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Income-eligible PPL Electric Utilities customers now have more time to apply for funding to help with energy bills, thanks to an extension of the deadline for the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program.

The former deadline of April 3 was recently pushed back to May 1 by the state Department of Human Services, which administers the federally funded program in Pennsylvania. Gov. Tom Wolf said the severity and duration of winter were factors in the extension decision.

LIHEAP provides cash grants to help utility customers with heating bills and crisis grants to help them cope with emergency situations.

“The extended deadline is great news,” said Tim Dahl, manager of Regulatory Programs and Business Services for PPL Electric Utilities. “It’s important for those who need this help to apply now because funding is limited.” 

Customers don’t have to have an unpaid bill to qualify and don’t need to be a public assistance recipient to apply.

Cash grants are based on household income, family size, type of heating fuel and region. In addition to proof of income and household size, applicants must provide a recent bill or a statement from their fuel dealer verifying their customer status and the type of fuel used.

There are a variety of ways to apply for LIHEAP funding.

Eligible customers can apply online at www.compass.state.pa.us or download an application from PPL Electric Utilities’ website, www.pplelectric.com. On the PPL site, select My Account, Billing and Payments, and Need Help Paying Your Bill?

For PPL Electric Utilities customers with an active OnTrack account, a cash grant through LIHEAP could result in an account credit. Those customers should not make an OnTrack payment until they have exhausted all of the credits that appear on their monthly OnTrack electric bill.

Customers also can apply in person at county assistance offices and they can call the statewide toll-free hotline at 1-866-857-7095 with questions.

For the 2014-2015 program year to date, PPL has received about $5.6 million in LIHEAP grants for approximately 24,300 income-eligible customers.

Household sizes and income guidelines for the current LIHEAP program year are as follows:

1 person -- $17,505 maximum income
2 people -- $23,595 maximum income
3 people -- $29,685 maximum income
4 people -- $35,775 maximum income
5 people -- $41,865 maximum income
6 people -- $47,955 maximum income
7 people -- $54,045 maximum income
8 people -- $60,135 maximum income
(For each additional person, add $6,090)

For more information on all of PPL Electric Utilities’ assistance programs, visit www.pplelectric.com/billhelp.

PPL Electric Utilities, a subsidiary of PPL Corporation (NYSE: PPL), provides electric delivery services to about 1.4 million customers in Pennsylvania and consistently ranks among the best companies for customer service in the United States. More information is available at www.pplelectric.com.