NYSEG AND RG&E ANNOUNCE ELECTRIC AND GAS BILL RELIEF FOR INCOME-ELIGIBLE CUSTOMERS

BINGHAMTON, NY — June 16, 2022 — New York State Electric & Gas (NYSEG) and  Rochester Gas and Electric (RG&E) today announced their participation in a statewide  program to help low income customers facing unprecedented amounts of unpaid balances due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Electric and Gas Bill Relief Program was approved  earlier today by the New York State Public Service Commission (NYSPSC) and has two  parts; the first is the distribution of $250 million, included in the New York State 2022-2023  budget, for use statewide to provide bill credits to residential natural gas and electric  customers enrolled in the utilities’ low-income bill discount programs, also known as the  Energy Assistance Program (EAP), who have past-due bills for service through March 2022. The NYSEG and RG&E share of the $250 million is $5.8 million for NYSEG and $9  million for RG&E low-income customers. In addition to this state budget-funded program,  the NYSPSC has approved NYSEG and RG&E to provide additional bill relief credits to  income-eligible customers of approximately $16 million at NYSEG and $20 million at  RG&E. 

“We are committed to the communities we serve throughout New York, and this new  program will provide relief to our customers who are in the greatest need,” said Patricia  Nilsen, incoming president and CEO of NYSEG and RG&E. “We commend Governor Kathy  Hochul and the New York State Legislature for their support of this program to assist our  most vulnerable customers in these unprecedented and challenging times. The economic  effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have put a tremendous strain on our neighbors, and we  will continue to work with our customers to help them manage their account balances.” 

There are approximately 22,000 customers enrolled in the NYSEG EAP with unpaid  balances, and 17,000 customers in the RG&E EAP with unpaid balances.

Getting Help 

Customers who are pre-qualified do not need to take any action or apply as bill credits will  be automatically processed. Those eligible customers include: 

  • Residential customers enrolled in the EAP as of July 1, 2022 
  • Residential customers newly enrolled for the rest of 2022 
  • Residential customers who have received benefits under the Emergency Rental  Assistance Program (ERAP) or Regular Arrears Supplement (RAS) public  assistance programs in the 2021-2022 heating season 

New York State customers are enrolled in their utility providers’ EAP automatically through  the sharing of data with the NYS Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance (OTDA).  Additionally, customers can apply for the EAP program by providing documentation of  participation in a qualifying governmental assistance program. To verify enrollment in the  Energy Assistance Program, NYSEG customers can log onto nyseg.com/MyAccount and  RG&E customers can log onto rge.com/MyAccount to confirm enrollment on their bill. 

NYSEG and RG&E customers can also visit nyseg.com/HelpWithBill or  rge.com/HelpWithBill to apply and for more information on other assistance programs,  Budget Billing and payment plans.  

NYSEG and RG&E are subsidiaries of AVANGRID, Inc.