PSE | HELP

November Wind Storm

Restoration work continues today

Crews are out in full force again today as we continue working around the clock to restore power to customers affected by Tuesday’s windstorm. We have more than 150 line crews, 70 tree crews and hundreds of staff members working 24/7 to support the work out in the field. We’ve restored power to more than 95% of customers.

We now have all substations back in power and continue working to repair damage on our local distribution lines – the lines that serve individual neighborhoods and smaller pockets of customers. Unfortunately, crews are reporting additional damage at many locations, which will need to be repaired as well. Much of this work is time-consuming and slow-going, as it requires extensive work yet restores power in much smaller numbers, such as to 5, 10, or 20 customers at a time.

In some of our hardest hit areas, like Mirrormont and Hobart/Maple Valley, we have hundreds of fallen trees tied up in our power lines, which require tree crews to safely remove using specialized equipment before line crews can begin their work. We have crew resources dedicated to completing this work, but it will take time.

We also continue to prioritize restoring outages that are impacting schools. We’re confident that nearly all schools will have their power back on in time for the school day tomorrow and are proactively coordinating with schools so they can help plan.

While we’ve made steady progress over these past several days, for our customers still without power, we know the challenges of being without power for this extended period. We appreciate your patience—we are working as hard as we can to restore your power as quickly as possible.

Home Energy Lifeline Program (HELP)

Let us help get you back on track

Paying bills can be stressful, but we’re here to help. PSE’s Home Energy Lifeline Program (HELP) provides assistance for residential customers to help pay electric or natural gas bills. If you qualify, we’ll credit your account for up to $1,000. To apply, begin your application below to receive the help you need.

If you have already applied you can view your application status.

See if you're eligible!

Find out if you qualify before applying. Just provide your household's gross monthly income, number of people in your household and the county where you live. After learning your preliminary status, complete the online application below.

Please select number in household

Please select county

Please enter monthly household income

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Learn more about our income guidelines

Enrollment is available to qualifying residential PSE customers. Eligibility is based on your household’s gross monthly income (income before any deductions or taxes), number of people in your household and where you reside. To qualify your household income needs to be 80% or less of area median income (AMI) in the county you live in.

What’s Income

Alimony/Child Support
Annuities
Capital gains
Dividends
Earned wages/salary
Foster care payments
Military pay
Pensions
Rental income/Royalties
Self-employment income (after expenses)
Social Security
Social Security Disability (SSDI)
Student Aid/Scholarships
Supplemental Security Income (SSI)
Unemployment

What’s not income

Energy Assistance
Income for people in high school or under 18
Income tax refunds/credits
One-time cash gifts
Reverse mortgage
Section 8 or housing subsidies
WIC benefits

Our income guidelines can be found here. If you have any questions about calculating your income, requirements of the program, or need help applying, please contact your local Community Agency to help complete the HELP application process.

Additional financial assistance

You may also qualify for additional assistance programs. In fact, by applying for PSE Help, we will automatically start an application for Bill Discount Rate, our bill discount program.

Both HELP and Bill Discount Rate provide significant discounts to customers who qualify, based on their household size and income. A single application takes two minutes to complete. No additional documentation is required.