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Signups underway for summertime cooling assistance program

| July 30, 2022

NEW PHILADELPHIA (WJER) (July 25, 2022) – If you can’t afford to keep your home cool during these hot summer days, HARCATUS may be able to help.

The agency is scheduling application appointments for the Summer Crisis Program that pays up to 500 dollars on energy bills from AEP and other regulated providers and up to 800 for unregulated services like Dover Power. Community Services Director JoEllen Sanders says if you don’t have a way to cool your home or your AC stopped working, the program may be able to help with that, too.

“Maybe it’s something where we don’t have air conditioning, we don’t have any way to keep the home cool or maybe it’s they just need coolant in their central air unit. There are so many ways that this program can help even outside of maybe paying that AEP bill.”

To qualify, you must be facing disconnection, trying to establish service, or show that you or someone you live with is at least 60 or has to remain cool for medical reasons. Your household’s gross income also can’t be above 175 percent of the federal poverty level, which is $23,728.50 annually for a single person and $48,562.50 for a family of four. 

“Now, of course, there’s a lot of elements that get subtracted from maybe your pay stubs so if you’re anywhere close to that I recommend you call into the office and schedule an appointment because we do find that people think they’re not qualified when in all honesty they are.”

The Summer Crisis Program runs until Sept. 30th or the money the state gave HARCATUS to fund it runs out, although Sanders says that hasn’t been a problem in the past. To apply and find out if you’re eligible for the other programs HARCATUS administers, call 855-806-9650.

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