Ohio’s Winter Crisis Program starts taking applications Nov. 2, 2026 and keeps going through March 31, 2027. What it pays depends on who sends the utility bill: up to $175 for customers of regulated electric and natural gas companies, and up to $750 for customers of municipal utilities and cooperatives. The terms for the 2026-27 heating season come from the Ohio Consumers’ Counsel’s program fact sheet.
Why the cap is $175 at one utility and $750 at another
The split follows the utility, not the household. Customers of electric and natural gas companies regulated by the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio can receive up to $175. Customers of a municipal utility or an electric cooperative can receive up to $750, more than four times as much.
Both figures are ceilings, and the program helps once per winter heating season. A household paid in December is not paid again in February. The fact sheet gives no reason for the higher limit at municipal and cooperative utilities, so the difference is simply part of the rules.
A bill alone is not enough. The program pays when a household is in one of several situations: a disconnection, a shut-off notice, new service, a transfer fee, a default on or enrollment in PIPP Plus, Ohio’s income-based payment plan, or a bulk fuel supply at 25% or less. The utility account must be in the name of an adult household member, and homeowners and renters can both apply.
For an Ohio household that is behind on a gas or electric bill, or holding a shut-off notice, Nov. 2 is the first date to act. The decision is whether to book the first appointments or wait, and the program gives a reason not to wait: booking an appointment starts a separate protection, described below, that does not depend on the payment itself.
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The income line and the 30-day shut-off delay
Household income must be at or below 175% of the federal income guidelines for homes of up to seven people, or 60% of Ohio’s state median income for homes of eight or more. The 12-month limits run $27,930 for one person, $57,750 for four, $87,570 for seven and $94,881 for eight.
Income can be measured two ways: over the last 30 days or over the previous 12 months. A household whose pay or pension dropped recently can be judged on the last month rather than the full year. Gross income counts for everyone in the home, except the wages of dependent children under 18.
Booking has its own protection. Once an appointment is scheduled, utilities regulated by the Public Utilities Commission must delay disconnection for 30 days, and the delay can be used once a year. The delay is written for regulated utilities, so municipal and cooperative customers, who have the higher $750 limit, should ask their own utility whether the same pause applies.
Applying takes three steps. A household starts the application online, then books an appointment, in person or remotely, with a local energy assistance provider, which is a community action agency. Providers are listed at Ohio’s energy help site. The agency asks for a list of household members, proof of income, recent utility bills, proof of U.S. citizenship or legal residency, birth dates and Social Security numbers, and proof of disability when it applies.
What the caps cover against a projected winter of heating costs
The U.S. Energy Information Administration projects national average heating spending for November through March at $640 for natural gas households, down 9% from last winter, and $1,196 for electric households, up 4%. Heating oil is projected at $2,115, up 21%. Those are national averages and forecasts, not Ohio bills.
Natural gas is the most common main heating fuel in the country, used by about 61 million households, ahead of electricity at about 58 million. Heating oil reaches only about 4 million homes, yet it carries the steepest projected increase, driven by a forecast price of $5.26 a gallon, up 34%. Among the four main fuels, the steepest increase falls on the smallest group of users.
Set beside those averages, the $175 limit is about 27% of the natural gas figure and about 15% of the electric one. The $750 limit equals roughly 63% of the electric average. One payment narrows a bill; by that arithmetic it is unlikely to cover a winter.
Bulk fuel has larger limits. Households heating with kerosene, propane or fuel oil can receive up to $1,200, and those burning wood or coal up to $650. Repair or replacement of a heating unit is listed as a separate benefit of up to $1,500.
Weather is the variable. EIA’s base case has the Midwest, the region that includes Ohio, running 2% fewer heating degree days than last winter, and EIA also models winters 10% colder and 10% warmer. A colder stretch widens the distance between a one-time cap and the bill.
That gives the program a narrow job. It can stop a shut-off, restore service or pay for a fuel delivery, once a season and only up to a ceiling set by the type of utility. For households behind this month, the open question is less whether $175 or $750 arrives than whether it lands, with the 30-day pause in hand, before the disconnection date rather than after.
Behind on the gas bill with winter coming?
The Winter Crisis Program pays once per heating season, and the 30-day shut-off delay can be used once a year. A household that spends either one in November has nothing left to answer a February notice, and the dollar limits of $175 and $750 are small against a winter of heating.
The Senior Property Tax & Home-Cost Relief Kit is the related job: it shows the help with heat and power bills that older homeowners can claim and what each program does, with heating, cooling and home-repair help set out program by program.
Its eight parts include Part 5, Utilities and Home Costs, and Part 6, Repairs, Insurance and Staying Put, so the crisis payment is not the only program a household has mapped.
Get the relief kit’s heating, cooling and home-repair help for an Ohio winter →
This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
