A delay in federal utility assistance program payments could leave Nebraskans in the cold
By Brian Beach 
, Reporter Nebraska Public Media
Nov. 25, 2025, 3:30 p.m. ·
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The 43-day federal government shutdown may be over, but its effects are still being felt.
The Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, known as LIHEAP, helps around 6 million Americans – and around 40,000 Nebraskans – pay their utility bills.
Under normal circumstances, the federal government provides the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services with payments in mid-November, but the shutdown caused a delay.
“LIHEAP is a great program, because if the funds are distributed properly, they can help poor people that qualify maintain their utilities across the heating season in winter and the cooling season in summer,” said Tonya Ward, a LIHEAP recipient who works with Omaha-based Energy Rescue.
Households making at or below 150% of the federal poverty level who meet citizenship and residency requirements qualify for the program.
Ward said the delay in payments is bad news for Nebraskans as temperatures drop.
“Without those funds, once the temperatures are in the areas where they're allowed legally to shut people off, then those people get shut off,” she said.
The Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services said crisis assistance for people in danger of receiving a shut-off notice will still be available under normal timeframes, according to its website. Benefits will be distributed as soon as federal funds are received.
“Although the shutdown has ended, funds for Federal Fiscal Year 2026 have not been received as of yet," Shannon Grotrian, Director of the DHHS Office of Economic Assistance, said in a press release. “In communicating with the federal government, the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) anticipates the funding release to occur by the end of November and is working as quickly as possible to meet this goal."
DHHS said it could not estimate when heating issuances will become available, but said they would be distributed as soon as federal funds are received.
This is not the first hiccup with LIHEAP this year. In April, the Trump administration fired the program’s entire 25-person staff. They have not been hired back.