Heating vs. Eating: Low Income Consumer Protections
Maintaining Low-Income CARE Rates
Southern
California Gas Company wanted to provide a discount to Guardian, a big
business customer, by discounting Guardian’s required contributions to
public purpose programs, including the vital CARE program that provides
special energy rates for eligible low-income Californians. If the
discount were approved by the CPUC, other utilities were expected to
seek similar discounts for their large, wealthy corporate customers.
TURN
led a coalition of consumer groups in fighting to retain the current
system that requires all customers to contribute to public programs on
the basis of how much energy they use. The discounts proposed by the
utility companies would have required small residential customers to
pay more or else would have meant cuts in funding for low-income and
energy efficiency programs. The CPUC agreed with TURN and other small
customer representatives and rejected the proposal to discount rates
for the large customers. Residential rates did not go up, and CARE
funding remained intact.
Blocked Expansion of Payday Lenders as Utility Bill Vendors
One
of the utilities’ favorite ways to cut costs is to eliminate their
local offices and replace them with pay stations that do not provide
customer service or information but would be able to accept bill
payments. TURN learned that many of these pay stations were "payday"
lenders that charge exorbitant rates of interest for short-term loans.
These payday lenders usually prey on low-income communities, and are
happy to have additional access to potential customers that may be
desperate for cash to pay their basic household bills.
TURN
won a ruling preventing utility companies from expanding their use of
payday lenders and has won commitments from utility companies to find
alternative businesses to use as pay stations.
CARE Rates for Everyone Who Needs Them
TURN
supported, and the Governor signed, legislation that would allow
qualified master-metered customers—particularly mobile homeowners—to
receive low-income discounts under the CARE program (AB 2857, Lieber,
D-Mountain View).
The bill ensures all consumers get the rates they are entitled to and that master-metered tenants are not discriminated against.
