ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Heating season is upon us. If you think you’re going to struggle keeping up with the cost of staying warm, you need to act soon to get some help. You can start applying for the Home Energy Assistance Program (HEAP) on Friday.

While RG&E hasn’t released its winter outlook out yet, industry experts predict the cost of both natural gas and electricity will be relatively similar to last year. But, this winter is likely to be colder so you’ll likely need a larger supply to stay warm. 

HEAP is available to low-income people and families. If you’re already receiving Temporary Assistance, SNAP or SSI, you’ll likely qualify. You can also qualify based on income. For example, a family of four with a monthly income of less than $6,390, could also likely get HEAP.

“Typically, RG&E has roughly around 48,000 customers who are enrolled in HEAP and remember those who are enrolled in HEAP are automatically eligible for the Energy Assistance Program or EAP and that comes in the form of an automatic monthly bill credit,” says Alexis Arnold, the communication manager for RG&E.

What if you’re worried about keeping up with your bills but don’t qualify for HEAP?

“We do offer budget billing and what that does is it spreads out a customer’s energy costs evenly over 12 months for a more predictable monthly payment. There are also other payment arrangements or options that we work with our customers on,” Arnold says. 

More information on HEAP at this link.

Cold Weather Protections – Nov. 1 to April 15

During the cold weather period of Nov. 1 to April 15, your utility has to make special efforts to determine if disconnection of your heat-related service will cause a problem to your health and safety. It will attempt to contact you or another adult at your home by phone or in person at least three days before the scheduled service shutoff. It will contact you again on the day of the service shutoff, to determine whether shutting off your heat-related service could cause serious harm to the health or safety of any resident in your home. If the utility finds that harm might result, it must notify the local Department of Social Services, which will then conduct its own investigation. Meanwhile, your utility cannot shut off your service for another 15 business days. 

If the utility finds that you may be unable to protect yourself from neglect or hazardous situations, it will notify an agency, such as your local Department of Social Services, to help you, and continue your heat-related service for at least another 15 business days. 

If your heat-related service is shut off and your utility was unable to make contact with an adult at your home prior to service disconnection, it will attempt to determine whether anyone is living in your residence and if so, whether there might be serious harm to that person’s health or safety. If there is reason to believe that there might be harm to a person as a result of your service being shut off, your utility will restore your service for 15 business days and notify the local Department of Social Services so that they can investigate.