The Hawaii Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) provides heating and cooling to needy Hawaii households by assisting with one-time payments toward their utility bill (electric or gas) in two ways:

    Energy Crisis Intervention (ECI) – a crisis program to assist households that are on the verge or have had their utility service terminated.
    Energy Credit (EC) – non-crisis program to assist households with heating and/or cooling of their residences with bill payment. This program has a limited application period, June 2022 only.  Application periods are announced via the Hawaiian Electric Newsletter, Ho`oku`i, and on your Hawaii Gas bill each year.

Eligibility Requirements:

    Household members must be U.S. citizens or Lawful Permanent Residents.
    All adults must sign the application and provide a picture ID.
    All household members older than one year old must provide a Social Security number.
    You must be a resident of the state of Hawaii and have a place of residence.
    You must be responsible for an electric bill and/or gas bill.
    Your income must be below 150% of the Federal Poverty Level.
    Households with a TANF, SSI or SNAP recipient may be eligible for an income exemption.

The Low Income Home Energy Assistance program is called LIHEAP. They assist low income people and families with their heating and cooling bills. This program is therefore, a year long program that is available 12 months a year. To qualify for the LIHEAP assistance, you need to qualify. We provide the current Federal Poverty Rates nationwide below.

You are automatically qualified for LIHEAP assistance if you participate in the SNAP food stamps program, TANF Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, or the SSI program through Social Security.

Federal Poverty Guidelines for 2024

Persons In Family	Earnings (100% Fed Poverty Guideline)
1	$15,060
2	$20,440
3	$25,820
4	$31,200
5	$36,580
6	$41,960
7	$47,340
8	$52,720

*Alaska and Hawaii have different rates for HUD federal poverty guidelines.
These numbers above represent 100% of the Federal Poverty Rate. In order to get legal aid from some offices, they use a sliding fee scale. When they use a sliding fee scale, the 100% rate can be different than 100%. In those cases, using for example a 200% federal poverty level, you will only need double the 100% number listed above to 200%.

User questions & answers

Have you used the HCEOC LIHEAP Hawaii County Economic Opportunity service before? If so, please help our website users by answer these questions below.