ComEd Community Program Recruits Local Residents to Bring Bill-Assistance Awareness to Chicago’s South/Western Neighborhoods

 

ComEd Community Program Recruits Local Residents to Bring Bill-Assistance Awareness to Chicago’s South/Western Neighborhoods


For third year in a row, Community Energy Assistance Ambassadors program trains residents to help support communities hardest hit by the economy

 

CHICAGO (Dec. 15, 2022) – To increase awareness of and access to financial assistance options that can help income-eligible customers pay their electric bills, ComEd has again launched its Community Energy Assistance Ambassador (CEAA) program.

Initially launched in 2020 in response to the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, CEAA is a community-based outreach and awareness program that continues to support families in communities hardest hit by the economy. Each year, the CEAA program provides temporary, part-time employment to approximately 100 residents from INVEST South/West neighborhoods. These individuals receive training on bill-assistance options available, then help educate neighbors about those options through a combination of virtual and in-person events.

Entering the 2022-23 winter season, CEAAs previously reached out to approximately 1,800 families; 27% of whom received a total of more than $59,000 in assistance. At the same time, the program provided employment to approximately 300 Chicago-area residents.

“For years, a succession of extraordinary financial challenges has created hardships for an increasing number of customers – many of whom have never before needed financial assistance,” said Nichole Owens, ComEd vice president of customer channels. “To meet the needs of these customers, we continue to innovate to connect as many families and individuals as possible with the assistance they need. The creation of CEAA is just the latest example of how we partner with local communities to meet customers where they are.”

CEAAs are trained to play a crucial role in informing community members about the options available to help them address past-due balances on their energy bills, and access tips that will help them manage their future energy use. This includes promoting residential customer awareness and enrollment in governmental financial-assistance options such as the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), as well as ComEd’s bill-assistance and energy-efficiency options.

To implement the CEAA program, ComEd works with the Chatham Business Association (CBA) to identify community institutions across INVEST South/West neighborhoods that hire, train, equip and manage CEAAs.

“By providing local community members with training and resources to help their neighbors understand the assistance programs available to them, we can create greater success in connecting families with the assistance they need,” said Melinda Kelly, CBA chairman and president. “This is just the latest example of CBA creating opportunities that benefit and ensure the prosperity, economic strength and excellence of service in Chatham and its surrounding communities.”

Other bill- assistance options

For anyone facing difficulty paying their electric bill, ComEd offers the following assistance programs to help customers manage energy bills:

· Financial-assistance programs like the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) and ComEd's Supplemental Arrearage Reduction Program (SARP), which is available to ComEd residential customers who qualified to receive energy-assistance benefits from LIHEAP.

· A flexible deferred payment arrangement of up to 12 months for eligible residential customers with a past-due balance. Make a down payment on the amount owed, and the balance is paid through installments in addition to your regular monthly bill.

· Budget billing, which provides a predictable monthly payment based on your electricity usage from the last 12 months.

· Flexible payment options like extensions on a customer's due date by 21 calendar days.

· High-usage alerts, which enable customers to receive alerts when their usage is trending higher than normal to help manage overall energy use, and energy-management tips to help customers manage energy use to save money now and on future energy bills.

· Community solar allows customers to participate in the benefits of clean solar energy without installing panels on their own homes. Participants subscribe to a solar energy project and earn credits on their monthly utility bills for their portion of the energy produced by the solar project.

· Energy-efficiency offerings, including services and incentives designed for income-eligible residential customers, that can help reduce energy use now and in the future.

More information about these and other assistance programs are available atComEd.com/PaymentAssistance. Customers can also use ComEd’s Smart Assistance Manager(SAM), which an online self-service tool that can match customers with the payment-assistance programs and energy-efficiency offerings that can help them manage their electric bills now and into the future. ComEd encourages any customer experiencing a hardship or difficulty paying their electric bill to call the energy company immediately at 800-334-7661 (800-EDISON1), Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. to enroll in an assistance program.

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