The Medical Baseline Program provides an ongoing energy bill discount to customers with qualifying medical conditions or devices (e.g., asthma, sleep apnea, a motorized wheelchair/scooter). With the Arrearage Management Plan (AMP), PG&E customers are able to get up to $8,000 of a past due balance forgiven if they are enrolled in CARE or FERA, owe at least $500 in gas and electricity or $250 in gas only, and their bills are at least 90 days delinquent. If you live outside of PG&E’s service area, contact your local utility provider about the utility assistance programs it offers.) Select “Yes” and enter Consumer Action’s COC code 2643. At the bottom of the application, it will ask if a community contractor is assisting with the application. (To see if you qualify for CARE or FERA in PG&E’s service area, visit this webpage. For example, the California Alternate Rates for Energy (CARE) program provides a discount of at least 20% on gas and electricity, and the Family Electric Rate Assistance (FERA) program provides a discount of 18% on electricity only. Many eligible consumers never apply for assistance programs because they are unaware of them or (often mistakenly) think they do not qualify, yet the benefits can be significant and are worth pursuing. With this PG&E grant, Consumer Action aims to serve disadvantaged communities, seniors, minority, immigrant and migrant consumers by building awareness of, and enrollment in, relief programs. And now, with the utility shutoff moratoriums that were put in place during the pandemic having ended, consumers also are struggling with overdue charges that accrued during the crisis. Millions of American households regularly struggle to pay their energy bill in full. Consumer Action was among a dozen or so nonprofits selected to receive a grant from Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E), California’s largest gas and electricity provider, to support an education and outreach project with the goal of increasing enrollment in a variety of PG&E programs that make it easier for low-income households to maintain utility service.Įnergy poverty-the inability to pay household energy bills-can be the result of high energy costs, low income and poor energy efficiency.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |