North Dakota Heating Assistance Program

Q: What is heating assistance called in North Dakota?

North Dakota runs the federal program as Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, administered by North Dakota Health and 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 North Dakota actually needs.

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

North Dakota Public Service Commission sets a separate rule on that, and its short form is: No winter window. In several states the two are linked, because receiving assistance is itself what switches the disconnection protection on. The winter shutoff page for North Dakota carries the rule.

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

Both, in the way that matters to a household. The money is a federal block grant; North Dakota Health and 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.

LIHEAP

What it is called here

Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program

Ask locally

The season

North Dakota Health and Human Services publishes no fixed opening date

60%

The income limit

of a state set table

Yes

Crisis component

a separate, faster application

The answer

Heating assistance in North Dakota, in one screen

LIHEAP

Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program

Run by: North Dakota Health and Human Services
The season: North Dakota Health and Human Services publishes no fixed opening date for the season.
The income test: The test is at or below 60 percent of North Dakota's median income, within the published table for the household size, set out in the state agency's own table rather than as a percentage of either national measure.
How to apply: North Dakota Health and Human Services takes applications online, by mail and in person at a human service zone office.
By phone: 1.866.614.6005

Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), North Dakota Health and Human Services

LIHEAP applications are accepted year-round. Heating benefits will now be issued year-round. LIHEAP benefits are no longer tied to the traditional heating season of Oct. 1 - May 31. Instead of benefits ending on May 31, assistance will continue until the household's review date at which time continued eligibility will be redetermined.

Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), North Dakota Health and Human Services, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source

The program pays part of the cost of natural gas, electricity, propane, fuel oil, coal, wood or another fuel, and also covers weatherization, furnace cleaning, repair and replacement, chimney cleaning and inspection, emergency help and a cooling device. Benefits are no longer tied to the old October 1 to May 31 heating season: they run to the household's review date and continue if the annual review is returned on time. No dollar amount is printed. Tribal LIHEAP programs serve tribal members living on reservations.

Who qualifies

The LIHEAP income test in North Dakota

The test is at or below 60 percent of North Dakota's median income, within the published table for the household size, set out in the state agency's own table rather than as a percentage of either national measure.

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.

A household's income must be at or below 60 percent of North Dakota's median income and within these limits.

Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), North Dakota Health and Human Services, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source

If you cannot wait

The crisis route in North Dakota

A household with an energy emergency, meaning a shutoff or disconnection notice, no deliverable fuel left, or a minor repair needed, is told to contact the Customer Support Center rather than wait on the ordinary application.

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.

If you have an energy related emergency (shut-off or disconnection notice, out of deliverable fuel, minor repairs), please contact the Customer Support Center.

Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), North Dakota Health and 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 North Dakota also stops the utility disconnecting

No winter window

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

Next winter

Making the house cheaper to heat in North Dakota

North Dakota runs Weatherization (through LIHEAP approval) through North Dakota Health and Human Services, delivered by Community Action Partnership. 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.

Take your LIHEAP approval notice and contact Community Action Partnership (CAP). CAP may be able to weatherize your home to make it more energy efficient.

North Dakota Health and Human Services, delivered by Community Action Partnership, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source

Weatherization (through LIHEAP approval) in North Dakota

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.

North Dakota heating assistance questions

What is heating assistance called in North Dakota?

When can a household apply for heating assistance in North Dakota?

What is the income limit for heating assistance in North Dakota?

How does a household apply in North Dakota?

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

A household with an energy emergency, meaning a shutoff or disconnection notice, no deliverable fuel left, or a minor repair needed, is told to contact the Customer Support Center rather than wait on the ordinary application. The agency's own words: "If you have an energy related emergency (shut-off or disconnection notice, out of deliverable fuel, minor repairs), please contact the Customer Support Center."

Does North Dakota also stop a utility disconnecting heat in winter?

Is there help making the house cheaper to heat in North Dakota?

Is heating assistance in North Dakota 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

North Dakota winter shutoff rulesWhether North Dakota 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.

North Dakota read September 23, 2026 from Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), North Dakota Health and 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.