Browse By Policies & Programs

• Energy Assistance

  The high cost of heating a home for the winter is a great burden to Philadelphia’s low-income families. Being without heat in the middle of winter is a crisis, and families will do whatever they can to keep warm, including running a cooking stove to heat the house. The cost of fuel has risen sharply during the past few years, and this cost must compete with the other household necessities of food and rent. “Brining Children in From the Cold” outlines the negative impact of fuel and housing insecurity on children.  

  Emergency Utility Assistance

  Low-income residents of Philadelphia can access emergency utility assistance through the Utility Emergency Services Fund, a 501(c)(3) that helps to pay heating bills in the case that a heating utility is about to be shut off.  24-hour heating crisis assistance is also available in Philadelphia through the Energy Coordinating Agency.  

   

  Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP)

  The Pennsylvania Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program provides low-income Pennsylvanians with heating and energy assistance grants.  Income eligibility levels are higher than those for cash assistance, so many families don’t even realize that they qualify for LIHEAP.

  Emergency Utility Assistance, Low-income Heat and Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP)