LIHEAP
/Contact: ComEd Media Relations
312-394-3500
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
ComEd Reminds Customers to Apply for LIHEAP Bill Assistance
by May 31 Deadline
ComEd connects eligible families to grants, offers enhanced bill-assistance options
and more ways to access them
CHICAGO (May 19, 2022) – With the May 31 application deadline approaching for the Low
Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), a federal program that helps
families with energy costs, ComEd encourages eligible Illinois families and individuals to
apply now while funding is available.
While ComEd’s average monthly residential bills remain among the lowest in the country,
the impacts of the pandemic and inflation have created economic challenges for some
households. That is why, by contacting ComEd, representatives can help connect eligible
customers to funding available through LIHEAP and other state and federal assistance
programs. In addition to state and federal assistance, ComEd also offers bill support through
its Supplemental Arrearage Reduction Program (SARP), which is available to ComEd
residential customers who qualified to receive energy-assistance benefits from LIHEAP.
“Each year, we run the risk of energy-assistance funding going unclaimed because Illinois
residents think they don’t qualify for grants,” said Melissa Washington, ComEd's chief
customer officer and senior vice president of customer operations. “We encourage all our
customers to contact ComEd immediately so we can help them determine if they’re eligible
for financial assistance. If not, ComEd has a number of enhanced bill-payment options to
support families of all income levels.”
To make families and individuals aware of energy bill assistance options available and
connect them to the assistance they need, ComEd works with community organizations to
host assistance events. For a list of event times and locations, visit ComEd.com/LocalEvents.
Any customer experiencing difficulty paying their electric bill is encouraged to call ComEd
immediately at 1-800-334-7661 (1-800-EDISON-1), Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to
7 p.m. to learn more on how to apply. Information on each of these options is available at
ComEd.com/PaymentAssistance.
Enhanced bill-payment options
In addition to financial-assistance options, ComEd offers residential customers the following
payment programs. Visit ComEd.com/Eligibility for eligibility guidelines and to apply.
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• A more flexible and generous deferred payment arrangement of up to 12 months
with zero dollars down through July 31, 2022, for low-income customers. All other
residential customers who contact ComEd can sign up for a deferred payment
arrangement of up to 12 months with 10-percent down through July 31, 2022.
• For any ComEd residential customer who has had service disconnected, but
subsequently enrolls in LIHEAP or a Percentage of Income Payment Plan (PIPP),
ComEd will waive reconnection fees through July 31, 2022.
• Budget billing, which provides a predictable monthly payment based on your
electricity usage from the last 12 months.
• Flexible payment options like due-date extensions.
• High-usage alerts, which enable customers to receive alerts when their usage is
trending higher than normal to help manage overall energy use, and energymanagement tips to help customers manage energy use to save money now and on
future energy bills.
Easier access to assistance and energy-saving options
To streamline access to financial-assistance options and programs that can help families and
individuals manage their electric bills, ComEd recently launched the Smart Assistance
Manager (SAM).
SAM is an online self-service tool that can match customers with the payment-assistance
programs for which they may eligible – including deferred-payment arrangements and
LIHEAP – then provides guidance and links to apply. SAM also provides recommendations
on energy-efficiency offerings that can save customers money and energy, including free
home energy assessments and discounts on energy-saving products.
Support options are generated based on each customer’s household information, such as
energy usage and billing history. Customers who create an online account with ComEd
through the “My Account” tool can log in while using SAM to get even more personalized,
targeted results. Customers can access this free tool at ComEd.com/SAM.
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ComEd is a unit of Chicago-based Exelon Corporation (NASDAQ: EXC), a Fortune 200 energy
company with approximately 10 million electricity and natural gas customers – the largest number of
customers in the U.S. ComEd powers the lives of more than 4 million customers across northern
Illinois, or 70 percent of the state’s population. For more information visit ComEd.com and connect
with the company on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.