LIHEAP-AT-2025-04 Model Plan Application for LIHEAP Funding for Federal Fiscal Year 2026 (FY26)

Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program

Action Transmittal

AT#: LIHEAP-AT-2025-04

DATE: April 2, 2025

TO: All LIHEAP Grant Recipients

SUBJECT: Model Plan Application for LIHEAP Funding for Federal Fiscal Year 2026 (FY26) (Application deadline Tuesday, September 2, 2025)

ATTACHMENT(S): 1. How to Use the Clone Report Feature in OLDC to Submit a New FY26 LIHEAP Plan. 2. LIHEAP Model Plan Reference Guide. 3. FY26 Model Plan Form

PURPOSE: To provide Low Income Home Energy Assistance (LIHEAP) grant recipients with instructions for how to apply online for federal Fiscal Year 2026 (FY26) LIHEAP funding, confirm the September 2, 2025 LIHEAP Model Plan submission deadline, and remind grant recipients they can “clone” or pre-populate their prior data into a new Plan submission to reduce administrative reporting burden.

BACKGROUND: States, the District of Columbia, territories, and Tribes or Tribal organizations that wish to administer LIHEAP must submit an application for funds by September 1st (or the date issued by the Office of Community Services (OCS)) each FY, covering a grant period of October 1 through September 30. Section 2605(c)(3) of the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Act of 1981, as amended (42 U.S.C. § 8624(c)(3)), provides that the Secretary shall make available a model LIHEAP Plan which may be used to prepare the application required under Sections 2605(a)(1) and (c)(1) (42 U.S.C. § 8624(a)(1) and (c)(1)).

OCS has the responsibility to review and accept LIHEAP Model Plan submissions on behalf of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS’) Administration for Children and Families (ACF). The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approved ACF’s LIHEAP Model Plan form under clearance number 0970-0075 effective through February 28, 2027.

KEY MODEL PLAN SUBMISSION INFORMATION:

Plan Submission Deadline:

The deadline for the FY26 Plan is Tuesday, September 2, 2025.

Grant recipients must submit the LIHEAP Model Plan via the Online Data Collection (OLDC), located within GrantSolutions , each FY in order to receive LIHEAP funding allocation.

In FY26, LIHEAP grant recipients can “clone” or pre-populate their FY25 data into a new Plan, but they must follow the application process outlined below.

Transferring Prior-Year Information into a New Plan (OLDC “Clone” Feature):

All grant recipients must complete the entire LIHEAP Model Plan for FY26 in OLDC. Grant recipients can transfer information from the FY25 LIHEAP Plan (prior plan) into the new Plan by using the “Clone Report” feature in OLDC. Attachment 1 provides step-by-step instructions for how to use the “Clone Report” feature.

After transferring prior year information into the new Plan, at a minimum, grant recipients must update responses to the following sections:

SF-424 Mandatory Grant Application section — Fields 1.d., 7.d. (this section will be used as the official point of contact for federal LIHEAP website), 13.a., 13b. Funding Period, and fields 16 and 17 Authorized Official through the Letter of Delegation;

Section 1-Program Components, 2605(b)(1)-Question 1.1 Dates of Operations and Question 1.2 Estimated Funding Allocations;

Section 2—Heating Assistance, 2605(b)(2) — Question 2.1 Eligibility Threshold; Section 3—Cooling Assistance, 2605(b)(2) — Question 3.1 Eligibility Threshold; Section 4 — Crisis Assistance, 2605(c) — Question 4.1 Eligibility Threshold;

Section 5—Weatherization Assistance, 2605(b)(2) — Question 5.1 Eligibility Threshold;

Section 8 — Agency Designation, 2605(b)(6)-Assurance 6 — Question 8.8. This section is required for state grant recipients and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico only;

Section 10 — Program, Fiscal Monitoring, and Audit, 2605(b)(10)-Assurance 10 — Questions

10.3 and 10.9;

Section 11 — Timely and Meaningful Public Participation, 2605(b)(12), 2605(c)(2) — Questions 11.1-11.5;

Section 12 — Fair Hearings, 2605(b)(10) — Questions 12.1-12.3;

Section 13 — Reduction of home energy needs, 2605(b)(16) — Questions 13.1-13.5; and

Section 16 — Performance Goals and Measures, 2605(b). This section is required of state grant recipients only and optional for other grant recipients.

Attach supporting documentation or provide links to supporting documents online, as needed, such as policies and procedures.

A note on leveraging activities: The LIHEAP Model Plan includes an optional section (Section 14) to explain possible leveraging activities the grant recipient may take during FY26. Completing this section is one requirement to receive a separate leveraging grant, if funding is available.

However, OCS awards leveraging grants in the federal FY following the year the grant recipient conducted the leveraging activities. Therefore, if funding is available, OCS would award leveraging grants in FY26 based upon a separate leveraging report that would be reconciled against the responses in the FY25 LIHEAP Model Plan for leveraging activities that took place in FY25. OCS last awarded leveraging grants in FY12 and has no estimate for when federal leveraging grants will become available again. However, grant recipients are encouraged to complete this section if they had leveraged non-federal funds to assist LIHEAP bill payment or weatherization assistance households so that the public and all interested parties can review and comment on the grant recipient’s efforts.

Assurances and Certifications:

The Assurances displayed in the Section 21 of the LIHEAP Model Plan are from the federal LIHEAP statute (42 U.S.C. § 8624(b)(1)-(16)). LIHEAP regulations at 45 C.F.R. § 96.10(b) require that the 16 Assurances (15 for Tribes) in the LIHEAP statute be certified by the grant recipient’s Chief Executive Officer or “by an individual authorized to make such certifications on behalf of the Chief Executive Officer.” For the LIHEAP Model Plan to be approved, please be sure that the governor or Tribal chairperson (1) certifies the Assurances or (2) has specifically delegated authority to “certify” the LIHEAP Assurances to another person or position (not merely the department or agency). The grant recipient must attach a delegation letter to the LIHEAP Model Plan in OLDC, and the letter must explicitly specify that the individual is authorized to certify the federal LIHEAP Assurances.

In addition to the LIHEAP Model Plan, grant recipients must also complete or update the Mandatory Grant Application SF-424, which is the first section of the LIHEAP Model Plan in OLDC. The person that is designated to “certify to the LIHEAP Assurances” must have an OLDC account and, while logged into their OLDC account, must be the person that clicks the “Certify” and “Click to Sign” buttons for the LIHEAP Model Plan in OLDC. Therefore, if the governor or Tribal chairperson chooses not to designate someone else to sign the LIHEAP Assurances, then the governor or Tribal chairperson must have their own account and “certify” the FY26 LIHEAP Model Plan in OLDC.

States, the District of Columbia, and territories receiving more than $200,000 must describe in their new FY26 Plan how they will carry out Assurance 15 (Section 2605(b)(15) of the LIHEAP statute (42 U.S.C. § 8624(b)(15)). Assurance 15 requires such grant recipients to offer LIHEAP intake services in addition to those available through agencies also administering the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program. An attachment detailing this plan may be added or entered in any of the fields in Sections 8.2, 8.3, and 8.4.

Other Certifications:

1. Section 18 — All LIHEAP grant recipients must agree to the Certification Regarding Debarment, Suspension, and Other Responsibility Matters.
2. Section 19 — All LIHEAP grant recipients must submit the Certification Regarding Drug-Free Workplace Requirements unless a state has submitted a statewide Assurance to the S. Department of Health and Human Services. When completing this certification, be sure to enter the grant recipient’s physical address in the appropriate fields. No post office (P.O.) boxes allowed.
3. Section 20 — States, the District of Columbia, territories, and Tribes must file the Certification Regarding Lobbying and, if applicable, Form LLL, which discloses lobbying payments.
4. Section 21- All LIHEAP grant recipients must agree to the Assurances set

The LIHEAP Plan form in OLDC, Sections 18-21, incorporates all the above certifications. Please ensure that the certification checkbox is marked in each required certification’s section.

Meaningful and Timely Public Participation:

• States and Territories: Section 2605 (a)(2) of the federal LIHEAP statute requires states and territories to conduct public hearings on the proposed use and distribution of funds as outlined in the FY26 LIHEAP Plan (42 U.S.C. §8624(a)(2)). Grant recipients should follow their own state and territorial procedures for public
• Tribes: No hearing is required of Tribal grant recipients. However, Tribal grant recipients are required to obtain timely and meaningful public participation or input from their communities regarding their draft or proposed FY26 LIHEAP This may include some combination of web postings, public service announcements, comments by email or phone, stakeholder calls, etc. Tribes must follow their Tribal-wide rules for public participation that they would use with Tribal funding. Note: Timely means that the public participation process must be completed in advance of and prior to the submission of the Plan to get public comments and allow enough time for internal review.

Required Plan Attachments:

The following documents must be attached to the application in OLDC to be considered complete.

• Delegation Letter (required if someone other than the Chief Executive, g., a governor or Tribal chairperson certified the FY Plan in OLDC).
• Benefit matrices showing at least three varying measures (income, household size, and energy costs or needs) to determine benefit types, such as heating, cooling, and crisis assistance. Use the applicable new income guidelines published here.
• Minutes, notes, or transcripts of public hearing(s) (states and territories only) or public participation (Tribes).
• Optional: Policy Manual, Subrecipient Contract, Model Plan Participation Notes for Tribes.

For Tribal Applicants:

OCS encourages directly funded Tribes that receive smaller annual LIHEAP grants to consider joining an existing consortium in their state(s) or forming a consortium with neighboring Tribes to reduce the administrative burden of the LIHEAP Plan submission and the required reports. For information on how to form or join a consortium, inquire with your federal LIHEAP regional liaison. This information is available under Section B of the LIHEAP Grantee Resource

Guide (formerly known as the Tribal Manual).

Submission Deadline Extension: If a grant recipient anticipates needing an extension of the September 2, 2025 Plan submission deadline, the grant recipient must submit a letter requesting a deadline extension. The letter must be uploaded as an attachment to an

“initialized” FY26 Plan and provide a specific, reasonable alternative date and a brief explanation of the reason for needing an extension. Tribal grant recipients must obtain written agreement of the extension date from the states in which the Tribe’s service areas are located. The state’s email or letter of concurrence must also be included as an attachment to the initialized 2026 Plan. Extension requests must be submitted to OCS prior to Tuesday, September 2, 2025.

Follow-up Action on Plan Submissions: Upon receipt of FY26 Plans, OCS staff will review the Plans and either reject the Plan back to the grant recipient via OLDC or accept the plan in OLDC. Grant recipients whose plans are “accepted” in OLDC have no further action to take on the Plan. Grant recipients whose plans are “rejected” in OLDC must take immediate action to edit their Plans according to the comments in the OLDC review sections of the Plan and resubmit the edited Plan to OCS within the deadline indicated in the Plan review remarks in OLDC. The federal LIHEAP regulations require that this editing process must be completed no later than December 15, 2025 (45 C.F.R. § 96.10(d)). This deadline is only regarding edits and attachments

that are necessary to resolve missing or inadequate information in the original Plan submission.

OCS will only issue FY26 LIHEAP funding upon receipt and acceptance of a LIHEAP Plan submission that meets statutorily required information. All LIHEAP grant recipients have an ongoing responsibility throughout the grant period to submit revised Plans and reports, as needed, to reflect changes to ensure ACF has final, actual program data.

INQUIRIES: For questions regarding this Model Plan guidance, please contact: Katie Green

Chief of Staff

Office of Community Services Email: kathryn.green@acf.hhs.gov

RELATED REFERENCES: The Low Income Home Energy Assistance Act of 1981, as amended (42 U.S.C. § 8621 et seq.), Block Grant Regulations at 45 C.F.R. Part 96, and LIHEAP IM 2025-02 Federal Poverty Guidelines and State Median Income Estimates for Optional Use in FY25 and Mandatory Use in FY26.

Please contact Katie Green immediately if you need an OLDC account or have questions about the FY26 Model Plan submission process.

Thank you for your attention to these matters. OCS looks forward to continuing to provide high- quality services to OCS partners.

/s/

Janelle George Acting Director

Division of Energy Assistance Office of Community Services