What programs help Arizona households that can't afford cooling repairs or bills?

By Michael Fitzgerald, Founder & Editor, Phoenix Cooling Guide
Technically reviewed by Tom Mattingly, Owner & President, AZ Trusted Air LLC (ROC 317368)
Published 2026-09-18

A broken air conditioner in July is not the same problem in Phoenix that it is in Portland. The cooling season here runs from April into October, a Valley attic can sit at 150 to 170 degrees on a July afternoon, and a house with a dead compressor climbs past 90 degrees indoors in a few hours. That is why the assistance programs that matter most in Maricopa County are not only bill-payment programs. Several of them pay to repair or replace the equipment itself.

The money comes from four systems that do not talk to each other: federal LIHEAP dollars administered by the Arizona Department of Economic Security through local community action agencies, utility-funded programs at APS and SRP, weatherization run by the Arizona Department of Housing, and emergency cooling coordinated by Maricopa County Public Health. Each has its own income test, its own application and its own calendar. What follows is what each one pays, who qualifies and where a Phoenix-area household applies.

How do LIHEAP and Arizona weatherization assistance work for AC issues?

LIHEAP — the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program — is federal money the state passes through. In Arizona it is administered by the Department of Economic Security and delivered by local community action agencies, which is where a Phoenix, Mesa or Glendale household actually files. Income eligibility for heating, cooling and crisis benefits is 60 percent of State Median Income, or 150 percent of the federal poverty level for households of ten or more members. Weatherization sits on a separate test at 200 percent of the federal poverty level. For fiscal 2026 the cooling benefit runs from a $160 minimum to a $640 maximum, with a crisis benefit capped at $500.

A household may claim benefits for more than one energy utility, ranking them Priority 1 through Priority 5, and approved amounts are applied to each account in that order.

Power AZ is administered alongside LIHEAP for the household that earns slightly too much for it. The requirements are the same except that the income ceiling reaches 100 percent of State Median Income. An applicant may receive a standard benefit from one program or the other, not both, so the useful question at intake is which file to open rather than whether to apply twice.

The Arizona Department of Housing manages the state program. SRP contributes $875,000 a year to that program and up to $9,000 per eligible household on top of federal funding, and the eligible work list reads like a desert repair list: window shading, insulation, air-conditioning duct sealing, repair or replacement of space heating and cooling equipment, and repair or replacement of evaporative coolers. In a 1970s Phoenix house with ducts running through an attic at 150 to 170 degrees, sealing those ducts is not a comfort upgrade — it is the largest recoverable loss in the system. The City of Phoenix also runs a free, grant-funded weatherization program for income-eligible owners and renters, delivered through the Arizona Department of Housing using DOE, LIHEAP, APS, SRP and Southwest Gas funds.

Capacity is the catch, and the numbers say so plainly. In fiscal 2024 Arizona's program served 24,978 cooling households and 10,706 crisis households, but only 537 weatherization households. An application filed in March, before the April 1 opening of the Maricopa County cooling season, sits in a far shorter queue than one filed in the second week of July.

Do APS and SRP have crisis bill assistance or medical-need protections in summer?

The APS Energy Support program is an ongoing discount rather than a one-time grant. Qualified customers receive 25 percent off, up to $95 a month, or 60 percent off, up to $165 a month, based on household income and family size. Energy Support with Medical runs 35 percent off, up to $95 a month, or 60 percent off, up to $165 a month. Eligibility is a gross monthly household income at or below 200 percent of the federal poverty guidelines. One detail changes the arithmetic on a Phoenix summer bill: the discount applies to the cost of electricity only, not to the regulatory assessment, franchise fee, taxes or Service Schedule 1 charges. The programs are funded by APS customers and approved by the Arizona Corporation Commission.

For an emergency, APS states that customers in a financial bind may qualify for up to $1,000 per year in bill payment assistance through Crisis Bill Assistance, under guidelines effective July 1, 2026. A separate channel runs through The Salvation Army: APS customers can receive up to $500 in bill assistance regardless of income, and APS is matching total contributions up to $500,000 from January 1 through December 31, 2026. Matching funds are finite, which argues for calling in June rather than October.

The program that matters most when the equipment itself has failed is easy to miss. APS states that limited income homeowners may qualify for financial help to fix or replace broken air conditioner units through partner organizations — AllThrive365, covering La Paz, Maricopa, Pinal, Yavapai and Yuma counties, and Wildfire, whose program covers all of Arizona. APS also offers weatherization for limited income customers, under which qualifying households may receive free energy-efficient home improvements such as extra insulation and air conditioning maintenance.

SRP is a public power utility and sets its own rules. Its Medical Preparedness Program requires the patient to use at least one SRP-approved, electric-dependent FDA Class III medical device at home, with the account on a residential price plan; once approved, the application is valid for 36 months. SRP is direct about the limits: medical status does not guarantee that service will not be disconnected for an unpaid electric bill, medical accounts are subject to the same payment terms as other residential accounts, and an account subject to disconnection may have a service extender installed that limits the energy supplied until the past-due balance is paid or a payment arrangement is in place. M-Power prepay customers can request an advance, which is added to the account balance and repaid automatically, with 35 percent of each future energy purchase going toward the advance. SRP also runs an income-qualified bill discount, but its name and monthly amount have changed in recent years, so the figure should be confirmed directly at srpnet.com or by phone rather than taken from any third-party page.

For Phoenix-area homeowners who want this looked at on their own system, Phoenix Cooling Guide recommends AZ Trusted Air LLC (ROC 317368), whose owner Tom Mattingly reviews this guide. (623) 252-6403 · second opinion on a quote.

Can my power be shut off during extreme heat in Arizona?

The Commission's rules give regulated electric utilities a choice between two disconnection protections during extreme weather: suspend disconnection when the forecast temperature is above 95 degrees Fahrenheit or below 32 degrees, or use the June 1 through October 15 moratorium window. Arizona Public Service, Tucson Electric Power and UNS Electric have opted not to disconnect residential customers from June 1 through October 15. Regulated electric cooperatives in Arizona have company-specific disconnection tariffs, so a household outside the big utility footprints — on a cooperative serving the fringes of the Valley or the corridor toward Payson and Globe — needs to read that particular tariff rather than assume the calendar applies.

APS carries an additional layer. Under a settlement signed with the Attorney General's office, APS adds no disconnection on days where temperatures exceed 95 degrees Fahrenheit. In practical terms, Phoenix clears 95 degrees on most days from May into October, so the two protections overlap heavily — but the fixed date window is the cleaner one to rely on, because it does not depend on a daily forecast.

SRP is not rate-regulated by the Commission and publishes its own credit policy. During July and August, and whenever the National Weather Service issues an Extreme Heat Warning, SRP suspends disconnection of service for nonpayment, and it does not disconnect on holidays. Bills continue to generate during that period and are due under standard terms. The gap worth noticing is June, September and early October: outside an Extreme Heat Warning, those months are not automatically covered, and a 105-degree day in late September is still a 105-degree day.

None of this is forgiveness. The Commission states plainly that customers remain responsible for paying for all energy consumed prior to and during the moratorium, which is why a household that stops paying in June meets the whole summer at once in mid-October. Two SRP billing details sharpen that landing. SRP temporarily lowered prices by $0.0038 per kWh during the May through October 2026 billing cycles, with prices returning to normal levels effective with the November 2026 billing cycle. And SRP bills the summer rate based on the meter-read date, so if the meter is read on May 14, all usage on that bill is billed at the summer rate even though some of it occurred in April. The action item is unglamorous: call before October 15, ask for a payment arrangement in writing, and file the LIHEAP or crisis application in the same week rather than after the disconnect notice arrives.

Where can seniors and vulnerable residents get emergency cooling help?

The Heat Relief Network is a coordinated county-wide system rather than a single building. The Maricopa County Department of Public Health and the Maricopa Association of Governments launch it annually on May 1, providing free cooled spaces and other resources to the public through September 30. The interactive map covers more than 200 locations countywide for indoor cooling and respite, hydration stations and donation sites, which means the nearest option for most Valley addresses is a short drive rather than a trip downtown.

For a household that cannot drive, the phone line does more than give directions. 211 Arizona live operators take calls in English and Spanish from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily to help residents find nearby cooling centers, transportation help, utility support or emergency air conditioning repair, and residents can call 211 for a free ride to a cooling center. That single number reaches the utility assistance programs, the community action agency intake and the cooling sites without the caller having to know which agency owns which program.

Overnight coverage has expanded, which matters in a city where the overnight low can stay near 90 degrees. County initiatives for the 2025 season, running May 1 to September 23, included 24 supported heat relief sites, among them a 24/7 respite center in downtown Phoenix and an overnight respite site at the Chandler Senior Center. For 2026 the county describes intergovernmental agreements with Phoenix, Glendale, Chandler, Mesa and Tempe supporting expanded hours and access to cooling and respite centers, including overnight sites in Phoenix and Chandler, plus call center support through 211 Arizona that includes transportation assistance for high-risk individuals.

The trend line suggests the effort is doing something. Preliminary Maricopa County data for 2025 show 427 heat-related deaths, down from 608 in 2024 and 645 in 2023, which the health department attributes in part to expanded heat relief efforts supported primarily by American Rescue Plan Act funding beginning in summer 2024. For an older resident living alone in a Valley house, the planning that follows from those numbers is specific: enroll in the SRP Medical Preparedness Program before the season rather than during an outage, since approval lasts 36 months; keep the 211 number and the azmag.gov/heatrelief map somewhere findable; and decide in advance which relative, neighbour or cooling site the household goes to if the compressor quits on a 115-degree afternoon, because indoor temperatures in an uncooled Phoenix house become dangerous long before a repair can be scheduled.