The federal and state governments each
year in most states, offers a one time
annual grant for income qualified applicants
right around this time of year to
offset winter season heating costs.

The programs vary by name across the
states by acronym: here in New York
it is known as the HEAP program [home
energy assistance program ] but in
other states it may be called LIEA
or LEAP [low income energy assistance ]
or other variations.

You will have to search the internet
and make calls in your local area
and I can only offer up a description
in how this is done in New York.

Monthly income levels for 1 person
are rather high to qualify, you can
bring in as much as $1900 a month and
still be entered in the program and
family sized incomes are also rather
liberal so it is worth your effort
to investigate to see if you can
apply.

Home Energy Assistance is separate from
other social services programs and
is not tied to or confused with food
stamps and the like.

In some cases, County level governments
run the programs and you should
start your inquiries with your County
Social Services (DSS) agency. Also,
designated non-profit corporations
do operate the program to file and
process the Energy applications. This
is done here at the county where I live.

Applications are 2 tiered, file for
one or the other: regular applications
for HEAP and also emergency applications
where the filer has already received
a shutoff notice from the utility company.

If you have never participated in this
program before, then phrase your
inquiries at your local area as
"home energy assistance" for low income
people. Veterans and disabled are prioritized
in the system.

The application process may take some time
and you can expect to wait in lines so
be patient. But in the end you will receive
a letter and the payment goes directly
to your utility heat account. Anything
helps at all in this economy and you
can get between $200 to $400 usually on
these grants to help out with your season
heating bill.

Get hooked into this program and then
plan to refile for each new recertification
year once you locate where the program
is operated for your area. November
is usually the start of the application
season for this program so now is the
time to pound the telephone and search
your county internet website to find where
the program is operated for your local
area.

Veterans make a huge mistake in this
country, first by standing around waiting
for the VA or somebody to walk up to
them and HAND to them bundled programs
on a silver platter. Life doesn't work
that way, you have to locate the programs
and then file on your own behalf. Also
many of you seem to think that anything
outside of the VA is somehow "dishonored"
or something along that long. Get
over your silliness and just go apply
if you need the dam money. Everybody
else does and why not YOU ?? Just go
do it and make your lives better and
get a load off your back. If you qualify
then it's yours to have.