UI, CNG, SCG Host 40 Community Leaders to Discuss Available Customer Service Assistance Programs

At the companies' Customer Service Expo on Friday, the Customer Service team describes programs and services available for customers in need of assistance

ORANGE, Conn. - October 6, 2025 - In recognition of the start of Customer Service Week (October 6-10), United Illuminating (UI), Connecticut Natural Gas (CNG), and Southern Connecticut Gas (SCG), subsidiaries of Avangrid, Inc., announced they held a Customer Service Expo for 40 community leaders on Friday morning, October 3. During the event, which was held at the companies' headquarters in Orange and which was the first of its kind in recent years, members of the Customer Service team provided an in-depth explainer on the assistance programs available to customers, as well as the outreach activities the companies have undertaken to improve customer awareness of these programs. Attendees included Connecticut Consumer Counsel Claire Coleman and Director of the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA) Office of Education, Outreach and Enforcement (EOE) Tom Lopez, as well as representatives from the local Community Action Agencies in the companies' service area, members of several municipalities' Human Services departments, and members of the state Department of Social Services. Avangrid CEO Jose Antonio Miranda and UI/CNG/SCG President and CEO Frank Reynolds also made welcome remarks at the event.

"Everything we do - every investment we make, every person we hire, every innovation we dream up - is on behalf of our customers as we work to ensure they receive with best-in-class utility service," said Miranda. "That is why it was a pleasure to join the excellent UI, CNG, and SCG Customer Service team on Friday as they described how the attendees' constituents and community members can benefit from the many programs and investments we have made over the last several years. I look forward to seeing the fruits of our team's partnership with these and other organizations in attendance as we work to increase the awareness of our available resources."

"Having worked in the utility industry for more than 30 years, I know personally that our organization is made far stronger by our stellar Customer Service department," said Reynolds. "We are fortunate, therefore, to have more than 200 individuals who each contribute their skills and talents to assisting our customers, including Customer Service Representatives, billing and revenue specialists, supervisors, project managers and many others. I am immensely proud of the team we have built here, and I deeply appreciate their commitment to spreading the word about the programs they offer in new and creative ways every day."

The UI, CNG, and SCG Customer Service team led Friday's discussion focused on the assistance programs available for customers who qualify based on their income level. Customers whose total household income is less than 60 percent of the state median income, and/or who participate in a variety of state or federal programs (e.g., the Connecticut Energy Assistance Program (CEAP); HUSKY A, B, C, D; Head Start; the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP); and others), qualify for financial hardship, which means they can also qualify for one or more of the following programs:

• Winter Protection: Available to both natural gas and electric customers, this program ensures that customers who qualify for financial hardship will not have their utility service disconnected between November 1 and May 1;

• Matching Payment Program (MPP): Available to both natural gas and electric customers, this program allows the companies to match every dollar a customer pays and every dollar received from CEAP or other assistance programs;

• MPP - Below Budget Worksheets: Available only to natural gas customers, this program reduces a customer's monthly payment to as low as $50 for the Matching Payment Program; and

• The Low-Income Discount Rate: Available only to electric customers, this program enables a customer to receive a 10 percent or 50 percent discount on their monthly electric bill, depending on their household income levels and participation in various state/federal assistance programs.

Following the presentation, the Customer Service team members took questions from the audience and concluded with an informal networking event.

For more information on assistance programs available for UI, CNG, and SCG customers, please visit: https://www.uinet.com/helpwithbill, https://http://www.cngcorp.com/helpwithbill, and https://www.soconngas.com/helpwithbill, respectively.