Help paying your electric bill in Pennsylvania

Tell the finder your company, your household and your income. It shows the help you may fit, how to apply and the official link for each. It stores nothing and sends nothing.

This is a screening guide, not a decision. DHS, your utility or the fund decides after it checks your proof of income. The limits are the 2026 poverty-line figures, read October 20, 2026.

Not sure of your company? Its name is at the top of your bill. The PUC says it does not cover co-ops or utilities run by a city, a borough or a township, so the finder tells you to call yours.

LIHEAP is the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program. It is federal money, and the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services (DHS) runs it. A grant is not a loan, so you never pay it back. You do not need an unpaid bill or other public aid to apply. Renters and owners can both apply.

1. NowCheck your mail. If you got LIHEAP last season, DHS plans to send you a form or a postcard that points to COMPASS, so you can apply early.
2. November 2, 2026The 2026-27 season is scheduled to open for cash and crisis grants.
3. December 1 to March 31The PUC's winter shutoff rule is in force. It changes how DHS treats a shutoff notice (see below).
4. February 2027DHS plans to update the income limits.
5. April 23, 2027The season is scheduled to end.

LIHEAP pays for heat, not for all power. Your cash grant goes to the company that sells your main heat. With electric heat, that is your electric company. With gas, oil or another fuel, it goes to that company, so it will not lower your electric bill. A crisis grant can still help when a shutoff would leave you without heat. That includes electricity that runs your furnace or pump.

How to apply

1. 1
   Choose a way to apply.

   Use COMPASS online. Or call the LIHEAP hotline at 1-866-857-7095 on weekdays and ask for a form. Or get a form at your county assistance office. In Philadelphia you can call (215) 560-1583.

2. 2
   Collect what DHS asks for.

   You need the names, birth dates and Social Security numbers of everyone in the home. You also need proof of income for each person and a recent heating bill.

3. 3
   Apply once the season opens.

   You can apply any day from November 2, 2026 through April 23, 2027. You must apply again every year.

4. 4
   Wait for the notice.

   DHS mails a written notice that says if you qualify and how much you get. You can follow your application on Track My Benefits.

5. 5
   Ask for a crisis grant if your heat is at risk.

   DHS says help with heating crises is available 24 hours a day. In most counties you call your county assistance office. DHS says eligible households get crisis help within 10 business days, and sooner if the crisis is life-threatening.

To see grant sizes for your fuel and county, use DHS's benefit table.

What counts as a crisis. DHS lists broken heating equipment, no fuel, less than 15 days of fuel, a shutoff and the danger of a shutoff. A past-due bill alone is not a crisis unless a shutoff would follow. DHS's 2026-27 plan is not clear about shutoff notices from utilities the PUC regulates when they are dated December 1 to March 31. One part says they do not count. Another says DHS will accept them from February 1, 2027. If your power is already off, that counts. Ask your county assistance office how it will treat your notice.

Most help on this page uses the federal poverty line. LIHEAP and utility assistance programs (CAP) stop at 150% of it. Some hardship funds and free repair programs go to 200% or 250%. Count the total income, before taxes, of everyone in the home.

For each extra person, add $8,520 at 150%, $11,360 at 200% and $14,200 at 250%. DHS and PPL publish the 150% and 250% figures. The 200% column is our math: twice the poverty line. The PUC lists 150% by the month: $1,995 for one person and $4,125 for four. DHS says its table took effect February 1, 2026, and it plans an update in February 2027.

Some utilities let you use your last 30 days of income or your last 12 months, whichever shows your true yearly income. FirstEnergy says so in its CAP brochure. If your pay just dropped, ask your utility which it uses.

A shutoff notice is a warning, not a shutoff. By PUC rule, the utility must send it in writing at least 10 days before the shutoff date. The notice stays good for 60 days. The shutoff can come any time from day 11 to day 60.

Before it cuts you off, the utility must also try to reach you at least 3 days ahead. It can call on two separate days, visit your home once, or text or email you if you said yes to that. A shutoff for unpaid bills can happen only from Monday through Thursday.

Your notice must clearly show:

• the reason and an itemized amount due
• the date on or after which service ends, unless you pay, set a plan, join CAP, file a dispute or fix the cause
• the largest possible fee to reconnect you
• that the notice lasts 60 days
• your utility's phone number and where to apply for its assistance programs
• the PUC's number, 1-800-692-7380, and your right to complain
• a notice about medical certificates

Call first, and keep notes. Ask for a payment plan, the assistance program and a hold on the shutoff. Write down the date, the name and what they promised. If you disagree with a charge, say so and read why your bill may be high.

A payment plan. The utility must offer you one plan and may have to offer another. If you broke two or more earlier plans, it can ask for the whole balance. You can turn down a plan you cannot pay. Then you can file a PUC complaint or call 1-800-692-7380. The notice itself says the PUC may delay the shutoff if you file before the shutoff date.

A medical certificate. The PUC's guidance says the utility must hold a shutoff for up to 30 days once it accepts a certificate. You can renew it. The utility need not accept more than two renewals if you stop paying current bills, and you must keep paying them. If service is already off, a certificate can get it back on within 24 hours while you are still a customer. After 30 days off, you count as a new applicant. Get the PUC's guidance and its standard form, or use your utility's form.

A helper on the account. You can name a neighbor, a friend or a relative to get copies of late and shutoff notices. That person does not owe the bill. If you have a Protection from Abuse order, ask your utility about extra protection.

From December 1 through March 31, an electric utility may not shut off a home with an income at or below 250% of the poverty line. That is $39,900 a year for one person and $82,500 for four. The rule is 52 Pa. Code § 56.100. The utility can still ask the PUC for leave to shut off a home after it has tried the notice steps. Theft, tampering and unsafe conditions are not covered. Homes above 250% get no winter ban.

The utility uses the household size and income it has on file. Call and give them, so it knows you are covered. If your landlord holds the account for a home you rent, the rule also bars a winter shutoff of the home, with a few exceptions. From December 1 to March 31, the utility must restore service within 24 hours after you pay and meet its conditions. If it must dig up a street or sidewalk, it has seven days. The rest of the year, it has three to seven days.

Winter protection ends on March 31. In 2026 the PUC's reports show 2,203 shutoffs in March and 37,790 in April. Use the cold months to set up help, before April. The PUC proposed new Chapter 56 rules in 2026, and comments ended August 28, 2026. The rules above are the ones in force on October 20, 2026. They could change.

CAP means Customer Assistance Program. Each utility uses its own name: PECO CAP, PPL OnTrack, Duquesne CAP, FirstEnergy PCAP and UGI CAP. You pay a set share of your income each month. The program credits the rest of your bill, up to a yearly limit. It can also forgive part of what you owe.

Here is an example. A PECO home has four people, electric heat and $2,000 a month in income. That is about 73% of the poverty line. PECO's plan sets the bill at 10% of income, or $200 a month. With gas heat the share is 4%, or $80. If the real bill is lower, the home pays the lower amount.

• Yearly credit limits. PECO's run from $1,925 to $4,284, PPL's from $1,250 to $3,150, Duquesne's from $1,100 to $2,700 and FirstEnergy's from $1,355 to $3,282. UGI has no limit. If you use up the credit early, you pay the full bill, or a budget bill at PPL. PECO writes to you at 75% and 90% of your limit.
• Old debt. If you owe money when you join, CAP sets it aside and forgives a little each month you pay on time. That is one-twelfth a month at PECO and FirstEnergy, one thirty-sixth at Duquesne and UGI, and over 24 months at PPL.
• Keep paying. FirstEnergy says a pending CAP application does not stop a shutoff, and a CAP home can still be shut off if the bill goes unpaid.
• Keep your papers current. Programs ask you to renew. FirstEnergy drops homes that do not recertify, and the full balance comes due.

To apply, call your utility or use its page: PECO, PPL OnTrack, Duquesne Light, FirstEnergy or UGI. The phone list below has every number.

Most help leaves your choice of supplier alone. CAP does not. The state's PA Power Switch site says CAP customers cannot shop. The utilities' plans back that up:

• FirstEnergy. A PCAP home must buy at the utility's price. If you have a supplier when you enroll, FirstEnergy moves you back, and the supplier cannot charge a cancel fee.
• PPL. Its plan makes a home end its supplier contract before OnTrack accepts it.
• PECO. Its plan lists default service from PECO as a rule of CAP.
• Duquesne and UGI. The plan papers we read do not spell out the rule. Ask before you sign anything.

The reason is in a PUC order from April 20, 2023. The PUC dropped a plan to set CAP shopping rules after it saw the PPL and FirstEnergy results. In FirstEnergy's area, CAP homes that shopped paid about $4 million more than the utility's price between 2019 and 2021. In 2021, 29.5% of those homes were shut off, against 8.8% of CAP homes that stayed on the utility's price. PPL found that shoppers used up their credits faster.

We found no rule that bars shopping if you only get LIHEAP, a hardship grant or a payment plan. PA Power Switch names only CAP. Still, a new supplier does not erase what you owe. If you may join CAP soon, do not sign a contract first. If you are paid up and above the income lines, your price to compare is the lever: read our guide to the price to compare and to PA Power Switch.

A hardship fund is a charity grant that pays your utility directly. Most want a shutoff notice or a shutoff, a past-due balance and an income under a set line. Some ask you to apply for LIHEAP first. Many take applications through local agencies, so ask your utility which one to use.

Dollar Energy Fund says its 2026-27 Hardship Program opened October 1, 2026. It takes applications first come, first served through September 30, 2027, while money lasts. It serves homes with a shutoff or a pending shutoff. A grant covers the amount needed to keep or restore service, up to each utility's cap. The fund may ask for a sincere effort to pay over the past three months. It may also ask you to try LIHEAP first.

Duquesne's report to the PUC in October 2025 said its fund asks for at least $150 paid in the past 90 days, or three CAP payments in a row, and a balance of at least $100. It allows one grant a calendar year. PECO's MEAF allows one grant in 12 months. In Philadelphia, UESF's own page lists a 150% limit for its PECO grant and 200% for MEAF, so ask UESF which applies.

• Free energy-saving work. PECO's LIURP, PPL's WRAP and FirstEnergy's WARM give energy-saving products and work at no cost to homes up to 200% of the poverty line. Some also look at how much power you use. FirstEnergy asks for at least 375 kWh a month and 6,000 kWh a year. The state's Weatherization Assistance Program works through local agencies. Call (866) 466-3972.
• Budget billing. It averages your bills over 12 months, so each payment is the same. It does not lower your total. PA Power Switch says the company can change the amount up to four times a year.
• PA 211. Dial 211 or text your ZIP code to 898-211. It lists local help with bills. You can also search PA 211.
• Use less. The PUC's Prepare Now page has tips for the cold months.

Scammers pose as utilities and agencies. The PUC says most scams follow one pattern: a call that sounds official, a demand to act right away, and a request to pay with a prepaid card, a gift card or a wire. The PUC's advice is to call your utility directly if you are unsure who called.

If you think you were scammed, call the PUC at 1-800-692-7380. DHS has a scam page and a fraud tip line at 1-844-347-8477.

For hearing or speech needs, dial 711 for the Telecommunications Relay Service. The PUC says it does not cover rural electric co-ops or utilities run by a city, a borough or a township. Call that company. For a co-op you can also reach the PA Rural Electric Association.