A record number of people need help paying energy bills. Some are falling through the cracks.

Before their family of seven moved to Baltimore, Megan and Shawn Hafele asked Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. for an estimate of their monthly utility bill. They were told $300-$500 a month.

This winter their bill has been more than double that — and they can’t afford to pay.

The Hafeles are among a record number of Marylanders who feel financially crushed by utility bills and are turning to assistance programs administered by the state and BGE.

All five of the state’s programs that award heating and energy bill credits and provide crisis financial aid saw far more people seeking help this year than last. The Office of Home Energy Programs, which administers those funds, assisted Marylanders nearly 307,500 times during the state’s 2025 fiscal year — up from 244,600 the previous year.

Most people in this region of the country are spending at least 3% of their income on electric and gas utility bills; lower-income households are paying up to 14%, according to data from the U.S. Department of Energy.

Assistance program parameters, like income requirements or past-due bill amounts, mean that some households fall through the cracks and don’t get the help they need.

That includes the Hafeles. They’ve been denied assistance from state programs, as well as one administered by BGE, partly because they weren’t far enough behind to qualify for help when they applied.

“If I have to finagle a little bit, like wait for a pay period or a paycheck, I’ll do that,” Megan Hafele said. “It’s driving me nuts, the fact that we’re overdue. We don’t operate like that.”

State assistance

The Hafeles’ first BGE bill for their 1,950-square-foot house came in October and was around $400. It climbed to $600 the next month, and they lowered their thermostat. But as the frigid winter set in and BGE increased its delivery rates, their bills kept climbing. It was $1,100 at the start of the year.

“We were like, ‘Oh, this is almost a mortgage payment,’” Megan Hafele said. “What on earth is going on?”

The Hafeles are raising five children on a single $70,000 annual income. They feel blindsided by their high bills and turned to the Office of Home Energy Programs under the Maryland Department of Human Services.

It’s easy to apply online, but there’s a gauntlet of requirements. And some of the aid is only awarded to people who have past-due bills.

Although late payments may help families access these energy assistance programs, they can also trigger utility shut-offs, stacking late fees and damage to a credit score if the account is sent to collections.

Two of OHEP’s programs offer one-time grants and don’t require a past-due bill. But the utility customer must have a bill that’s more than $300 and meet an income requirement based on the federal poverty line, which is $33,000 for a family of four this year.

The programs don’t cover an entire bill, and the utility customer is required to pay what they can toward it.

Towson resident Tarshia Brown applied for the state energy assistance program last month, hoping to get help with her recent BGE bill of more than $250. Brown, 55, moved into a two-bedroom Towson apartment last May and lives with her daughter and granddaughter.

Brown’s application for state programs was denied because the amount she was asking for wasn’t enough to qualify for help, according to a letter she received.

She paid the BGE bill, but her finances are squeezed. People should not have to go into “debt just to try to pay these bills when this is a basic need for living,” she said.

BGE customer relief

The Hafeles also applied for the BGE Customer Relief Fund, a program for BGE’s gas customers who are limited- and middle-income and had a past-due balance of at least $250.

It was funded through a charitable contribution from Exelon, BGE’s parent company, and builds on the $19 million in relief Gov. Wes Moore announced last summer.

BGE partnered with the United Way of Central Maryland, a social services nonprofit based in Baltimore, earlier this year to administer $2.5 million in BGE bill assistance. The program awarded one-time credits of $250 to $500.

A window for applications for a new round of assistance opened on Jan. 21, but closed three days later when more than 20,000 applied, said Lauren Eisele Walbert, a spokesperson for the United Way of Central Maryland.

Those programs are designed to help people who are past due or at risk of having their utilities shut off, leaving households that can pay but will be set back financially with few options for assistance.

The Hafeles were denied because their account “does not meet the eligibility requirements to receive assistance,” a rejection email said. It did not specify why.

Budget billing caveat

As utility bills continue to rise, BGE and other companies have pushed customers to sign up for budget billing. That averages usage over a year to level out monthly bills, making them more predictable despite seasonal spikes.

But when customers stop participating, whether for a move or another reason, they’re often left with a bill for hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars because they used more electricity or gas than their average usage had been estimated.

Back in Illinois, the Hafeles were long-time users of their utility company’s budget billing program. When they moved to Baltimore, they had to pay around $3,500 to the company because budget billing didn’t cover the true cost of their usage.

“Now we have this giant debt to pay, and this isn’t helping us,” Megan Hafele said.

In the Baltimore region, more than 350,000 BGE customers are signed up for residential budget billing as of late January, said Lydia Parker, a spokesperson for BGE.

Some 30,500 BGE customers with overdue balances have an active payment arrangement with the utility company, she said.

“Coming from a smaller town in Illinois, I was thinking things were going to be more expensive anyway,” Megan Hefele said about living in Baltimore City. “But it just seems like everything is tenfold.”