Kentucky Utility Relief Programs: LIHEAP Dates, Utility Help, and Winter Shutoff Rules

Kentucky utility relief programs at a glance

Kentucky's help with power, gas, and heating bills comes from three places. The federal LIHEAP grant pays most of it. Utilities add customer-funded and donation programs. State regulators set rules that slow down shutoffs in winter. The table shows where each piece fits.

The dates for 2026–27 come from Kentucky's preliminary federal-fiscal-year 2027 LIHEAP plan, filed in July 2026. Final dates are announced by Community Action Kentucky and can shift by a few days. For a national overview of how the program works, see our LIHEAP guide.

Kentucky LIHEAP for the 2026–27 season

LIHEAP money reaches Kentucky households as a payment sent straight to your utility or fuel dealer. You never receive cash, and you do not repay it. Kentucky divides the year into components, and each one has its own short application window.

Fall heating subsidy

The subsidy helps with regular heating costs, and you do not need a shutoff notice. Payments range from $21 to $250 in the 2027 plan, with the largest amounts going to households with the lowest income and highest energy burden for their size and fuel type. Benefits also differ for people in subsidized housing. Kentucky lets older adults and people with disabilities on fixed incomes pre-register, so they are seen first.

Agencies set their own appointment calendars inside the state window. For example, Daniel Boone Community Action Agency, which serves Clay, Jackson, Laurel, and Rockcastle counties, lists its Fall Subsidy 2026 as November 9 to December 18, with scheduling from November 2. If your agency's dates differ from the state plan, follow your agency.

Winter crisis component

Crisis help starts after New Year's and runs until March or until money runs out. In 2026 it ran from January 5 to March 27. The 2027 plan sets aside the largest share of Kentucky's LIHEAP money, 42%, for winter crisis, compared with 25% for the fall subsidy. Details are in the crisis section below.

Cooling and summer help

Kentucky's priority is heating. The state plan lists a spring cooling subsidy from April 13 to May 26, 2027, and a summer crisis window from June 15 to July 30, 2027, but says cooling and summer crisis run only if funding is available. In past summers, money ran short quickly, so apply as soon as a window opens.

Income limits and how to apply

For the subsidy, crisis, and cooling components, Kentucky uses 150% of the federal poverty guidelines, based on gross household income. Using the 2026 HHS guidelines, that works out to the limits below. These are our calculations; your agency's table is the final word.

Weatherization uses a higher limit, 200% of poverty.

Applying step by step

1. Find your agency. Each county is served by one community action agency. Kentucky Justice Online's LIHEAP page links to the county office finder, or you can call 2-1-1.
2. Book an appointment. Most agencies schedule by phone or online a week or so before the window opens. Slots fill fast in the first days.
3. Gather papers. Expect to bring proof of income for everyone in the home, Social Security numbers, your most recent heating bill (or a statement from your fuel dealer), and photo ID. Agencies post their exact list when a component opens. Our document checklist covers the general items.
4. Attend the appointment. The agency checks eligibility and sends payment to your utility or dealer. Keep paying what you can on your bill in the meantime.

In Louisville and Jefferson County, LIHEAP is taken by the local government's community action office rather than a private agency, but the rules and dates follow the same state plan.

Crisis help for a shutoff notice or low fuel

Kentucky's state plan defines an energy crisis in three ways. You qualify if you are:

• within four days of running out of propane, fuel oil, coal, wood, or kerosene when that is your main heat;
• holding a past-due or disconnect notice for natural gas or electric heat (agencies also help prepaid electric customers with about 10 days or less of credit left); or
• facing an eviction notice for unpaid rent when heating costs are included in your rent.

The crisis benefit is the amount needed to solve the problem, up to $400 per season, used in one or more crisis events. It can pay a fuel delivery or a reconnection, and agencies can also give blankets or sleeping bags or lend a space heater.

Agencies must act within 48 hours of a complete application, or within 18 hours when the situation is life-threatening. Under state regulation, that means a household that is or will be without heat within 18 hours while the National Weather Service reports dangerous temperatures, or a disconnection that would put someone's health at risk.

If a crisis hits outside the LIHEAP window, ask your community action agency about other emergency funds, and look at Kentucky hardship grants from churches and charities. Our guide to emergency help with utility bills lists national options too.

Help from LG&E, KU, Kentucky Power, and Duke

Kentucky's large utilities do not decide who qualifies for help. They fund programs that local agencies run, and they offer billing tools you can request yourself.

LG&E and KU

• LG&E Winterhelp and KU WinterCare are winter heating programs funded by customer donations and company matching money and run by third-party agencies. Ask your community action agency whether funds are available in your county.
• Payment arrangements on a past-due balance can be set up in the LG&E KU mobile app, in My Account, or by phone.
• Budget payment plan spreads your yearly cost into level monthly bills.
• One-time late fee waiver is possible if you have had no late payment in the last 11 months; ask before your next bill's due date.
• Project Warm in Louisville helps with free weatherization supplies and workshops.

LG&E and KU list all of these on their assistance page. Call LG&E at 502-589-1444 or KU at 800-981-0600.

Kentucky Power

Kentucky Power serves about 20 counties in eastern Kentucky. Its programs are funded by a small monthly charge on residential bills, matched by the company, and run by Community Action Kentucky agencies. When the Public Service Commission approved them in 2018, HEART (Home Energy Assistance in Reduced Temperatures) gave LIHEAP-eligible customers a monthly winter credit, $115 for electric heat or $58 for other heat, from January through April, and required enrollment in average monthly billing. THAW (Temporary Heating Assistance in Winter) gave up to $175 per season to customers who did not qualify for LIHEAP or HEART. Amounts may have changed since, so ask your local agency for the current figures.

Duke Energy Kentucky

Duke Energy Kentucky serves the Northern Kentucky counties around Covington, Florence, and Newport. Local reporting in 2026 describes a Duke-funded home energy assistance program run by the Northern Kentucky Community Action Commission, which is also the area's LIHEAP agency. We could not confirm the program's current terms from Duke directly, so ask the agency which Duke-funded help is open when you apply for LIHEAP, and call Duke to set up a payment arrangement or budget billing.

Gas companies and electric co-ops

Atmos Energy, Columbia Gas of Kentucky, Delta Natural Gas, and the rural electric cooperatives each have their own payment plans, and several take donations for neighbors in need. Call the number on your bill and ask specifically about "hardship" or "energy assistance" funds and budget billing.

Kentucky winter shutoff and reconnection rules

Kentucky has no blanket ban on winter shutoffs. Instead, the Public Service Commission's customer service regulation, 807 KAR 5:006, gives you several tools. They apply to utilities the PSC regulates, including LG&E, KU, Kentucky Power, Duke Energy Kentucky, the large gas companies, and rural electric cooperatives. City-owned utilities set their own rules.

A few details are easy to miss. If you owe more than $600 and ask for reconnection, the utility must accept a plan that pays current charges plus a good-faith amount toward the balance that fits your ability to pay. Shutoff notices must also tell you about local, state, and federal bill help and how to reach the state's energy assistance office. At 130% of poverty, the certificate-of-need limit is about $20,748 a year for one person or $42,900 for four, based on 2026 guidelines.

If a regulated utility will not follow these rules, contact the Kentucky Public Service Commission consumer services staff to file a complaint.

Weatherization, water bills, and other help

Weatherization

Kentucky's Weatherization Assistance Program pays for an energy audit and repairs such as insulation, caulking, furnace repair or replacement, water heaters, and smoke and carbon monoxide detectors. The Kentucky Housing Corporation oversees it, and community action agencies do the work. The income limit is 200% of poverty, and renters need the landlord's permission. Households that use a winter certificate of need also agree to accept a weatherization referral. Expect a waiting list.

Water and sewer bills

The pandemic-era federal water assistance program is no longer funded, so there is no statewide program for water bills right now. PSC-regulated water utilities must give five days' written notice before a shutoff for nonpayment. Ask your water district about payment plans, and ask your community action agency or 2-1-1 about local emergency funds.

Other places to ask

• 2-1-1 connects you to Salvation Army, Catholic Charities, St. Vincent de Paul, and church funds that pay utility bills in many Kentucky counties.
• kynect benefits lets you apply for SNAP, Medicaid, and cash help, which frees up money for bills. If rent is also behind, ask the same agency about emergency rent funds.
• Legal aid groups listed on Kentucky Justice Online can help if you think a shutoff was handled unlawfully.

Related guides

• Kentucky assistance programs
• Catholic Charities utility bill assistance
• Churches that help with utility bills
• Illinois utility relief programs

Frequently asked questions

This guide is general information. Program dates and amounts can change when federal funding changes. National Relief Program is an independent website and is not affiliated with the Commonwealth of Kentucky, Community Action Kentucky, the Kentucky Public Service Commission, any utility, or any government agency.