PECO plans to expand a grant program that helps low-income customers pay their electric bills, adding $2.5 million to the initiative and making more households eligible for assistance.
The Customer Relief Fund provides one-time grants of $750. Once the expansion goes into effect on March 2, households can apply if they have an overdue bill and their income is at or below 300% of the federal poverty level. That amounts to $96,456 for a family of four.
Under the rules currently in effect, the program is limited to households at 150% to 300% of the poverty level. Customers with incomes in that range can apply now, while those below that level must wait until March. Information on how to apply is available on PECO’s website.
PECO and its parent company Exelon announced the changes as residents across the region face higher utility bills due to several factors.
Those include the rising cost of upgrading an aging electric grid, the growth of power-hungry data centers, a political battle over how to generate more energy while keeping rates under control, and a cold front that threatens to dump a foot of snow on the region this weekend.
“The challenges our customers face from rising energy costs and increased energy use driven by colder weather continue to be an issue for people and families across our region,” PECO president David Vahos said. “We’re pleased to expand the fund to reach more of our customers who we know are struggling, while working to advocate for long-term solutions to keep energy costs as low as possible.”
Advocates for low-income ratepayers welcomed the expanded program, which is a voluntary initiative by Exelon. But they said cash-strapped customers in Philadelphia and elsewhere in PECO’s coverage area could use much more help avoiding power shut-offs and difficult decisions over whether to pay for rent, utility bills or groceries.
“PECO’s rates have increased dramatically year over year, and this additional source of relief will be critical to help address the growing energy affordability crisis in the short term,” said Elizabeth Marx, executive director of the Pennsylvania Utility Law Project. “That said, rising energy costs are not likely to improve any time soon, and longer-term solutions must be pursued in tandem with this short-term added relief.”
Energy demand exceeds supply
Exelon launched the Customer Relief Fund last summer with a $50 million contribution to charities that help administer the aid.
It divided those dollars among the six utilities it operates — Atlantic City Electric, BGE, ComEd, Delmarva Power, PECO and Pepco — with $10 million going to United Way of Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey to assist PECO customers.
The program was designed “to help manage the impact of rising energy supply costs as demand increases and supply is not there to meet it,” the company said. Exelon distributes power but does not make electricity itself, and does not control the generation costs that constitute a large portion of residential bills.
The initial round of grants is currently available to PECO residential electric and natural gas customers who are in the 150% to 300% of FPL range. They must have a past-due balance of up to $2,500, or a balance they can bring down to $2,500 if they make a “co-payment,” according to the program guidelines. They must also have no theft-of-service charges on their account in the previous 12 months.
Last week, Exelon announced it was putting an additional $10 million into the program, including the $2.5 million for PECO customers. That brings the total PECO allocation to $12.5 million so far.
In addition to expanding the eligibility to households with incomes of 0 to 150% of FPL, Exelon is loosening the eligibility requirement that customers must be able to pay off their overdue bill, said Joline Price, an attorney in the energy unit at Community Legal Services in Philadelphia.
Going forward, grant recipients will have to be able to pay off enough of their bill to avoid having their service terminated, she said. In some situations that can be less than their total arrears.
One of several aid programs
The Customer Relief Fund is one of a few programs available to help eligible PECO customers. Others include Customer Assistance Program (CAP), the federal Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), the Matching Energy Assistance Fund (MEAF), and the Utility Grant program.
CAP is a PECO program available to households below 150% FPL, which allows them to make a low, fixed utility payment pegged to their income. Price said low-income households should apply online or visit one the city’s 16 Neighborhood Energy Centers for help applying.
LIHEAP is a federal government program that provides eligible households with one-time grants of $200 to $1,000, between December and April, to reduce heating bills. It does not require the customer to have an overdue bill. LIHEAP also has a separate crisis program for emergencies like shut-offs and broken equipment.
“If folks are applying for the customer relief fund and they’re eligible for the Customer Assistance Program or LIHEAP, they should apply for those as well,” Price said. “The enrollment rates for CAP are not where they should be in terms of the percent of low-income households who are accessing the program.”
MEAF is a PECO program that provides emergency bill assistance to households facing a temporary hardship. They must be at or below 200% of FPL, and they must use the funds as part of a payment that cancels a pending shut-off or restores service.
The Utility Grant program is operated by UESF, a Philadelphia nonprofit. To be eligible, a household must have received a termination notice from PECO or the Philadelphia Water Department, or already had their service shut off; be at or below 200% of FPL; must use the grant to fully pay off their overdue bill; and meet other requirements.
Price said more aid is needed to stem the growing number of terminations due to non-payment. PECO shut off power to 87,000 households in 2023, and that number rose to 126,000 last year, she said.
“In 2023, about 18% of households terminated were confirmed low-income. There’s many more who are likely low-income, who PECO doesn’t have information for,” she said. “And that’s just the households that were actually shut off. Many, many, many more get notices, which can cause all sorts of stress and impact to a household as well.”
State and federal calls for lower rates
The boost in assistance follows a series of rate increases that PECO customers have absorbed over the past year.
After receiving approval from the state’s Public Utility Commission, in January 2025 PECO hiked bills 10%, largely to pay for its infrastructure investments. That amounted to an increase of $13.58, to $149.43 per month, for the typical residential customer who uses 700 kilowatt hours per month.
In June, the utility began phasing in an additional 10% increase due to rising electricity generation costs. That followed a controversial “capacity auction” conducted by PJM, the organization that oversees the regional power grid.
This month, PECO then implemented the second of its own, PUC-approved increases, a 2.8% hike that raised the typical bill from $156.01 in December to $160.37 now.
Gov. Josh Shapiro has tried to blunt the trend of rising costs by pressuring PJM to cap how high power generation costs can rise due to capacity auctions. In those auctions, power companies make bids to guarantee they can generate electricity during periods of high demand, like the hottest summer days and coldest winter nights. The fees they charge are then passed on to consumers through their monthly bills.
Last week, Shapiro and other governors signed an agreement with the Trump administration that would, if implemented, keep the price caps in place and encourage construction of new power plants. It would speed up PJM’s process for plugging plants into the grid, create incentives for plant construction, and make data centers, rather than households and small businesses, pay for those incentives.
Meanwhile, Democrats in the Pennsylvania House have proposed legislation to protect ratepayers from having to carry the costs of data centers, and some advocates are calling on the legislature to create a new tax on the centers to help lower consumer energy bills.
