Public Power - January/February 2009 - (Page 16)

■ Heat or Eat? District, Irrigation for Modesto r coordinato p cut down lic benefits niors to hel nigan, pub t bulbs to se gh Ken Ha uorescent li District compact fl Irrigation distributes tesy Modesto Photo cour y usage. their energ Brown, executive director of the organization. Typically, this comes out to less than $1,000 per month. Since 2004, Lincoln Electric System in Nebraska has donated funds to the Lincoln Action Program to help its lowincome customers. In 2004, LES donated 5 cents per customer; in 2009, the contribution will rise to 15 cents per customer, or about $220,000. The utility serves about 110,000 residential accounts, but does not track the number of low-income customers. In 2009, LES will also provide a $100,000 grant, with $100,000 in matching funds from the state, to the social services agency to pay for weatherization programs for low-income customers. “We are arming Lincoln Action Program with the greatest amount of resources to help the low-income [customers],” said Todd Hall, vice president of consumer services. 16 January-February 2009 Modesto Irrigation District, located in a primarily agricultural area, has one of the highest unemployment rates and lowest average incomes in California. Approximately 15 percent of its 110,000 customers are Hispanic, and the utility has qualified 11,500 customers as lowincome. MID CARES (Community Alternative Rates for Electric Service), the utility’s assistance program, reduces monthly service fees for low-income customers who meet federal poverty standards from $12.50 to $5 and adds a 22.6 percent discount on the kilowatthour rate. The utility also offers up to $2,000 per year per household in free weatherization projects. A third program, funded through customer donations, is coordinated with the local Salvation Army. It allows customers to receive emergency assistance once per year. MID also offers replacement refriger- ators in public housing in conjunction with the local housing authority. “Most low-income customers replace refrigerators on failure only,” said Ken Hanigan, MID’s low-income and public benefits coordinator. “We replaced 50 refrigerators last year and will do that again this year.” Are the programs these utilities offer sufficient to meet the need? Disconnects for non-payment in August and September 2008 were up 18 percent on a year-to-year basis for MID, and applications for its CARES discount program have increased, too. Spokane Valley Partners’ Brown said the agency helped 8 to 10 percent more people with emergency assistance in 2008 than 2007. In Lincoln, “7 to 8 percent of customers struggle to pay bills, and we’re seeing that creep up in the last six months,” Hall said. Arrears in 2008 were up 16 percent from 2007. These numbers reflect a national trend. According to a recent survey of Public Power

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Public Power - January/February 2009

Public Power - December 2008 Contents Perspective 10 Questions Heat or Eat? Achieving Excellence in Nuclear Operations Training Grand Ambitions for Wind Power Visions of Green Carbon Trading Across The Pond Reliability Green Energy Customer Service DEED Hometown Connections Parting Shot

Public Power - January/February 2009

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.