2004 AGN JUL 20 I14 - Laserfiche WebLink

Browse Search

CITY OF COLTON Item #14 AGENDA REPORT FOR COUNCIL MEETING OF JULY 20,2004 TO: HONORABLE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL FROM: Jeannette Olko, Electric Utility General Manager SUBJECT: Low Income Electric Customer Assistance Program DATE: July 13, 2004 BACKGROUND: The State of California Public Utility Code, sections 385 and 386 require that each local publicly owned electric utility shall establish a non -bypassable usage based charge on local distribution service that was calculated to be .29 cents per kWh. Funds from this charge may be used for services provided for low-income electricity customers, including but not limited to, targeted energy efficiency service and rate discounts. On February 3, 1998, the City Council Approved resolution R-07-98 providing a credit of 100% of the Public Benefit Charge to income qualified electric customers. More than 800 customers have signed up to receive this credit. Another service the Electric Utility has provided to income qualified customers was in-home energy audits that determined the cause of high bills and helped customers reduce their energy use and distributed portable evaporative coolers. The City Council has requested that the Electric Utility develop additional programs to help low income customers. The Electric Utility Department has studied and compared various programs in order to determine what would be a fair and equitable means to provide assistance for low income customers to assist them to have access to affordable electricity. DISCUSSION/ANALYSIS: The Electric Utility Department has studied and compared various programs offered by other publicly owned electric utilities similar to Colton's. A variety of programs have been implemented by many of the municipal utilities in southern California. Some of the programs provide efficiency improvements such as new refrigerators, air conditioning upgrades or home repairs. Some utilities provide financial assistance ranging from a few percent to as much as a 25 percent discount on electric bills. Others have a fixed payment of $100 to $120 a year, and some programs provide payment assistance once a year when customers are unable to pay bills. The type of program we have designed provides a once a year credit on the electric portion of the utility bill for qualifying customers. This type of program provides relief for customers on a bill that customers decide they want credit for. For example, they can choose to have the hottest month of the summer receive this credit so that they can have a month of relief from the heat without worry of having an unaffordable bill. Some customers that have electric space heating and do not tolerate cold weather can choose to use this option in the winter. It is fair in that the credits provide more assistance to customers who have higher energy use and all eligible customers can receive the benefit. In order to qualify for this program, the customer must fill out an application and meet certain income requirements; in addition, the customer must apply for this benefit each year. FINANCIAL IMPACT: Azusa has an annual monthly high bill credit program, and since they have the same billing system there would be minimal additional expense to set up a program like this in our CIS system. The additional staff time to accept and process applications would likely be offset by less time