Help With Your Natural Gas Bill Is Available
The Customer Affordability Program (CAP) is a Percentage-of-Income Payment Plan Program (PIPP) offered by Colorado Natural Gas. It's designed to make your natural gas service more affordable by limiting the amount you pay toward your gas bill to a set percentage of your household income. The program is offered in accordance with the Colorado Public Utilities Commission’s low-income program rules.
Qualified households pay an affordable portion of their gas bill based on income, with CAP covering the rest through a bill credit. If you had a past-due balance before you enrolled, CAP may also offer a one-time balance forgiveness at no cost to you.
You may qualify for CAP if you meet one or both of the following criteria:
You do not have to make any payment to be accepted into CAP. You will remain qualified for two program years once you are enrolled.
Most customers are enrolled automatically after being referred as income-qualified through one of the agencies below. To be considered for CAP, apply through any of these programs:
Once you are approved by one of these programs, your information is shared with Colorado Natural Gas so we can enroll you in CAP.
After we receive your referral, we will review your account and send you a written decision within 30 days.
If you are accepted, your notice will explain your benefits, including:
If we do not apply a CAP credit or arrearage forgiveness to your account, we will send you a notice explaining why. In many cases, this simply means your other energy assistance already covered the affordable portion of your bill.
The most you will be asked to pay toward your natural gas bill is a set percentage of your household income, based on your situation:
| Customer situation | Affordable share of household income |
|---|---|
| Household income at or below 75% of the federal poverty level | 2.0% |
| Household income between 76% and 125% of the federal poverty level | 2.5% |
| Household income at or above 126% of the federal poverty level | 3.0% |
| Household’s primary heating fuel is not natural gas | 1.0% |
CAP covers the part of your bill above this affordable amount. If you also receive LEAP or other energy assistance, that assistance is applied to your account first, and CAP covers any remaining gap. If your assistance already covers the affordable portion of your bill, your CAP bill credit may be $0, but you remain enrolled and qualified.
The program is supported by a monthly PIPP Charge that appears as a separate line item labeled “CAP CHARGE” on every customer’s bill. The amount is set by the Colorado Public Utilities Commission and stated in our approved tariff:
| Customer class | Monthly PIPP Charge |
|---|---|
| All CNG customer accounts (per Commission-approved tariff) | $1.00 |
The PIPP Charge helps fund the bill credits and arrearage forgiveness that make natural gas service affordable for income-qualified households.
The complete rules governing CAP are set out in the Terms & Conditions on Tariff Sheets 29–29F. You can read them on our payment assistance page at ColoradoNaturalGas.com/PaymentAssistance.
Call Colorado Natural Gas at 800-720-8193 or 303-979-7680, or visit ColoradoNaturalGas.com/PaymentAssistance.
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