BATON ROUGE — The embattled Delta Utilities natural gas service launched a customer assistance program after receiving scores, if not hundreds, of complaints about increasing bills.

The DU Cares program is intended to provide short-term financial relief for natural gas customers. Delta Utilities last year acquired customers previously served by Entergy, and many reached out to WBRZ after the winter turned cold to complain that they were not prepared for higher bills.

The program is funded by the Delta Utilities Foundation, while United Way of Southeast Louisiana is helping to administer it.

"DU Cares reflects our fundamental belief that no family should have to choose between keeping the heat on and meeting other basic needs," CEO Tim Poché said in a statement.

Under the program, once a year, customers can seek up to $250 in direct utility bill assistance. The utility says it will make $200,000 available this year. 

The utility said it would accept applications at:

2401 Canal St., New Orleans, 504-822-5540
8324 Morrison Rd., New Orleans, 504-827-6828
834 N. Columbia St., Covington, 985-244-6580
432 Avenue U, Bogalusa, 985-244-6588

WBRZ viewers who reached out to the station sent copies of their monthly bills that showed the amount due jumped from $25-30 a month to over $100. One viewer in Bellingrath showed that her bill climbed from $25 to $179 — a 616 percent increase.

Entergy Louisiana spun off its natural gas operations last summer, with Delta Utilities acquiring 95,000 customers in East Baton Rouge Parish. (In New Orleans, it took over 109,000 customers.) During the transfer, Delta did not automatically keep its new customers on levelized billing, so many customers are seeing true wintertime gas bills for the first time in years.