Mexico winter shutoff page.

Next winter

Making the house cheaper to heat in New Mexico

New Mexico runs NM Energy$mart Weatherization Program through Housing New Mexico. 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.

Housing New Mexico's NM Energy$mart weatherization assistance program provides energy-saving retrofits and home modifications at no charge to eligible homeowners and renters.

Housing New Mexico, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source

NM Energy$mart Weatherization Program in New Mexico

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 Mexico heating assistance questions

What is heating assistance called in New Mexico?

When can a household apply for heating assistance in New Mexico?

How does a household apply in New Mexico?

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

Does New Mexico also stop a utility disconnecting heat in winter?

Is there help making the house cheaper to heat in New Mexico?

Is heating assistance in New Mexico a state program or a federal one?

Where does New Mexico 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

New Mexico winter shutoff rulesWhether New Mexico 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.

New Mexico read September 23, 2026 from Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, New Mexico Health Care 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.