The Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program opened its application on Oct. 1 and will remain open until Aug. 15 of next year. The program intends to help low-income families pay for home energy services, including heating, propane and electricity bills.
The program is part of Gov. JB Pritzker’s Help Illinois Families initiative, which entails the Illinois government partnership with the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity to reallocate federal funds to low-income families. Due to the state’s fiscal budget increasing, families will receive more funding to pay for their energy bills.
Dawn Rear, LIHEAP manager for the Champaign County Regional Planning Commission, said the program has assisted many families in need in the Champaign area.
“Since Oct. 1 of 2024, we have served over 2,000 households,” Rear said. “It’s an increase of about 600 more households served to date since last year of October 2023. We serve up to 8,000 to 9,000 households per program year and feel that we have done a good job reaching households in Champaign County.”
The LIHEAP program started in 1981, but the premise of offering aid for energy services came from “Project Fuel” in 1974. The “Project Fuel” initiative provided funds to low-income residents for energy services such as oil after the OPEC Oil Embargo the same year.
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For October, the program’s application is open to adults 60 years old or older, individuals with a medical disability, families with children 5 years old or younger and households that are imminent or disconnected. The application will open up for other qualified individuals in November.
To qualify for the program, families must earn up to twice the poverty threshold 30 days before applying. For a single-person household, this would mean one makes a maximum of $2,510 within 30 days, whereas a six-person household would make a maximum of $6,993 within 30 days.
The CCRPC provides outreach events to advertise the program and offers information via social media, such as its Facebook page. The team also provides in-person appointments to manage LIHEAP information for low-income homeowners.
Locations for in-person appointments include the CCRPC’s office inside the Brookens Administrative Center, at 2009 Round Barn Road in Champaign and the Rantoul Business Center.
People can schedule an appointment or complete the application online through the CCRPC website. For more information on the program, call 217-384-1226.
