Consumer Information

Contact your local electric or gas company ... to learn about the protections and services which may be available to help you. Member companies' toll free telephone numbers and web links follow below for your convenience. Some programs may require that you meet certain income limits and be payment troubled to qualify.

PA residents can seek assistance and a range of services for themselves and their families from professionally-trained staff members at County Assistance Offices. CLICK HERE to locate the county where you live to find a County Assistance Office near you.

Budget Billing. All residential customers may contact their electric or natural gas company and request budget billing at any time. Each monthly bill will be the same amount. The company may adjust the bill four times a year, up or down, depending on the customer's usage.

Customer Assistance Program (CAP). CAPs can lower your monthly utility bill. CAPs may also remove the amount you already owe. The different CAP names are shown beside the company names below. The company works with the customer to determine what the customer can pay verses the cost of energy used.

Customer Assistance Referral and Evaluation Program (CARES). The CARES program helps customers with special needs. CARES may help you find ways to pay your utility bill. For example, special needs are customers who are experiencing family emergencies, divorce, unemployment, or medical emergencies. The goal is to provide support and direction to help customers pay their utility bills.

Low-Income Usage Reduction Program (LIURP). LIURP helps low-income residential customers lower the amount of electricity or natural gas used each month. Typically, the company may install energy saving features in your home to help reduce bills. For example, smaller bills means your payment covers a greater portion of the bill, or perhaps covers the whole bill.

Hardship Funds. Utility company hardship funds provide cash assistance to utility customers to help them pay their utility bills. Hardship funds provide assistance grants to customers who "fall through the cracks" of other financial assistance programs, or to those who still have a critical need for assistance after the other resources have been exhausted. The funds make payments directly to companies on behalf of eligible customers.

Pennsylvania Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP). The Pennsylvania Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) helps low income people pay their heating bills through home heating energy assistance grants and crisis grants. You need not have an unpaid bill to receive home heating energy assistance. You can receive this money without being in the Cash Assistance program. No lien is placed on your property if you receive this help.

** CLICK HERE for a direct link to the PA Department of Welfare's Heating Assistance/LIHEAP web site.

If a person is eligible for LIHEAP, a payment will be sent directly to the utility/fuel dealer, and the payment will be credited on the person's bill. In some cases, a check may be mailed to the recipient.

Crisis Grants

Additional money is available to individuals if they have an emergency situation and are in jeopardy of losing their heat. Emergency situations include:

broken heating equipment or leaking lines that must be fixed or replaced
lack of fuel
termination of utility service
danger of being without fuel or of having utility service terminated

Assistance with energy emergency situations is available 24 hours a day. For more information, contact your local County Assistance Office.

How to Apply

Be sure to apply in the county in which you live. Here is the list of To apply you will need the following:

Names of people in the household
Dates of birth for people in the household
Social Security Numbers for all household members
Proof of income for members of the household
A copy of a recent heating bill

Questions About LIHEAP

If you have questions about LIHEAP you may call your County Assistance Office or the toll-free LIHEAP hotline at 1-866-857-7095 (individuals with hearing impairments may call the TDD number at 1-800-451-5886).

(Source: PA Dept. of Public Welfare)

LIHEAP and EAPA Member Company Contact Information

Utility Assistance Programs

Company Name	LIHEAP Referral	Utility Assistance Programs
Electric
Allegheny Power *Program Name: LIPURP*	Refer directly to county assistance office	(800) 207-1250
Duquesne Light Co. Program Name: CAP	Refer directly to county assistance office	(888) 393-7600
Metropolitan Edison Co. Program Name: CAP	Refer directly to county assistance office	(800) 207-9276
PECO Energy Co. Program Name: CAP	(800) 34HELP4 (344-3574)	(800) 744-7040
Pennsylvania Electric Co. Program Name: CAP	Refer directly to county assistance office	(800) 207-9276
Pennsylvania Power Co. Program Name: CAP	Refer directly to county assistance office	(800) 207-9276
PPL Electric Utilities *Program Name: On-Track*	Refer directly to county assistance office	(800) 358-6623
UGI-Electric Utilities Program Name: LISHP	(800) UGI-WARM (844-9276)	(800) 340 5394
Natural Gas
Columbia Gas of PA Program Name: CAP	(800) 272-2714	(800) 537-7431
Dominion Peoples *Program Name: Customer Assistance*	(800) 400-WARM (9276)	(800) 400-9276 (WARM)
Equitable Gas Co. Program Name: EAP	(800) 644-8090	(412) 395-3050 - Allegheny Co. (800) 654-6335 - Outside Allegheny Co.
National Fuel Gas Distirbution Corp. Program Name: LIRA	Refer directly to county assistance office	(800) 365-3234
UGI Penn Natural Gas Program Name: Partner's Program	Refer directly to county assistance office	(800) 490-8605
Philadelphia Gas Works Program Name: CRP	Refer directly to county assistance office	(215) 235-1000
PPL Gas Utilities Program Name: CAP	Refer directly to county assistance office	(800) 652-0550
UGI - Gas Utilities Program Name: LISHP	(800) UGI-WARM (844-9276)	(800) 340-5394

* Source: PA Public Utility Commission

As a consumer in Pennsylvania, you have an option to choose who generates your electricity and supplies your natural gas.

Pennsylvania’s electricity market was deregulated on December 3,1996, when Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge signed into law the Pennsylvania Electric Generation Customer Choice & Competition Act, opening the door for electricity customers in the state to select the supplier of their electricity. Under the law, competition would be phased in from November 1997 through January 1, 2001—at which point all Pennsylvanians would have the freedom to select their electricity providers.

Electricity services can be divided into three parts: generation, transmission and distribution. Generation is the production of electricity. Transmission is the movement of electricity at high voltage from a power plant, where it is generated to its point of distribution. Distribution is the process of delivering electric energy from the transmission system to consumers utilizing all the wires, transformers, substations, and other equipment commonly seen in our neighborhoods and where we work.

It is the generation component of electricity service that was opened to competition. Generating companies and other power suppliers compete to serve your electricity needs, but distribution services continue to be provided by your local electric utility.

Natural Gas

Competition for Pennsylvania’s gas customers began on November 1, 1999, after Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge signed House Bill 1331 (Act 21) into law. Act 21 provides for Pennsylvania’s gas customers to chose the company that supplies their natural gas.

Natural gas service can be divided into three parts: commodity, transmission and distribution.

Commodity refers to the natural gas which comes from the gas well. Transmission involves moving the natural gas from the gas well through a series of underground pipelines called the interstate transportation system. This system delivers the natural gas to your natural gas distribution company. Distribution is how your natural gas distribution company sends the natural gas to your home though underground pipelines.

It is the supplier of the natural gas that is being opened to competition. Regardless of whether or not you chose a new supplier, your natural gas distribution company will continue to provide your distribution service, make repairs to its delivery system and respond to emergencies.

The Council for Utility Choice (a non-profit corporation of individuals from PA’s PUC, PA Rural Development Council, Governor’s Advisory Commission on Latino Affairs, Governor’s Advisory Council on African-American Affairs, electric, natural gas and telephone associations, public school educators and community-based organizations) along with PA’s Public Utility Commission meet regularly to help assure that all Pennsylvanians understand competition.

The Council for Utility Choice created a web site where consumers may find educational materials and other useful information on customer choice, such as … how to shop and compare prices, how to choose suppliers, contact information for PA’s utility companies, consumer rights, resources available to customers on limited incomes, and much more. www.utilitychoice.org

Beginning July 1, 1998, Pennsylvania electricity consumers started receiving information from their local electric utilities about enrolling in the Pennsylvania electric choice program. Customers who wish to participate in the first phase of competition must fill out registration cards and return them. Those who are selected for the first phase will begin shopping for new providers on September 1, 1998, for delivery of electricity on January 1, 1999.

"Customer Choice is coming---and the Energy Association of Pennsylvania wants you to be prepared!"

On December 3, 1996, electricity history was made in Pennsylvania-Governor Tom Ridge signed into law a bill that will bring competition to the Pennsylvania electricity industry. That means all customers will have the ability to choose the company that supplies their electricity.

Electric service can be divided into three parts: generation, transmission, and distribution. Generation is the production of electricity. Transmission is the movement of electricity at high voltage from a power plant, where it is generated to its point of distribution. Distribution is the process of delivering electric energy from the transmission system to consumers utilizing all the wires, transformers, substations, and other equipment commonly seen in our neighborhoods and where we work.

It is the generation component of electricity service that is being opened to competition. Generating companies and other power suppliers will be competing to serve your electricity needs, but distribution services will continue to be provided by your local electric utility.

Some Pennsylvania electricity customers, through pilot retail access programs, already are experimenting with the competitive market. They are shopping for the best deal they can get from competitive suppliers.