JAMESTOWN – Customers of the Jamestown Board of Public Utilities who are experiencing financial hardships due to the COVID-19 pandemic may be eligible for help with unpaid utility bills.
Officials with the BPU ask customers who live within the City of Jamestown and need assistance to apply on the utility’s website for newly available grant funding.
They say support provided through the grant possibly could pay a qualifying customer’s entire BPU utility bill.
Those eligible for the program must be receiving no assistance from the Department of Social Services for utilities, have been current on BPU bills as of March, and have received a termination notice from the BPU.
“We understand that help from this grant program is on a first-come, first-served basis,” says BPU General Manager David Leathers. “Customers with overdue BPU bills related to the Pandemic are urged to apply for this assistance while it is available to them.”
The funding comes from a Community Development Block Grant awarded to the City of Jamestown’s Department of Development.
The BPU chose to suspend disconnections of service in March as part of the utility’s response to COVID-19.
The State of New York shortly followed by restricting utility shut-offs throughout the state.
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