Energy equity in Philadelphia: As programs meet needs, problems persist

image above | A panel of speakers discusses energy equity at the 2025 ECA conference

Helene McGregor is a 77-year-old Neighborhood Energy Center (NEC) worker at Center in the Park in Germantown. Her work consists of helping Philadelphians in the 19139, 19144, and 19150 zip codes obtain financial help with their energy bills. 

She begins her work day by returning phone calls. In May of this year, she was promised an assistant because she was 250 calls behind. 

In August, her assistant started the job and alleviated some of the work. Because they are the only two at Center in the Park that help with utilities, sometimes her work can be dangerous. 

“Sometimes they call and cuss me out for not returning their calls and some of them threaten me,” said McGregor. 

But she claims that the hardest part of her job is turning people down when they come from zip codes she can’t work with or getting people to bring all the paperwork required for them to qualify for financial assistance. 

McGregor is not the only utility assistance worker struggling to keep up with the demands of the job. Many Neighborhood Energy Centers are overwhelmed due to the amount of Philadelphians who need financial help with their energy bills. 

Lack of federal funding has impacted every aspect of the equitable energy fight, including funding for more workers in NECs to help people apply for assistance. According to State Rep. Morgan Cephas, last year, over 57,000 households relied on LIHEAP and other energy assistance programs to heat their homes.

NECs are a first line of defense against energy inequality, and help promote energy equity by increasing access to tools that help folks heat their homes, turn on their lights, and use electronic appliances.

According to Pew’s 2025 State of the City report, more than half of Philadelphia renters spend  30% or more of their income on rent and utilities. Another Pew report predicts that Americans’ energy costs will increase by 15-40% by 2030. 

Neighborhood Energy Centers, like the one at Center in the Park, bring some relief by helping people apply for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, or LIHEAP. LIHEAP assists people whose incomes are no more than 150% of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL). 

Due to the government shutdown, LIHEAP’s opening in Pennsylvania has been pushed back to early December, a month after it usually opens. This means we could see many Philadelphians struggle to heat their homes as temperatures drop.  

“My advice is for people to sign up for a Customer Responsibility Program with the gas company while they wait for LIHEAP,” said Lorraine Horton, Director of Community Programs at the Energy Coordinating Agency (ECA). 

Philadelphia Gas Works’ Customer Responsibility Program (CRP) allows Philadelphians to get on a payment plan, reduce their monthly gas bills by up to 50% based on income and household size, and have past debts forgiven. This program requires applicants’ incomes to be at or below 150% of the FPL. While LIHEAP is paused, customers enrolled in CRP will not have their service discontinued.

Home repair programs help make energy more affordable, but can only do so much

NECs also help people apply for home repair programs like the Heater Hotline, Built to Last, and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)’s Healthy Homes. These programs help people renovate their homes with energy-efficient improvements that help lower monthly costs. 

The Heater Hotline is operated by the ECA and makes emergency repairs to the heaters of Philadelphia homeowners. This includes fixing oil burners, gas valves, thermostats, chimneys, circulators, and heating pipes. The program isn’t available to renters.

Heater Hotline repairs require a household income of 150% or less of the FPL. LIHEAP can also be used to pay for heating repairs.

The Heater Hotline does not replace or fix water heaters, but Built to Last can. 

Built to Last is operated by the Philadelphia Energy Authority (PEA) and helps homeowners in Philadelphia pay for necessary repairs in their homes. Applicants’ incomes cannot exceed 60% of the Area Median Income (AMI), which allows significantly more people to participate than the Heater Hotline income guidelines. 

Andrew Niemynski, program manager for Built to Last, claims that many homeowners often need help with roof leaks, old or damaged water heaters, plumbing, lead or asbestos, and dangerous flooring. He says collaboration is a big part of the Built to Last process because of the lack of funding. 

“Sometimes all of these problems will exist in one home and will cost beyond our budget so we will work with Healthy Homes and Habitat for Humanity to get the job done,” said Niemynski. 

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Healthy Homes program is a federally funded initiative operated by the ECA. Applicants can make up to 80% of the AMI. 

Healthy Homes predominantly focuses on improving the air quality in a home, removing things like lead, asbestos, and mold. Occasionally, Built to Last will come across a home that doesn’t have any dangerous repairs needed. 

“These are the homes we may choose to electrify because if the home is already healthy then the next goal is helping them save on their energy bills,” said Niemynski. “So we may install a heat pump for the switch from gas to electrical heating.” 

Niemynski points out that another common issue is “tangled titles” or “dead homes.” Oftentimes, someone wants repairs done, but the person whose name is on the deed has passed away, and the house could possibly be claimed by a multitude of living relatives. 

Built to Last needs the owner’s permission to make repairs on a home. The program often works with Community Legal Services (CLS) to help people with the process of getting the deed to their home. 

When this happens, Built to Last will often connect people with lawyers from CLS to help start the process of claiming ownership so that they can get the repairs they need. 

“We don’t want to just say you don’t qualify, good luck. We want to be able to connect people to other resources that exist,” said Niemynski. 

Utility assistance programs help struggling customers with bills

On November 3rd, elected officials hosted a press conference to inform the public of PGW and PECO’s termination suspension and cutoffs. 

“It’s critical that we get the word out to the vulnerable population here in Philadelphia,” said Councilmember Mike Driscoll. “It was intentional that we have this press conference outside today, we weren’t sure what the weather was going to be like. But one thing we are sure of is that the weather is going to get cold.” 

PGW and PECO have suspended shutoffs for customers who meet certain eligibility requirements or who have directed their LIHEAP payments to these companies through early applications. PECO also offers the Customer Assistance Program – Percentage of Income Payment Plan (CAP-PIPP). This allows customers to pay a fixed monthly amount to PECO. Customers must earn no more than 150% of the FPL to apply for CAP-PIPP. 

PECO also has a Customer Relief Fund that offers up to $750 for assistance to eligible limited and moderate-income families. The Philadelphia Water Department (PWD) offers a Tiered Assistance Program (TAP) where customers pay a reduced fixed monthly bill based on their income. 

Customers must prove that they are income-eligible according to the FPL guidelines or prove that they are experiencing a special hardship. PWD’s TAP program may approve customers if they can prove they’ve lost their job, have a serious illness, a household size increase, the death of a main income earner, domestic abuse, or high household expenses or medical bills. 

If enrolled in the program, customers are protected from shutoff or penalties, and every time they pay their bill, they get a portion of their debt erased. 

Communities turn to climate resilience centers for help 

“Pennsylvanians are competing internationally when it comes to gas so switching them to electric will help them save money,” said Adam Nagel, Penn Future’s Director of Government Affairs, at ECA’s 2025 Energy Conference. 

ECA staff at the Energy Coordinating Agency’s 2025 Conference

Pennsylvania is second to Texas in its production of natural gas, and this gas is sold worldwide. Although ECA’s various programs and Built to Last can help a homeowner transition from gas to electric, Philadelphians are increasingly turning to climate resilience centers to weather the effects of climate change and help with their energy bills. 

In the spring, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) cancelled the $20 million Community Change Grant. This grant would have funded a climate resilience center in Grays Ferry. 

The center would have been a collaboration between the ECA, Habitat for Humanity, and the South Philly-based environmental grassroots organization Philly Thrive. Philly Thrive campaigned for years to shut down the Philadelphia Energy Solutions Oil Refinery. 

For Philly Thrive, the center would have served as a headquarters and a space where they could provide essentials during natural disasters and resilience training. ECA was going to operate its Green Energy Careers Training Center in this same space. 

There, the ECA would provide workforce development for Grays Ferry and the surrounding neighborhoods. 

“We been trying to get a community center for decades,” said Shawmar Pitts, Philly Thrive Managing Co-Director, “and now people feel like it’s just another broken promise.” 

The center would be designed to attract 18 to 34-year-olds and enroll them in HVAC installation training, energy auditing, and weatherization training, among other jobs. This grant would have also allowed ECA and Habitat for Humanity to repair and electrify, if needed, 189 low to moderate-income homes in the Grays Ferry neighborhood. 

Although Philly Thrive didn’t get the necessary resilience center, they have been advocating for funding for home repair programs like Philadelphia Housing Development Corporation’s Basic Systems Repair Program and Built to Last. Even though they advocated, it can be hard to get that money directly, says Pitts.