Help With Electric Bills Beyond LIHEAP: Fuel Funds 2026

Most people looking for help with a utility bill find LIHEAP, apply, and stop there. That is one program — and it is a fixed pot of money, not a guarantee. Alongside it, in every state, sits a second layer of help that far fewer people know how to find: nonprofit fuel funds and utility hardship programs.

There is a free national directory that lists them state by state, and this guide shows you what is in it and how to use it.

Note: fuel funds are nonprofit and utility-company programs, not government benefits. The directory described below is published by a nonprofit coalition. Applying is free — you should never pay anyone a fee to apply for energy assistance of any kind.

What a Fuel Fund Is

A fuel fund is a charitable fund that pays toward home energy bills. Typically the money comes from the utility company, its shareholders, and donations from other customers, and a nonprofit agency decides who gets it. You may know one already without knowing the category name: the Dollar Energy Fund hardship grant is a fuel fund, and so are many of the local programs a 211 specialist refers people to.

The national organization behind these programs is the National Energy and Utility Affordability Coalition (NEUAC), which describes itself as “a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization… a broad-based coalition of diverse members dedicated to heightening awareness of the energy and utility affordability needs of vulnerable households.” It was created when two older groups — the National Fuel Funds Network and the National Low Income Energy Consortium — merged to form NEUAC in 2014. Two of the founding goals it still lists are “to provide information and technical assistance in the creation and development of fuel funds” and “to promote the development of statewide and regional fuel funds.”

That history is the useful part for you: the organization that keeps the national list of fuel funds grew out of the fuel fund network itself.

Why a Second Program Is Worth Knowing About

Here is the number that explains this whole guide.

NEUAC publishes a one-page LIHEAP profile for every state, built from the federal LIHEAP Performance Management data warehouse. Each sheet compares two figures: how many households the state actually served, and how many were income-eligible. We opened six of them on September 4, 2026. The spread is enormous:

State (FY2024)	Households served	Income-eligible	Share served
New York	1,187,028	2,227,373	about 1 in 2
Ohio	279,587	1,275,436	about 1 in 5
Pennsylvania	302,879	1,445,285	about 1 in 5
California	177,529	3,334,593	about 1 in 19
Florida	82,037	1,936,798	about 1 in 24
Texas	66,597	2,646,113	about 1 in 40

Same federal program, same rules about who counts as eligible — and a twentyfold difference in your odds depending on which state line you live on. In Texas, thirty-nine out of forty income-eligible households got nothing from LIHEAP that year. Those households were not ineligible. They were just not reached.

That is the case for knowing the second door exists.

Why the money runs out. LIHEAP is a block grant — Congress appropriates a set amount each year and HHS releases it to states in stages. On April 17, 2026, the Office of Community Services announced the release of “the remaining 10 percent” of FY 2026 block grant funds, “approximately $421.5 million.” Then on August 13, 2026 it released one last tranche — $9,238,746 in reallotment funds, which OCS called “the final FY26 funding issuance.” Split across the whole country, that final tranche is small. States must obligate it “by no later than September 30, 2026,” or carry it into FY27 under the 10% carryover rule.

Money released in stages is money that can be committed before your application arrives. As our LIHEAP guide explains, state programs “can stop taking applications when the year’s funds run out.” A fuel fund is not a replacement for LIHEAP — apply for LIHEAP first, and in some states it is a prerequisite — but it is a real second door, and it is open on a different schedule.

What LIHEAP does do, when it reaches you. NEUAC’s national fast-facts panel, from the same FY2024 federal data, reports that LIHEAP supported nearly 6 million households, weatherized nearly 50,000 homes, and “prevented disconnection or reconnected households to energy or fuel more than 2 million times.” It is worth applying for. It is just not a guarantee.

The Free Directory That Lists Them

NEUAC publishes a State Resource Directory: one file for each of the 50 states plus the District of Columbia, a national file, and an all-states file — 53 files in all, which we counted ourselves. It is free, and no account is needed.

Go to neuac.org/state-resource-directory and, as the page puts it, “click your state to begin.”

Each state file we opened is laid out the same way, under the cover title “Energy Assistance Resource Directory,” with three sections:

Section	What it covers
Disconnect Moratoria	The seasonal or temperature-based rules that limit when your utility may shut off service in that state
Nonprofit Fuel Funds and Utility Programs	The charitable funds and utility hardship programs available to customers in that state
[State] LIHEAP	The federal program’s contact and application information for that state

One practical warning from the page itself: these are “interactive PDFs only — if printed, you will not see the full URL of each resource.” Read them on a phone or computer so the links are clickable.

A second, more important caution — and we checked this file by file. These directories are not updated continuously. Of the 53 PDFs on the page, 36 were posted in July 2023, five in September 2023, eleven in October 2023, and exactly one since then: Kansas, posted in November 2024. The Texas file still reports a server last-modified date of July 13, 2023, unchanged from our August check. Nothing else has moved in nearly two years.

Treat every listing as a lead to confirm rather than a fact: call the number, or search the organization’s own site, before you count on a program still being funded. And if your state’s file is missing something, the directory page carries its own invitation — “Feedback? Missing your state resource? Let us know!”

How to Use It — Four Steps

1. Apply for LIHEAP first. Use the LIHEAP Clearinghouse search tool to see how to apply in your state. This is also what NEUAC’s own Help for Customers page tells utility customers to do — it is, in fact, the only instruction that page gives. Some fuel funds require a LIHEAP decision — approval or denial — before they will consider you. If you want to know how crowded the line is in your state before you start, NEUAC’s LIHEAP State Sheets give the served-versus-eligible numbers county-free and state by state; unlike the resource directory, that page was refreshed in January 2026.
2. Open your state’s directory file at neuac.org/state-resource-directory and read the “Nonprofit Fuel Funds and Utility Programs” section. Write down every program that serves your county or your utility.
3. Call your utility company too. Fuel funds are usually funded and referred through the utility, so the customer service line often knows which fund covers your account and whether a payment plan or arrearage-forgiveness program applies to you first.
4. Check your shutoff protection while you wait. The same directory covers your state’s disconnect moratoria, and NEUAC points readers to utilitydisconnections.org for more on disconnection rules. Knowing whether a shutoff is currently allowed changes how urgent your next call is.

If any step stalls, dial 2-1-1. A local specialist can name the fund in your county faster than a directory can.

How to Check Your Dollar Energy Fund Application Status

The fuel fund people ask about most by name is the Dollar Energy Fund, which runs hardship programs for partner utilities in 18 states, Pennsylvania most heavily. If you have already applied and are waiting, here is the official route, verified on Dollar Energy Fund’s own pages on September 12, 2026:

• Check online at the MyStatus portal. Dollar Energy Fund’s FAQ says: “You can view the status of your application at any time through our MyStatus portal. You will need to enter your utility account number.” Have a copy of your utility bill handy — the account number on it is the key.
• Know the two clocks. Applications “are usually processed within two business days,” but an approved grant can take four to six weeks to actually post to your utility account. A processed application with no credit on your bill yet is normal inside that window.
• If MyStatus doesn’t answer it, call. Dollar Energy Fund’s customer contact hotline is 1-888-282-6816. Your utility’s customer service line can also see whether a hardship grant has posted to your account.
• One safety note, from Dollar Energy Fund itself: it “will never ask you to make a payment over the phone, or ask for your credit card information, your bank account number, or a bank routing number” to receive assistance. Anyone who does is not Dollar Energy Fund.

Dollar Energy Fund income guidelines: set per utility, not one number

There is no single Dollar Energy Fund income limit. Each partner utility’s program sets its own cutoff as a percentage of the Federal Poverty Income Guidelines, and it can change with each program year. Among the programs we verified on the official site, the Pennsylvania limits ran from 200% of the guidelines (Columbia Gas, Duquesne Light) to 250% (FirstEnergy) — but the only number that binds your application is the one on your own utility’s program page. Use Dollar Energy Fund’s eligibility tool to check your program, and see our full Dollar Energy Fund guide for the dollar charts, payment-history rules, and the application steps.

No Legitimate Energy Program Charges You a Fee

This is the line that separates real help from a scam, and it is worth saying plainly:

• LIHEAP is free to apply for. Fuel funds are free to apply for. Utility hardship programs are free to apply for.
• Nobody legitimate asks for payment by gift card, wire transfer, or cryptocurrency to “release” a utility grant.
• Nobody legitimate needs a fee to fill in a form you can fill in yourself.
• A real program will let you call the agency back on a number you looked up yourself. A scam will not.

If someone contacts you first, offers a utility grant, and asks for money or your Social Security number to claim it, stop and call your utility on the number printed on your bill.

If a Fuel Fund Is Not the Answer

• Your bills are high because the house leaks heat. The Weatherization Assistance Program pays for insulation and repairs rather than a one-time credit — a permanent fix instead of a patch.
• Your utility partners with Dollar Energy Fund. Our Dollar Energy Fund guide covers that specific application, including the payment history most of its programs require.
• You need more than the electric bill covered. 211 and the Salvation Army both handle rent and utilities together.
• Your phone and internet bills are the strain. Those are a separate program — the Lifeline discount takes up to $9.25 off per month.

How We Checked This

On September 4, 2026 we re-opened every source behind this guide: NEUAC’s Mission, State Resource Directory and Help for Customers pages, the LIHEAP Clearinghouse news feed, and the Texas directory PDF itself. We did not stop at reading the pages — we pulled the server date on every one of the 53 directory PDFs, and downloaded and read six of NEUAC’s state LIHEAP profiles.

Three things people believe about energy assistance that the primary sources do not support:

• “If I’m eligible for LIHEAP, I’ll get LIHEAP.” Eligibility and service are different things, and the federal data says so plainly. NEUAC’s FY2024 state sheets put Texas at 66,597 households served against 2,646,113 eligible — 1 in 40 — while New York served roughly 1 in 2. A household can be squarely inside the income rules and still never see a dollar. That is the single strongest argument for having a second program in mind before you need it.
• “The April 2026 announcement was the last FY2026 money.” The Clearinghouse page announcing it is literally headed “Final LIHEAP Block Grant Funding Release for FY 2026.” But on August 13, 2026 OCS released $9,238,746 more in reallotment funds and described that as “the final FY26 funding issuance.” Two different “finals,” four months apart. The distinction is real — one is regular block grant money, one is reallotted — but a reader who found only the April page would draw the wrong conclusion.
• “NEUAC’s Help for Customers page will point me to a fuel fund.” It does not. We read the whole page: for someone who needs help, it says one thing — use the LIHEAP Clearinghouse search tool — and does not link NEUAC’s own fuel fund directory at all. The directory sits under Resources, not under Help for Customers. If you found NEUAC through a search for utility help and landed on that page, you would never learn the fuel fund list exists.

Where the sources are stale, and we are telling you rather than hiding it. The State Resource Directory is the centerpiece of this guide, and it is old. We checked the server last-modified date on all 53 PDFs: 36 are from July 2023, five from September 2023, eleven from October 2023, and one — Kansas — from November 3, 2024. Texas is unchanged at July 13, 2023. Meanwhile the same organization refreshed its LIHEAP State Sheets in January 2026. One NEUAC resource is current and one has been sitting for three years, and the page gives a reader no way to tell them apart. That is why this guide tells you to phone every listing before relying on it.

One more caveat on the numbers we do use: every state sheet carries the line “Data are current as of May 30, 2025” and reports FY2024. They describe how a state performed two fiscal years ago. They are the best published comparison of served-versus-eligible we could find, but they do not tell you what is available in your state this week.

What we could not check. We did not call any fuel fund, so we cannot tell you whether any specific program named in a 2023 PDF is still operating or still funded — that is exactly why we are asking you to call. We could not find any national list of fuel funds more current than NEUAC’s, and no fuel fund publishes a national income limit, so there is no such figure in this guide. We also cannot say why the Kansas file alone was replaced in 2024; NEUAC does not explain it on the page.

Added September 12, 2026. We added the Dollar Energy Fund status-check section after reading Dollar Energy Fund’s own FAQ and Need Help pages that day. The MyStatus portal address, the “utility account number” requirement, the two-business-day processing and four-to-six-week posting windows, and the 1-888-282-6816 hotline all come from those pages verbatim. The Pennsylvania income-limit range (200%–250% of the Federal Poverty Income Guidelines) is from the utility program pages on dollarenergy.org that our dedicated Dollar Energy Fund guide re-verified on September 2, 2026; we did not find, and therefore do not print, any single nationwide Dollar Energy Fund income limit — the FAQ itself routes applicants to a per-program eligibility tool instead of publishing one.

Fuel funds are nonprofit and utility-company programs, not government benefits; the programs, dollar limits, and open dates differ by state and by utility. NEUAC pages, its state directory and LIHEAP state sheet PDFs, and the LIHEAP Clearinghouse were verified on September 4, 2026; the Dollar Energy Fund pages cited above were verified on September 12, 2026.

This is general information, not legal or financial advice.