Dominion Energy Ohio Payment Plans & Energy Assistance Programs Can Help Customers Stay Warm This Winter
Dominion Energy Ohio offers a variety of payment plans and energy assistance plans to better manage your energy costs this winter and help area families stay warm. Customers who may not be able to afford their heating bills are urged to contact Dominion Energy Ohio immediately at 800.362.7557to inquire about these programs. Hearing-impaired customers with Telecommunications Devices for the Deaf can call 711.
Dominion Energy Ohio offers the following payment options to residential and small commercial customers:
• Budget Billing allows customers to pay a fixed budget amount each month, based on annual gas usage. Dominion Energy Ohio periodically reviews the budget amount and adjusts it, if necessary, so that the customer will not have a high balance or large credit at the end of the budget year. Customers should call the company for more information.
• Current-Plus Plan: Customers with a past-due balance pay their current monthly bill, plus one-sixth (1/6) of the total account balance at the time they enroll in the plan.
• The One-Ninth Plan allows customers to pay one-ninth (1/9) of their total account balance each month plus a calculated budget amount.
• Under the One-Third Winter Heating Plan, customers pay one-third of their total account balance each month for bills that include gas used from November 1, 2018, through April 15, 2019.
• Short–Term Extension grants up to five additional days to pay before the next bill date.
State and federal governmental energy assistance programs also can help income-eligible customers keep warm this winter. You can apply for all programs with one application at www.energyhelp.ohio.gov, which provides income guidelines as well. Applications are also available at libraries, some banks, and your local home energy assistance provider, or by calling the Ohio Development Services Agency at 800.282.0880.
For example, under the Percentage of Income Payment Plan Plus (PIPP Plus), participating customers can maintain their natural gas service by paying 6 percent of their total gross monthly household income, or $10, whichever is greater. To qualify for this year-round special payment plan, developed by the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO), a customer’s yearly gross household income can be up to 150 percent of federal poverty guidelines.
PIPP Plus has special benefits for participating customers. Each time customers make their required PIPP Plus monthly payments in full by the due date, Dominion Energy Ohio will credit their accounts for the rest of that month’s current charges, plus a one-twenty-fourth (1/24) credit toward their prior account balances. After 24 months of on-time and in-full PIPP Plus payments, their accounts would become current. The new PIPP Plus maximum yearly household gross income levels for the 2018-2019 program year are: $18,210 for one person, $24,690 for two people, and $37,650 for four. Add $6,480 for each additional person.
The company reminds customers that under PUCO’s annual Winter Reconnection Order, all residential customers, regardless of income, may avoid a shutoff or restore gas service once during the heating season between now and April 15, 2019, by paying the lesser of: the entire past-due balance on your gas bill, the past-due payments if you are on a special payment plan, or $175.
