Virginia Energy Assistance (EA) Program, LIHEAP Program

The Virginia Energy Assistance Program (EAP) assists low-income households in meeting their immediate home energy needs. To be eligible, households must have a heating or cooling expense and gross monthly income may not exceed 150 percent of the federal poverty level. Applications for Fuel, Crisis, and Cooling assistance are accepted at the local departments of social services. The EAP consists of four components: Fuel Assistance, Crisis Assistance, Cooling Assistance and Weatherization Assistance.

Apply:
Apply online at: https://commonhelp.virginia.gov/access/
or visit your local office DSS Office for an application, asssistance applying, etc.

Eligibility:
To be eligible for the LIHEAP program, you must be a resident of Virginia and you must need financial assistance with home energy costs.

A person who participates or has family members who participate in certain other benefit programs, such as SNAP, SSI, TANF, automatically meets the eligibility requirement.

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 Lee Dept. of Social Services Utility Assistance service before? If so, please help our website users by answer these questions below.