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Rhode Island calls it LIHEAP, and it opens Oct 1

Rhode Island Heating Assistance: LIHEAP

Rhode Island Department of Human Services runs the federal heating grant in Rhode Island. Applications run October 1 to April 15. Rhode Island Department of Human Services takes applications in person at a local community action program agency, online and mailed renewal form.

LIHEAP
What it is called here
Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP)
Oct 1
The season opens
through Apr 15
60%
The income limit
of a state set table
Yes
Crisis component
a separate, faster application
The answer

Heating assistance in Rhode Island, in one screen

LIHEAP

Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP)

Run by
Rhode Island Department of Human Services
The season
Applications run October 1 to April 15.
The income test
The test is household income at or below 60 percent of the Rhode Island median income levels set each program year, set out in the state agency's own table rather than as a percentage of either national measure.
How to apply
Rhode Island Department of Human Services takes applications in person at a local community action program agency, online and mailed renewal form.
By phone
1-855-697-4347

Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), Rhode Island Department of Human Services

LIHEAP helps eligible low-income households pay their heating bills through federal grants to the household.
Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), Rhode Island Department of Human Services, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source

The heating grant is usually paid to the fuel vendor or the utility rather than to the household, and in a few cases directly to the applicant.

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Who qualifies

The LIHEAP income test in Rhode Island

The test is household income at or below 60 percent of the Rhode Island median income levels set each program year, 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.

Households must be at or below 60% of Rhode Island's Median Income Levels that are set each program year.
Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), Rhode Island Department of Human Services, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source
If you cannot wait

The crisis route in Rhode Island

Crisis Assistance is a second grant inside LIHEAP for a home heating crisis, meaning a shut off for nonpayment of a regulated energy bill, no money for a fuel delivery, or a heating system that cannot be repaired.

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 Assistance : A grant to help resolve a home heating crisis caused by a heat shut-off because of failure to pay a regulated energy bill, the inability to pay for deliverable fuel, or the failure of a heating system that is not repairable.
Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), Rhode Island 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 Rhode Island also stops the utility disconnecting

November 1 to May 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 Rhode Island Public Utilities Commission’s own words, is on the Rhode Island winter shutoff page.

Next winter

Making the house cheaper to heat in Rhode Island

Rhode Island 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.

WAP helps income-eligible households reduce heating bills by providing whole house energy efficiency services to households that qualify for LIHEAP .
Rhode Island Department of Human Services, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source

Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP) in Rhode Island

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.

Rhode Island heating assistance questions

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
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Heating assistance in other states

Rhode Island winter shutoff rulesWhether Rhode Island 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.

Rhode Island read September 23, 2026 from Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), Rhode Island 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.