Brochure on Public Benefits Charge Credit

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CITY OF COLTON AGENDA REPORT For the City Council Meeting of February 20, 2001 TO: Honorable Mayor and City Council APPROVAL: Henry T. Garcia, City Manager_ FROM: Thomas K. Clarke, Utilities Director_k� SUBJECT: Approval of Production and Distribution of Brochure Announcing Public Benefits Charge Credit for Low -Income Customers DATE: Monday, February 12, 2001 BACKGROUND Assembly Bill 995 extends the period that Public Benefit Programs will run until 2010 and adds a requirement that low-income services must be provided to our customers. The City of Colton has established a Public Benefit.Charge (PBC) of $.0029 per Kilowatt-hour to collect revenues for the State of California's requirement that electric utilities establish a non - bypassable charge to pay for: cost effective demand side management services to promote energy efficiency; investment in renewable energy resources; research and development to advance science or technology; and services for low-income electricity customers, including targeted energy -efficiency and rate discounts. On February 3, 1998, the City adopted Resolution (R-07-98) that provides a Public Benefit Charge Credit of 100% of the PBC for income -eligible households. This credit reduces the customer's electric costs by about 2.9%. ANALYSIS The City of Colton currently provides a credit for 100% of the Public Benefits Charge Credit for Low -Income Households. At present customers receive an application for the Public Benefits Charge Credit for Low -Income Households if they request information about low=income programs or have trouble paying their utility bills. So far, only 106 customers have signed up for this credit. In order to inform customers about this policy, staff has prepared a brochure, to be mailed along with utility bills, that describes (in English and Spanish) the Public Benefit Charge Credit for Low -Income Households. The proposed brochure has a program application that can be returned with the utility payment. Staff seeks City Council approval for printing and distribution of the "Public Benefit Credit" brochure. Since the California Public Utilities Code requires publicly -owned electric utilities to provide: targeted energy efficiency services and rate discounts to income -qualified customers, this brochure and application will inform our customers about a benefit that Council has established. Staff also plans to use information from the applications to create a data base that will be used to design cost-effective programs to provide targeted efficiency services to all of our customers. A copy of the brochure is attached. Item #8