California-based Pacific Gas and Electricity (PG&E) company has expanded the pool of customers who can receive help with their past-due bills, including middle class families and families of four making less than $156,000 collectively a year.
The company announced the expansion of its Relief for Energy Assistance through Community Help (REACH) program on Wednesday, saying that the move will help families keep costs down at a time when many in the state are experiencing dangerous heat conditions, especially in the Central Valley.
“We’ve seen several days that were well over 110 degrees which means people are needing to run their air conditioner more frequently for more hours of the day, which increases their overall energy costs,” PG&E spokesperson James Smith told local news website Your Central Valley.
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Energy bills have also recently increased for PG&E customers in the Central Valley, who saw rate hikes in January and March.
Newsweek called PG&E by phone on Thursday morning outside of standard working hours and left a message requesting comment.
According to Smith, the expansion has also been approved in response to those rate hikes, as the company knows that, “particularly with the tiered rate structure that exists” the more energy customers use, “the more expensive it gets as you pass from tier to tier,” Smith told the local news website.
“This heat is really having an adverse impact on a lot of our customers being able to pay their energy bills, and we wanted to try and identify a program that might provide a little bit of relief to those customers,” he added.
The program is aimed at helping low- to moderate-income customers pay their past-due energy bills and avoid having the services disconnected altogether. Under the expansion, eligible customers who are behind on their bills will receive up to $2,000 in credit to pay them.
To be eligible for REACH, low-income households must have a residential utility account with a company in PG&E’s service territory, the account must be in the name of an adult living in the household and they have to provide proof of income that meets the program’s guidelines.
To be eligible for REACH Triple Match, low- to moderate-income households must have a residential account with PG&E; the account must be in the name of an adult living in the household; have a minimum past-due balance of at least $200; and they must apply to REACH Triple Match before they make a past-due bill payment.
Customers must also make their past-due bill payment within 15 days of applying, be sure they have not received REACH assistance within the past 12 months, and they must provide proof of their household income that meets the guidelines.
Families of four making less than $156,000 will be able to benefit from the program with the new expansion.
Are you a PG&E customer facing price changes or benefiting from the company’s REACH program? We want to hear from you. Contact g.carbonaro@newsweek.com
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