While as many as 1,000 households in Jefferson County could take advantage of a new low-income assistance program offered by Jefferson County Public Utility District, only a handful have signed up for the program so far.

As of April 20, 204 low-income seniors and customers with disabilities had applied for a $20-a-month discount, and 289 customers had applied for the new $35-a-month discount that PUD commissioners approved and that took effect in March, according to customer service representative Jean Hall.

“It’s been kind of slow,” acknowledged PUD manager Jim Parker, “but it’s still cold out.”

Parker said the PUD’s Citizen Advisory Board, which had recommended expanding the low-income assistance program last year, had estimated that as many as 2,000 households in Jefferson County would be eligible to apply if the PUD lowered its definition of “low income” to include people whose income falls below 100 percent of the federal poverty limit (FPL.)

The senior program was kept intact, so if seniors qualify for the higher rate – $35, instead of $20 a month – they can reapply for the higher rate, Parker said.

Effective in late March of this year, the PUD sent notices to all eligible customers advising of the changes to the program, which included the $35 monthly electricity credit for those who also meet the qualifications to receive assistance from the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP).

The household eligibility is now 125 percent of the FPL, so a single person would meet that level if his or her gross annual income is $14,850, according to the PUD, Parker said. For a family of four, the gross annual income must not exceed $30,375, according to the PUD.

The PUD has contracted with OlyCAP to help it determine whether a household qualifies or not.

OUTREACH PLANNED

Marki Lockhart, community service director for OlyCAP, said that clients who have received help paying their bills through LIHEAP were automatically included in the first PUD program. There were 330 households in Jefferson County that were served through LIHEAP this past winter, down a little from the previous year.

With the expansion of the PUD’s discount program to include all people, not just seniors and customers with disabilities, more people are eligible, and she said outreach is being planned.

“We want to be able to use all three community centers to make sure those folks who are eligible get signed up,” Lockhart said. She said she expects to have the application for the PUD program available at community centers soon.

Anyone needing help can call OlyCAP at 385-2571 and leave a message, she said.

PUD PAYS A FEE

Getting people approved for the program is costing the PUD a fee, Parker said. There’s one rate if the customer already has been approved for LIHEAP funds by OlyCAP, and a $75 fee for all other applications.

“We’ve made the program [to run] for 18 months, so once you’re approved, even if you can’t get on LIHEAP, you’ll get help,” Parker said. “If you are on LIHEAP, then you automatically get the benefit.”

The PUD is budgeting $500,000 for the program, which essentially means that is the amount of money the district anticipates writing off and not receiving as income. For example, if 1,000 people were to sign up for a monthly discount of $35, that would translate to about $400,000 a year in revenue the district wouldn’t collect.

A few customers have questioned whether the public district has the authority to do that.

“The RCW [Revised Code of Washington] requires our rates to be fair and equitable, with the exception with low-income. So with low-income [customers], you can change the rates. That’s in the RCWs,” Parker said of the PUD having the authority to charge a different, and lower, rate for those customers with low incomes.

RATES COULD BE RAISED

Because it has been cold out this year, Parker suspects that more people will want to be on the program next winter, especially if the there is another rate hike.

The PUD buys power wholesale from the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA), and the BPA is having a problem selling its power these days.

“Because power is so cheap, [the BPA] may have to charge us more to keep their revenues up,” Parker said he’s been told. BPA officials haven’t told the PUD how much or when that might happen.

For the first time since it took over the electric system in East Jefferson County from Puget Sound Energy in 2013, the PUD raised rates effective Jan. 1, 2017. The monthly base rate rose from $7.49 to $14.50 in January, and in June, a 1 percent consumption rate is to be implemented. The consumption rate hike impacts each customer differently and is based on how much electricity is used.

In January, Parker also said that a rate hike from the BPA is expected in October 2017.

PUD commissioners also decided that in the third quarter of 2017, they would consider possible hikes to be effective in 2018 and 2019.

Operating costs also have increased, because the PUD has added more customer service, finance and engineering staff; PUD is expected to add more employees in 2017.