{"id":347710,"date":"2026-09-15T21:34:13","date_gmt":"2026-09-15T21:34:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/347710\/"},"modified":"2026-09-15T21:34:13","modified_gmt":"2026-09-15T21:34:13","slug":"new-york-state-expands-energy-assistance-program-2-5-million-new-yorkers-now-eligible-for-utility-bill-credit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/347710\/","title":{"rendered":"New York State expands energy assistance program: 2.5 million New Yorkers now eligible for utility bill credit"},"content":{"rendered":"

ROCHESTER, N.Y. \u2014 2.5 million New Yorkers are now eligible for an energy assistance credit on their utility bill.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody just dreads that bill when it shows up whether you get it electronically or in the mail, it just gets worse and worse,\u201d Gov. Kathy Hochul said at a press conference on Tuesday announcing the expansion of the Energy Affordability Program (EAP).<\/p>\n

Those who already receive HEAP are automatically enrolled in the EAP.\u00a0 Those who benefit from other public assistance programs are eligible too, but you need to self-enroll and now, the program is being expanded to include middle-class families too.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Upstate New Yorkers who make below the following limits will qualify:\u00a0<\/p>\n

Single: $69,477<\/p>\n

Family of 2: $90,854<\/p>\n

Family of 4: $133,609<\/p>\n

The amount of the credit varies from $25 to $65 per month for electric and $3 to $18 per month for gas.<\/p>\n

The credit is just the latest in a series of actions taken by the state in response to escalating utility costs. On Monday, the Governor was in Rochester to announce utility rebate checks of up to $200<\/a> will start going out to some New Yorkers next week.<\/p>\n

She was asked about those checks coming right around election time.\u00a0 \u201cIf the budget would have been done in March, it would have been done sooner. This was sequenced in respect to how long it takes to go through the tax files, we had to identify everybody who was a tax filer in 2024, establish the income thresholds, check the addresses so, because the budget went a couple of months into overtime, it took a little more time than we expected to be approved but I\u2019m proud of it, I think most New Yorkers are not worried about the timing, they\u2019re just delighted to be able to get money directly from the state government in recognition that the cost of utilities is so high,\u201d Hochul said.<\/p>\n

RG&E, NYSEG and National Grid will be doing some outreach to customers, encouraging them to see if they qualify for this new credit.<\/p>\n

In a statement, a spokeswoman for RG&E and NYSEG says, \u201cNYSEG and RG&E appreciate Governor Hochul\u2019s continued focus on helping eligible customers access available energy assistance and bill discount programs. The Energy Affordability Program (EAP), along with HEAP, EEAP and other assistance programs, plays an important role in helping eligible customers reduce their energy costs and maintain essential electric and natural gas service.\u00a0 NYSEG and RG&E remain committed to connecting customers with affordability programs, payment assistance and flexible payment options that can help customers maintain electric and natural gas service. Customers interested in learning more about available assistance programs and eligibility requirements can call 800-572-1111 for NYSEG, 800-743-2110 for RG&E, visit NYSEG.com or RGE.com.\u201d<\/p>\n

For more information about the program, click here.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ROCHESTER, N.Y. \u2014 2.5 million New Yorkers are now eligible for an energy assistance credit on their utility…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":347711,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[9,11,10],"class_list":["post-347710","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347710","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=347710"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347710\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/347711"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=347710"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=347710"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=347710"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}