It has been longstanding federal SNAP policy that households in receipt of a qualifying Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) payment are required to be provided with the Heating and Cooling Standard Utility Allowance (HCSUA) without needing to prove their utility costs.
However, due to the new federal law under HR1, the receipt of a qualifying LIHEAP payment will only grant presumptive HCSUA eligibility to households that have an aged and/or disabled member. All other households must establish that they have a separate heating or cooling utility expense in order to be determined eligible for HCSUA. This new policy will be implemented as of November 1, 2025, for all new and pending applications. Households ineligible for HCSUA due to these changes, may instead be entitled to the Utility SUA if they have a separate expense for a non-heating/cooling utility. These expenses include (but are not limited to): electricity (including air conditioning/cooling costs), cooking fuel, sewage, trash collection, water fees, fuel for heating hot water, and rental fee for a propane tank. Existing SNAP households will be assessed at recertification or if the household reports a case change on the periodic report or other time during their eligibility period.
For example: Jane Doe is a single mother with two children. No one in the household is elderly or has a disability. Her rent is $1000 per month and her gross earned income is $2000 per month. She receives SNAP and LIHEAP. Because she receives both benefits, she has in the past qualified for the HCSUA. This means her household of 3 gets $590 in monthly SNAP benefits. However, the next time Ms. Doe recertifies her benefits, she will need to demonstrate her utility costs (including non-heating utility costs). Depending on the utility costs she can prove, her benefits will change and could go down by as much as $116.
Please inform clients that moving forward, they may need to verify separate utility expenses at recertification or when reporting certain changes on a periodic report. This verifying documentation could include an electricity bill along with the client's attestation that a portion of that bill is used to pay for cooling/air conditioning.
Newly eligible SNAP households living in a HEAP-eligible housing arrangement may receive a $21 nominal HEAP benefit. However, only households containing an aged or disabled member will be eligible to receive the full HCSUA based on this factor alone.
For more information, you can read the full policy here.
