Bill Payment Help

As mentioned in the previous post, "Roger's Story", payment arrangements are a great way to help you get keep your gas and electric bills paid when you have fallen behind, which can happen regularly when you are a broke man (or woman).  However, unforeseen circumstances can come out of no where.  Maybe your car is suddenly in need of a new transmission.  Hours get cut at work.  The water heater breaks down.  It happens.  These type of emergencies can cause you to miss a scheduled payment arrangement and instantly get kicked out the program.  A week later you get a disconnection notice demanding full payment.   Where do you get the hundreds of dollars needed to keep the lights on?

 

Federal and state governments provide funding through various programs that can help you pay vital bills, such as past-due rent and utilities. Here are a few: Emergency Shelter Grants (ESG) has a homeless prevention component that provides funds to aid people who are at risk of becoming homeless due to eviction, foreclosure, or utility shutoff by paying first-month's rent, rent arrearages, and past-due utility payments.

FEMA does more than just help during national disasters. They also sponsor the Emergency Food and Shelter Program (EFSP) which was created to help people in need of emergency assistance. EFSP is utilized to assist individuals and families with issues regarding payment of utility bills, rent and mortgage payments, as well as temporary shelter and food.

The Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) is a federally-funded program that provides a once-per-year payment for heat (primary utility) and electric (secondary utility) to income-eligible applicants. The LIHEAP Program is able to provide once-a-year reconnection assistance payments for applicants whose utility has been disconnected for non-payment or applicants who are being denied service because of an old bill. LIHEAP is also able to provide emergency furnace repair or replacement for eligible applicants whose furnace does not work or is red-tagged by the utility company.

Various social service agencies apply to federal and state governments to receive these funds and distribute to those who qualify within their service delivery areas.

(Excerpts taken from The Broke Man's Survival Guide)