GLCAP offering cooling assistance, expanding utility payment plan eligibility

Along with its Summer Crisis Program serving utility customers this season, Great Lakes Community Action Partnership (GLCAP) is now offering utility payment plan services to more households in Ottawa, Sandusky, Seneca, and Wood counties.

The GLCAP Summer Crisis Program (SCP) helps residents receive up to $500 if they are a customer of a regulated utility or $800 if they are a customer of unregulated utilities such as electric cooperatives and municipal utilities. The assistance can be applied to residents’ utility bills, used to purchase an air conditioning unit or fan; or used to pay for central air conditioning repairs. Ohioans must have a gross income at or below 175% of the federal poverty guidelines to qualify for assistance.

Additionally, GLCAP’s Percentage of Income Payment Plan (PIPP) Plus program has recently expanded eligibility guidelines from 150% to 175% of federal poverty guidelines. The program helps utility customers set up affordable monthly payment plans based on income. A household of four making $48,563 per year would be eligible for both SCP and PIPP Plus services.

“Raising the guidelines for PIPP Plus will allow us to help a greater range of people in our four-county service area,” GLCAP Energy Assistance Manager Joyce McCauley-Benner said. “PIPP Plus makes paying utility bills more affordable and more predictable for working families.”

To receive SCP assistance, appointments must be scheduled by calling GLCAP’s scheduling hotline at 567-432-5046 or by visiting www.glcap.org/summercooling and scheduling an appointment online.

Details on PIPP Plus are also available at www.glcap.org/pipp.