Written by a parent, not a doctor. Nothing here is medical advice.

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Colorado program

Help with the gas and electricity bill

Colorado offers seasonal heating help and separate utility discounts, with different rules for each.

What it is

Colorado offers seasonal heating help and separate utility discounts, with different rules for each.

Home energy costs can rise while earnings fall during treatment. LEAP helps with eligible heating costs during its winter season. Your utility may offer separate discounts, and a medical certificate can protect against some shutoffs.

Eligibility rules
  • LEAP helps with heating costs from November to April. The line is 60% of the state median income: $6,097 a month for three people, $7,258 for four (2026 to 2027 season).
  • Utility Bill Help lists Atmos Energy, Black Hills Energy, Colorado Natural Gas and Xcel Energy. Each company checks its own discount program; a municipal utility or cooperative explains any separate help it offers.
What you get
  • Seasonal help toward eligible heating costs through LEAP.
  • Separate discounts through participating utility companies.
  • A temporary medical shutoff hold when the utility and certificate meet the rules.
What the help includes
  • The regulator describes programs that can hold combined home gas and electricity costs to 6% of annual income. The utility decides the actual discount.
If you decide to apply
  1. Use the Colorado Public Utilities Commission's Utility Bill Help page to identify the program for your utility.
  2. Discuss the bill and any shutoff notice with your utility, with help from the hospital social worker if useful.

Your utility and Colorado Utility Bill Help · Official page ↗

After you ask
  • The 2026–2027 LEAP season runs November 1, 2026 through April 30, 2027. The agency confirms the award and processing status; utility discounts have separate application schedules.
Good to know

Utility Bill Help is not an emergency service. A pending shutoff needs a separate conversation with the utility about available protections.

Other details
  • A qualifying medical certificate can provide temporary shutoff protection under the rules that cover the utility. The clinician, utility and social worker can check the medical facts, certification and dates; the unpaid bill does not disappear.
  • If losing power would cause or worsen a medical emergency, a Colorado clinician's certificate stops disconnection for 90 days, once in 12 months, at utilities under the state regulator. The utility cannot demand payment first, but the bill stays owed. City and cooperative utilities have their own rules.
  • Under the PUC gas rule, telephone medical certification must be followed by written certification within 10 days. The utility confirms the permitted clinician and documentation for the rule covering your service.

Federal background: LIHEAP heating assistance, delivered through Colorado LEAP.

Official sources
Ask your social worker

“Could energy assistance lower our bill, and are there limits or repayment conditions we should know about? Could you help us compare the programs and discuss any medical needs with the utility?”

Why I’m asking: I want our home to stay suitable for my child's care without falling behind on energy bills.

More background and detailed requirements
Additional program information and published rules

Who does what

The three parts, side by side. The agency decides; nobody on this page does.

You

Apply and, if a notice has arrived, telephone the utility the same day.

Your social worker

The utility works out the discount.

The care team

The doctor can write that the child needs a heated home or powered equipment.

Who decides
The utility, and the state for heating help.
Ask your social worker
“My child is on treatment at home. Can you help us apply for utility bill help and ask the company about a medical hold?”

How to apply

First step: Apply through the regulator's Utility Bill Help page and telephone your own utility.

  1. Apply through Utility Bill Help.
  2. If a shutoff notice has arrived, call the utility the same day and ask about a medical hold.

Official application / program page ↗

Where it starts: Start at the regulator's Utility Bill Help page, and call your own utility as well.

What to gather

  • A recent utility bill
  • Household income

How long: Unknown. The season dates and the decision time were not published where they could be read.

What a yes looks like

A credit or a lower rate on the utility bill.

What a no looks like, and the next move

Ask the utility what its own hardship programme is, separately from this route.

Watch out

  • The regulator says this is not an emergency service. A shutoff notice needs a call to the utility today.
  • Only four named companies run the bill-help programmes; a municipal utility or a co-operative was not established as covered.

The numbers and the rules

The arcane layer, kept on purpose. Checked September 11, 2026.

What it is worth

Programmes that can limit combined home gas and electricity costs to six percent of annual income.

  • $6/year — Combined home gas and electricity cost limit described by the regulator

Covers: Bill help through the named utilities · The state's winter heating-help programme

What it costs the family: Nothing to apply.

The eligibility facts, as published

Utility
Atmos Energy, Black Hills Energy, Colorado Natural Gas or Xcel Energy for the bill-help route
Income
For LEAP's November 1, 2026–April 30, 2027 season, the limit is 60% Colorado state median income: monthly household sizes 1–6 are $3,774/$4,936/$6,097/$7,258/$8,420/$9,581. Utility discounts use separate rules.

The trap: The regulator says outright that this is not an emergency service. If a shutoff notice has arrived, call the utility directly the same day and ask for a medical hold as well as applying here.

Where I read this

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