Shield of Caring Frequently Asked Questions

Shield of Caring is an energy and emergency assistance program administered by The Salvation Army to help Nicor Gas residential customers who are past due on their natural gas utility bill and report a financial hardship, such as a job loss, illness, military deployment or disability. A portion of the funds will also support The Salvation Army’s basic needs programs, such as emergency housing and rental assistance, food assistance and case management to help families identify barriers to self-sufficiency.

Nicor Gas income-eligible residential customers can receive a grant of up to $250 once a year to apply to their past-due account balances. Grants are based on availability of program funds.

Nicor Gas residential customers with a Nicor Gas account in their name who have a past-due balance on their account and a household gross income in the last 30 days less than 400% of the Federal Poverty Level (see income guidelines) are eligible to apply for Shield of Caring.

Nicor Gas residential customers who meet the income requirements for other energy assistance programs, such as LIHEAP or the Nicor Gas Sharing Program, should apply for those other programs before applying for Shield of Caring so that they can maximize benefits available to them. After receiving assistance from other programs, these customers may be eligible for a Shield of Caring grant if they still have a past-due balance on their Nicor Gas account.

Nicor Gas residential customers can use this Energy Assistance Program Worksheet to help determine programs for which they are eligible so that they can apply for programs – even more than one during the same program year – to maximize the energy assistance benefits available before they apply for Shield of Caring.

To apply for Shield of Caring, eligible customers must:

• Meet the eligibility guidelines as noted in the above “Who’s eligible?” Q&A.
• Know their Nicor Gas account number
• Know their current past-due balance

Eligible customers can find their account balance and number, by viewing their bill’s Account Summary section (see example here) or access online by logging in to My Account.

Nicor Gas income-eligible residential customers can apply for Shield of Caring online by visiting salarmyncil.org/shield-of-caring.

Typically, customers will be notified via email or by phone about their approval for a Shield of Caring grant within 3-5 business days after submitting their application.

Shield of Caring grants may take up to 30 days to be applied to customer accounts.

Nicor Gas income-eligible residential customers should call their local Salvation Army corps community center to get answers to their Shield of Caring questions.