Getting Help Paying Your Bills

Payment Plans

Many customers cannot afford to pay their utility bills and are not eligible for any of the special protections against shut-offs previously discussed in the section in this chapter called Special Protections Against Shut-offs. If you find yourself in this situation, you still are eligible for a payment plan.

Utility companies must provide customers with payment plans that allow a customer to take several months to pay overdue bills.³² You have the absolute right to spread payment of overdue bills over a minimum of four months.

Do not agree to pay more in a shorter amount of time if you cannot afford it. If your budget does not allow you to pay the balance in four months, you should ask for a longer amount of time. Try to work out an acceptable payment plan with the company.

If you qualify for the discount rate and/or fuel assistance (see the sections below) and have not received them, tell the company that you will apply and that this will reduce your future bills. This should make the company willing to negotiate a better payment plan (such as requiring less money up-front), since it indicates that you will be in a better position to make payments in the future.

Finally, you may be able to reduce the amount that you owe the company, and thereby get the company to agree to a better payment plan, by getting the low-income discount applied retroactively to your account. See the following section, Discount Rates.

If the utility company won't allow you enough time to pay your overdue bill, call the DPU and say that you want a longer payment plan than the company is offering because you can't afford to pay more quickly.

Discount Rates

Getting Discounted Rates on Future Bills

State law requires all non-municipal electric and gas companies to provide discounted rates to low-income customers who receive or are eligible for public benefits.³³ You can get a discount on your electric and gas bills if your income is at or below 60% of state median income (see the chart Massachusetts State Median Income) and you receive any benefits under any income-tested benefits program, including (but not limited to) the following benefits:

TAFDC, cash assistance,
EAEDC, cash assistance,
SSI, cash assistance,
State Veterans Services benefits,
Women, Infant & Children (WIC) benefits,
Emergency Assistance shelter benefits,
SNAP benefits (formerly Food Stamps),
MassHealth Basic or Standard,
MassHealth Essential,
Prescription Advantage Program,
Refugee Resettlement Program benefits,
Fuel assistance (LIHEAP),
Certain kinds of veterans' benefits, or
If your child is enrolled in Head Start or the School Breakfast or School Lunch Program.

The discounted rates can lower your bills by roughly 20% to 25% depending on the company, and therefore can save you a substantial amount of money each year. See the chart Massachusetts State Median Income. You can also get discounts from most local telephone companies if you receive:

TAFDC, cash assistance,
EAEDC, cash assistance,
SSI, cash assistance,
MassHealth Basic or Standard,
SNAP benefits (formerly Food Stamps),
Fuel assistance (LIHEAP),
Head Start, if living on tribal lands.

The "Lifeline" discount is approximately $18 per month off basic local service. The "Link-Up" discount gives you half off of the installation fee and allows you to pay that fee in monthly installments over the course of a year.³⁴

Getting the Discounts Applied Retroactively

There are three different ways that discount rates can be applied retroactively.

First, at least one company NGRID Gas (was KeySpan) routinely puts customers who receive fuel assistance onto the discount rates as of November 1. This is regardless of when the customer actually applies for and gets approved for fuel assistance during the winter months. Therefore, for companies other than NGRID Gas, if you receive fuel assistance, you should ask to be placed on the discount rate back to November 1.

Note

While there are no rules or regulations that require companies to do this, some companies will do this if requested.

Second, if you apply on your own to get the discount rates, you should be (but generally are not) placed on the discount rate back to the day of application. For example, if the company takes two months to process the discount rate application, you should not lose two months of the discount, but should instead ask to be placed on the discount rate as of the date of your application. But, again, there are no rules or regulations that require the company to do so.

Third, every company in the state has voluntarily agreed that it will place customers on the discount rate retroactively, if the customer has in fact been eligible for the rate for some period of time, but did not know to apply. Customers themselves cannot call the company to ask for this type of retroactive application of the discount. Only advocates can do so, on behalf of their clients-customers, and only certain specified individuals at the companies will respond to these requests. If you are an advocate and need more information about how to contact the company, call Charlie Harak at National Consumer Law Center at 617-542-8010.

Fuel Assistance Program

The state operates a fuel assistance program that assists low-income households in paying their heating-related bills. The program is run by the Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD). Gas customers are eligible for fuel assistance only if they use gas for home heating. Electric customers are eligible if they heat with electricity or use electricity to operate their heating system; for example, if the motors or fans on an oil-fired furnace run on electricity.

All households earning less than 60% of state median income are financially eligible for fuel assistance. The chart Massachusetts State Median Income will tell you, based on your family size, whether you are financially eligible.

The actual amount of assistance has varied somewhat over the past few years. The amount that you receive will depend on your income, household size, and whether you live in subsidized housing.

You must apply for fuel assistance between November and March. To find out where to apply in your area, call 800-632-8175 or go to: http://www.mass.gov/hed/community/energy/cold-relief-information.html.

Private Sources

Many utility companies voluntarily participate in a program called the Good Neighbor Fund, run by the Salvation Army.

This fund provides modest payments, generally up to $275, to help people pay their gas, electric, and oil bills. To be eligible for payments, a family must have income between 200% and 275% of the federal poverty level (see 2011 Government Poverty Guidelines chart). To find out more about the Good Neighbor Fund, contact your local Salvation Army.

In addition to the Good Neighbor Fund, there are statewide and local charities that sometimes help people with their heating bills. There is no central listing of all of these charitable sources, but a good place to start is by calling the United Way, the local chapter of St. Vincent dePaul or local churches.

In addition, Citizens' Energy often provides up to 100 gallons of free oil (or a sharply discounted price on an oil purchase), usually through the local community action programs and other agencies that operate the fuel assistance program. To learn more about the Citizens' Energy Program, contact your local fuel assistance agency. To locate your local fuel assistance agency, you can go to: http://www.mass.gov/hed/community/energy/cold-relief-information.html.

You can also download a brochure called " pdf icon Cold Relief" which has information on it.

Relocation Benefits

The Department of Transitional Assistance (DTA) will pay up to $1,000 to help get permanent housing for some families who are leaving a shelter or a teen living program. This benefit may be used for advance rent, security deposit, rent or utility arrears, moving expenses or other relocation costs. The relocation benefit is available through a DTA worker for:

a family receiving TAFDC cash assistance or EAEDC cash assistance who has been in emergency shelter for 60 days or more,
a family receiving TAFDC cash assistance who has been in a domestic violence shelter for 60 days or more,
a teen parent age 18 or 19 who has been in a teen living program for 60 days or more and can live independently.³⁵

You can get the $1,000 relocation benefit only once in a 12-month period. But it is not an Emergency Assistance (EA) benefit and will not disqualify you from receiving an EA benefit within the 12-month period. See Chapter 17: Emergency Assistance

There are other relocation resources for families and individuals whether or not they are in shelter. Individuals who receive Supplemental Security Income (SSI) may be eligible for state-funded Special Benefits of up to $150 in moving costs to move within the state if the current living situation has been certified as substandard, a move is required due to health, safety or other conditions, or the individual is moving into subsidized housing. Special Benefits for SSI recipients may also be available to cover the cost of replacing furniture, household equipment, food, clothing or supplies lost as a result of a fire or other natural disaster. Ask about Special Benefits at your local DTA office.

Endnotes

³² 220 C.M.R. §25.01(2) (definition of "payment plan"), §25.02(6).

³³ G.L. c. 164, §1F(4)(i), 220 C.M.R. §14.03(2A).

³⁴ The Lifeline and Link-Up discounts must be provided by phone companies that get certain kinds of federal and state funding. See 47 C.F.R. §§54.400-416, DTE 97-103; pdf icon www.mass.gov/Eoca/docs/dte/telecom/97-103/97-103.pdf. The following phone companies provide the discounts, and others may, as well: Verizon, RCN, Granby Telephone and Telegraph Company, Richmond Telephone Company, and Taconic Telephone Corp.

³⁵ 106 C.M.R. § 705.350.

Produced by Charlie Harak
Last updated May 2011