Tennessee Heating Assistance: LIHEAP

Tennessee runs the federal program as Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), administered by Tennessee Housing Development Agency (THDA). 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 Tennessee actually needs.

Applications open November 1. The agency's own words: "In Tennessee LIHEAP is administered through a network of 19 local agencies that reach all 95 counties. LIHEAP is one-time assistance offered to help defray heating and cooling expenses, as long as funding is available."

The test is household income at or below 60 percent of the state median income, measured against the state median income, so the qualifying figure moves with what households in that state actually earn. Tennessee Housing Development Agency (THDA) puts it this way: "Income eligible households are those at or below 60% of the State Median Income."

Tennessee Housing Development Agency (THDA) takes applications online through smartsimple and local liheap agency. The application itself lives on the agency's own site rather than on a federal one.

Tennessee Public Utility 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 Tennessee carries the rule.

Tennessee Housing Development Agency (THDA) runs Weatherization Assistance Program, which is the companion to the bill payment side. Its own words: "The Weatherization Assistance Program is designed to assist low-income households in reducing heating and cooling costs for low-income families, particularly for the elderly, people with disabilities, and children, by improving the energy efficiency of their homes while ensuring their health and safety."

Both, in the way that matters to a household. The money is a federal block grant; Tennessee Housing Development Agency (THDA) 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.

On Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), Tennessee Housing Development Agency, which is the page every figure here was read from. Tennessee Housing Development Agency (THDA) is the agency to go back to when a date or a threshold changes, because a state can move either between program years.