PECO program assists small business customers with past due gas bills
New natural gas grant program offers eligible businesses $500 toward their bill.
PECO has launched a Natural Gas Grant Program designed to assist certain small business customers that have fallen behind on their gas bills.
Eligible customers within the utility’s natural gas service territory can apply for a onetime, $500 grant toward payment on an existing PECO natural gas account. The grant will be applied directly to the customer’s bill and will lower past-due balances.
“We’re committed to supporting our small-business customers,” PECO President and CEO Mike Innocenzo said in a statement announcing the program. “With this new grant program, we will help local businesses during these challenging economic times, while continuing to deliver safe and reliable service and helping customers save energy and money.”
Eligible applicants for the program can apply now at peco. com/GasGrant. Businesses must be an existing PECO natural gas customer in the company’s service area, which includes Bucks, Chester, Delaware, and Montgomery counties as well as portions of Lancaster County. They must have an account in the name of the business, be on PECO’s GC (gas commercial service) rate and have fewer than 25 total employees.
The Small Business Natural Gas Grant Program will provide a total of $450,000 in grants to 900 local small-business customers with past due balances on a first-come, first-considered basis.
“The grant money will be allocated based on demand — and we hope as many customers as possible apply for the grants,” Funmi Williamson PECO’s senior vice president and chief customer officer, said in an emailed response to questions.
Once applications are approved, the bill credits are expected to be reflected on a customer’s bill within 60 days. Williamson said the company anticipates the grant money to be fully allocated over the next 12 months.
Williamson said PECO has seen an increase in small and midsize business customers with outstanding balances, a trend the company typically sees during the winter heating months.
“While we can’t pinpoint the specific factors driving these amounts, we do recognize that many customers are currently impacted by the present state of the economy. In a relatively short span, small businesses have had to navigate the pandemic, handle rising inflation and labor costs, and now maneuver through a possible economic recession,” she said. “These factors have challenged many of our local businesses. Additionally, a colder than usual December has been a contributing factor to these amounts.”
The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission recently approved PECO for a natural gas distribution rate increase to support investments in infrastructure, according to Williamson, resulting in an increase in the average small commercial customer of about $20 per month or 4.8%.
“Many small commercial customers purchase their natural gas supply from third parties, and the commodity price for natural gas has been trending down over the past few months. This is reflected in decreases in PECO’s natural gas default rate for those not purchasing supply from a third party,” she added.
Williamson said that over the past few years, PECO has provided assistance programs to customers experiencing financial hardships. The company’s first SCI Gas Grant program was launched in December 2021.
For customers facing challenges in managing their PECO bills, the company has a number of billing and assistance programs available.
“We also have the financial incentives and technical expertise available to help businesses of all types and sizes take greater control of their energy use, save money and improve their bottom line,” Williamson said.
She said customers can contact PECO’s care center to discuss payment arrangements and options as well as create an account at peco.com for tracking usage and costs and to set alerts. Small-business customers may also apply for incentives for the installation of high-efficiency equipment and arrange for an inperson energy analysis of their facility to identify areas where they can save energy and money at peco.com/SmallBusiness.
Businesses can also save energy and money by taking advantage of energy efficiency savings opportunities by visiting peco. com/WaysToSave or by calling 844-424-9728.
Philadelphia-based PECO delivers energy to nearly 1.7 million electric customers and more than 548,000 natural gas customers in southeastern Pennsylvania as of the end of January 2022.