AFFORDABILITY AND ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS
We are focused on meeting the needs of our diverse customer base and providing equitable solutions for everyone we serve.
As part of that effort, we offer payment assistance and emergency support programs to help customers budget monthly payments, pay winter heating bills, catch up on past-due payments and avoid service disconnections. Using our website, customers can search for assistance options based on location, household size and income. To view the different assistance programs available to customers in each part of our service territory, please visit our Assistance Programs page.
In the realm of customer service, valuable insights often lie hidden within the interactions between customer care representatives and clients. By leveraging the information captured during these exchanges, organizations can unlock a wealth of knowledge that informs strategic decision-making.
One such area where this data proves invaluable is in identifying income levels. By analyzing historical data, we can pinpoint eligible individuals who may benefit from assistance programs. These programs are specifically designed to support customers who have never participated in these programs before or those facing the imminent threat of disconnection. This proactive approach not only ensures better customer support but also fosters a stronger sense of community and social responsibility while strengthening our commitment to service excellence.
FirstEnergy also helps customers identify ways to reduce energy use and minimize their carbon footprint while also saving money on their electricity bills. For example, we offer energy efficiency programs designed to help income-qualified residential customers reduce energy usage and offset the costs of energy improvements.
These programs often work in conjunction with other utilities or local, state or federal funding opportunities to maximize customer benefits. To review the programs we offer, please visit our Saving Energy page. For additional information on our energy efficiency programs please see our Energy Management and Efficiency page here.
Our employees inspire us to engage with our customers in meaningful ways, guide them to resources and support very real needs. For example, our recent customer outreach campaign proudly featured real employees who understand how difficult it can be to find and ask for help when finances are tight. We also understand the importance of meeting customers where they are, so the video campaign includes social media, Google ads and digital advertising.
Effortless and Modern Customer Experience
Our commitment to customers drives our innovation. To help ensure we meet or exceed our customers’ expectations in all interactions with them, we’re using a data-driven approach to develop a more modern, effortless and consistent customer experience. As a result, our customers now benefit from enhanced customer service capabilities, self-service options and payment methods.
Our FirstEnergy customers now have several additional payment methods available to them, including Apple Pay® and Google Pay™ for residential customers. Customers who have Apple Pay® or Google Pay™ accounts configured on their smart phones or electronic devices can use these methods seamlessly to make secure, cashless payment transactions. In 2024, we are excited to begin offering payments with Venmo and PayPal. In addition, customers can arrange to make partial payments online or pay as a guest without creating a FirstEnergy online account first.
We know our customers rely on us to power their daily lives, so we also offer a suite of convenient tools to help customers stay connected and up to date with important account and outage information. Because we understand the inconvenience of a power outage, we developed a streamlined outage reporting process on our website. Our Outage Hub includes easy access to our comprehensive 24/7 Power Center outage maps, which show current outage locations, estimated restoration times, the cause of outages and the status of repair crews.
In addition, we are making user interface and design enhancements to our website, making it more interactive and easier to use, including for those with disabilities and special needs. We have improved the ability to locate your address when reporting an outage and when using our online forms, such as Move-In, Move-Out, and Transfer Service. We are improving proactive communications to our customers via email and online notifications. Customers also now have a way to track various electric service requests online using our self-serve project status tracker. We are currently in the process of enhancing our preference center for text and email alerts for our customers as well.
Continuous improvement is a focus for our company and we are looking for ways to improve our customers’ experiences online and on mobile devices to make it simple to find the information they need and improve customer satisfaction.
Please see our data tables for our customer service metrics.
Customer-Focused Communications
As part of our efforts to enhance customer’ experience, we are always working to consistently communicate with our customers, providing them with relevant information and resources that help them manage their electric service. By leveraging a variety of channels, we help our customers stay informed in the way that’s right for them.
Social media is a key platform for sharing information with stakeholders and assisting customers with questions and account-related concerns. Customers can follow our social media accounts to get tips to save energy, manage their electric account and stay safe around electricity; information on bill assistance programs and payment options; a behind-the-scenes look at our employees in action in our communities; and company news. Our electric companies also share updates during significant weather events. FirstEnergy manages accounts on X, formerly known as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube.
FirstEnergy recently launched the Customer Connections eNewsletter for residential customers – a quarterly email newsletter designed to keep our valued customers up to date throughout the year. The newsletter is in response to customers’ feedback for relevant information that helps them manage their electric service. When customers receive this newsletter they can expect to get tips to save energy and manage electric bills; time-saving tools to analyze energy use, manage accounts and interact with their electric company according to their preferences; and how we’re supporting our local communities to create a better, brighter future.
Additionally, customers consistently share that they want actionable ways to save on their bills. To help address this need, FirstEnergy launched a social media video campaign to share simple energy-savings ideas in a fun and engaging way. The animated videos were shared on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and TikTok. View the videos on YouTube