Duke Energy allocates $350,000 in summer bill assistance for qualifying Indiana customers in 2025

Duke Energy is committing $350,000 to help Indiana customers cover their energy bills this summer. The funding comes from company shareholders — not ratepayers — and flows through its Summer Energy Assistance Credit Program. If you qualify, you could get up to a $250 credit applied directly to your account.

Duke Energy commits $350,000 to Indiana summer energy assistance

The announcement came out of Plainfield, Indiana, and it’s pretty simple: Duke Energy is putting $350,000 toward summer bill relief for qualifying customers in 2026. The program is called the Summer Energy Assistance Credit Program, and it’s funded entirely by shareholders — not built into anyone’s rates.

Eligible customers can get up to a $250 annual credit applied straight to their account. No rebate check, no future discount. It goes directly to the bill, which makes a real difference when a household is already stretched thin.

Free home energy house calls are also available, where energy professionals assess your home in person or virtually and provide a toolkit of energy-saving devices.

Why the program exists and how it is funded

One thing worth flagging: this money doesn’t come from ratepayers. Duke Energy funds it through shareholder dollars, so customers who don’t qualify aren’t picking up the tab for those who do.

The program addresses a predictable seasonal pattern. Summer heat drives up electricity use, and that shows up fast on monthly bills. Stan Pinegar, president of Duke Energy Indiana, pointed to recent weeks of elevated energy use as a direct example of why the program matters right now.

“Our Summer Energy Assistance Credit Program is available to help Hoosiers with seasonal bills that can go up with increased energy use similar to what we experienced over the last couple of weeks,” Pinegar said.

It fits into a broader set of company initiatives aimed at customers facing financial hardship — a category that tends to grow when temperatures do.

How customers can access the credits

Getting access to the funds means going through the right channels. Duke Energy partners with the Indiana Community Action Association to distribute money through local Energy Assistance Program (EAP) agencies, and those agencies are your point of contact for figuring out whether you qualify.

Start by reaching out to your local EAP agency directly. Eligibility is tied to EAP qualification standards, and the agency can walk you through what’s required. Once approved, credits can be applied to energy bills, deposits, and reconnection or connection charges—that last part matters if your service has already been interrupted.

Duke Energy’s website has a county-by-county list of service providers, so finding the right local agency doesn’t take much digging.

Additional tools and savings programs available to customers

Beyond the assistance credit, Duke Energy offers several tools that can help you manage your bill before it becomes a problem.

The Payment Assistance Finder is a free online tool that uses a simple zip code search to provide you with local assistance resources—a solid starting point if you’re not sure what’s available in your area. Usage Alerts are worth knowing about too. They notify you mid-billing cycle about how much electricity you’ve used and what it’s estimated to cost, giving you a window to adjust before the bill arrives.

For a longer-term approach, the Smart Usage Option is a new time-of-use rate for residential customers. The idea is to shift energy-heavy tasks—laundry, dishwashing, charging—to off-peak hours when grid demand is lower, and that shift can add up to real savings over time. Free home energy house calls are also available, where energy professionals assess your home in person or virtually and provide a toolkit of energy-saving devices.

More on all of these is at duke-energy.com/SeasonalSavings.

Duke Energy Indiana’s scale and prior assistance record

A few numbers help put Duke Energy Indiana’s footprint in perspective. The company serves approximately 930,000 customers across a 23,000-square-mile service area and is Indiana’s largest electric supplier, with about 6,800 megawatts of owned electric capacity.

That scale means the assistance programs, while meaningful, are reaching a fraction of the overall customer base. The impact still adds up. In 2025, Duke Energy supported more than 2,000 Indiana households with more than $400,000 in combined summer and winter energy bill assistance. If you’re struggling to pay your electric bill right now, Duke Energy’s guidance is direct: contact their customer service team and don’t wait for things to get worse.

The bottom line is straightforward. Duke Energy is putting $350,000 in shareholder-funded assistance toward Indiana customers this summer. Qualifying customers can get up to $250 through their local EAP agency — and beyond that credit, there’s a range of tools, from usage alerts to time-of-use rates to free home assessments, that can help manage costs before they become a real problem.

Kelly Lippke

Kelly is an experienced writer with 15 years of experience exploring the big stories that shape our world, from tech breakthroughs and space exploration to climate, energy, and the fascinating quirks of science. She has a talent for turning complex ideas into sharp, memorable insights that stay with readers long after they’ve finished reading.