Eversource retiree has devoted 30 years to helping customers pay their bills
In his 30 years of helping utility customers with financial hardships find a way to pay their bills, Eversource retiree Jerry Eaton says the willingness of one customer to help another is what impresses him the most.
“We’ll get a donation from people we helped 10 years ago with a note saying they want to give back,” Eaton told American Gas. He registered the Neighbor Helping Neighbor nonprofit in 1988 and has long served as president of its board.
The idea for the nonprofit came from a former employee, the late Wallace Ramsden, of Eversource’s predecessor, the Public Service Company of New Hampshire.
Now, all New Hampshire gas and electric utilities are part of the program, which assists about 1,200 New Hampshire families annually and has provided more than $6 million in relief to more than 36,000 local utility customers.
“We view this program as a win-win. It allows us to work with other utilities in the state and with nonprofits to help people pay their energy bills,” Paul Ramsey, vice president of operations at Eversource and treasurer on the Neighbor Helping Neighbor Board of Directors, told American Gas. “We’ve received many kudos from our regulatory agencies who have even forwarded funds to this program.”
Independent community action groups determine who qualifies for aid. Often, the program provides help to families experiencing an emergency or sudden financial hardship because of a job loss or medical bills, but who don’t qualify for other energy assistance programs.
Eaton, who retired in 2012 as senior counsel in the legal department of Eversource, said he feels fortunate to be part of a unified group of people from various entities all working toward a goal of maximizing available resources.
“It means a lot to me that the program I helped to get off the ground is still working and helping people across the state,” he said.
Eaton was instrumental in advocating for state legislation that allows utilities to donate 85 percent of abandoned funds—money from customers’ security deposits that cannot be returned because the customers cannot be located—to Neighbor Helping Neighbor. Eaton is also responsible for applying for the state and federal grants that help fund the program.
Current utility customers also donate on a regular basis, accounting for $278,000 given during the last fiscal year.