New Hampshire Neighbors Helping Neighbors.

Families who are not eligible for any other type of heating or fuel assistance and who have received a disconnection notice from their electric or natural gas company may receive financial assistance from the Neighbors Helping Neighbors utility assistance program. The program is focused on the low income, senior citizens, working poor, and unemployed across New Hampshire.

Regulated utility and gas companies across New Hampshire participate in the statewide fuel assistance fund. In order to apply for help you will need to contact your local community action agency. The Neighbors Helping Neighbors program is run in coordination with the federal government created Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP). Neighbors Helping Neighbors is a so called fund of last resort that operates year round, and a few thousands families receive some form of cash assistance from the fund every year.

The program is created from donations from customers, local businesses, and energy companies themselves. With the weak economy, and the fact that many New Hampshire residents are just one uninsured illness, one job loss, or other bad break away from not being able to pay their heating or utility bills, this service is very effective at assisting people during a difficult period in their lives. The Neighbor Helping Neighbor Fund will assist people who face an energy emergency, but who don’t qualify for federally funded energy assistance programs.

Funds are collected and distributed to your local community action agency by a charitable corporation. The primary objective is to help utility customers who experience some sort of financial hardship or emergency but who are unable to qualify for other government-funded energy assistance programs. The cash grants that are distributed by your local community action agency are designed to prevent these customers from having their utility service disconnected because they are unable to pay their heating or utility bills.

As indicated, donations are what allow the Neighbor Helping Neighbor program to run. Customer donations as well as those provided by utilities, and in close partnership with New Hampshire's Community Action Programs, offers an easy way for people to give back. Any money you contribute will automatically go toward paying off the outstanding heating or utility bill of someone who's having a rough go of it. Because the utilities and heating companies pay for the administrative costs of the assistance program, every penny contributed by customers goes to help someone who faces disconnection of his or her heating or utility service and does not qualify for other forms of government or charity assistance programs.

In order to apply for assistance from the Neighbors Helping Neighbors program, you will need to contact your local community action agency in New Hampshire. These non-profit organizations collect applications and distribute the cash grants.