LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Due to financial hardship caused by the pandemic, many Kentucky residents are having difficulty paying their utility bills. In response, both the state and City of Louisville governments have established programs to address this hardship.

Gov. Andy Beshear announced on Monday that up to $38 million is available to local governments to help Kentuckians with overdue utility bills. Under this program, local governments may request grants of up to $200,000 for utility assistance in their communities. 

Eligible households may receive up to $250 per month for six months if, among other requirements, they live in a city or county approved for funding, have been financially impacted by COVID-19, and have received a notice for disconnect between Jan. 21, 2020, and now.

Separate from the state effort, the City of Louisville established a $10 million COVID-19 Utility Assistance Program. The program is designed to help residents who don’t have funds available for LG&E, Louisville Water, and Louisville MSD bills. 

Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer was joined by council members and utility partners for Monday's announcement. 

The money comes from general government fund dollars freed up by the CARES Act. Certain conditions apply, which the mayor spelled out during his virtual press conference.

"There are two main components, up to 500 dollars assistance on LG&E bills and up to 500 dollars assistance on water and MSD bills. Customers will need to attest that they have had a financial hardship during the pandemic between March 16th and December 31st of 2020. There are no income restrictions to receive this utility assistance. Residents will be served on a first-come-first-serve basis, and can apply for both LG&E and water and MSD assistance," Fischer said.

The numbers are grim, but hopefully, with the support of the utility assistance program, hardship will decrease. Fischer and a spokeswoman for Louisville Water Company laid out the numbers.

"1,900 hundred customers behind on their Louisville water or MSD bill. There are now 15,00, ok so almost ten times he amount of residential customers in Jefferson county who are behind on their Water or MSD bill, with an average outstanding balance of about 700 bucks. LG&E has nearly 28,000 thousand residential customers that are behind with an average bill of more than 400 dollars," Fischer said.

Kelley Dearing Smith from the Louisville Water Company also weighed in.

"When we look at those numbers, the number of customers who have had an outstanding balance between March and December of last year, roughly 80 percent of those customers have either never been behind on their Louisville Water and MSD bill, or they have only been behind one time. So all it takes is a data point like that to show how far-reaching this pandemic is," she said.

The funds will be given out by the city’s Office of Resilience and Community Services. The organization partners with the Association of Community Ministries and Neighborhood Place.

LG&E was also on hand to offer guidance to those who may need a helping hand.

"The pledge will appear on your customer accounts as pending credits until the pledge is fulfilled and funds are received from the organizations. What I would like to also share is that to date residential customers with an outstanding pandemic balance have been placed on payment plans for up to 12 months and no residential customers have been disconnected due to nonpayment of their pandemic balance," spokeswoman Eileen Saunders stated.