Helping Our Customers Through Challenging Times
November 10, 2020
Since the pandemic began, Duquesne Light Company (DLC) has been committed to supporting our customers who may be struggling to pay their electric bills because of lost or reduced wages or new expenses. And with the blanket moratorium on utility shut-offs now lifted in Pennsylvania, we want to remind our customers about all the ways they can still get help:
- Flexible payment arrangements: Enrolling in a payment arrangement is fast and easy with our new online self-service portal. Simply enter your income and household information and you could qualify for a convenient payment arrangement, which spreads out your overdue electric balance into manageable monthly payments.
- LIHEAP cash grant: The Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) provides cash grants of up to $1,000 to help low-income households pay some energy costs associated with heating their homes. In emergency situations, such as broken heating equipment, LIHEAP also offers crisis grants.
- Dollar Energy Fund: We proudly partner with Dollar Energy Fund to provide grants of up to $500 to limited-income households, which can be used toward your electric bill. Due to the pandemic, we expanded income eligibility for these grants and added $375,000 of extra funding to support customers. The additional funding matched a $375,000 contribution from the Pennsylvania Office of Consumer Advocate, resulting in $750,000 in total added funds.
- Customer Assistance Program: If you’re facing a long-term financial hardship, our Customer Assistance Program can help forgive unpaid balances and reduce your monthly payments.
- Budget billing: Your electric usage can vary from month to month, but your bill doesn't have to. Enroll in budget billing to evenly spread out your electric expense across the year.
Helping Small Businesses
DLC believes that small businesses are the foundation of our communities, with many of them currently facing challenges they’ve never seen before. In addition to helping our residential customers, we’re supporting our small- and mid-size business customers with these programs:
- Flexible payment arrangements: Just as we are with residential customers, we’re offering flexible payment arrangements to our business customers in need to help spread out overdue electric balances into manageable monthly payments.
- Summary billing: If you’re managing more than one electric account, summary billing can help you stay organized and on track. We’ll compile all of your accounts onto one easy-to-understand bill.
- Online Business Center: We’ve launched an online Business Center where you can find the assistance and energy-saving tools you need. We also have a team of customer service representatives dedicated to supporting our business customers through these challenging times.
To learn more about these options, call our Business Center at 412-393-7200.
Save Energy, Save Money
You can also save money by reducing your energy usage. Here’s how to get started:
- Monitor your usage: Through your online or mobile DLC account, you can monitor your daily energy usage, see how much you’re using compared to your neighbors, and find ways to save.
- Energy audit: Conduct an online energy audit or schedule a whole-house energy audit to make your home more comfortable and identify ways you could save energy.
- Online marketplace: If you’re shopping for an energy-efficient appliance or product, take advantage of our online marketplace. You can compare products across major retailers, receive price-drop notifications and discover rebates. Through the end of the year, DLC’s offering a $50 rebate on smart thermostats.
For a full listing of our payment assistance offerings and energy-saving tools, visit our Here to Help resource center.