[ilbegone]

Overview of Low-Income Restructuring Legislation and Implementation

...In June of 2004, a new commission-approved program went into effect that allows an electric bill discount to low- to middle-income households of three or more people. Under the program, called Family Electric Rate Assistance (FERA), an eligible household of four may earn from $43,201 to $54,000 per year in 2008-09. The program was approved by the PUC in a November 2003 order.

Program participants save on their electric bills by being billed at a lower rate. FERA participants’ Tier 3 usage (131 percent to 200 percent of baseline) is billed at Tier 2 rates. Usage in Tier 4 (201-300 percent of baseline) and Tier 5 (above 300 percent of baseline) continues to be billed at the original rates for those tiers. Utilities and the CPUC have noted that more than one third of residential customers do not exceed usage above 130 percent of baseline. (Baseline is a quantity of electricity or gas that is billed at the lowest rate. By law, the commission must set baseline quantities for gas and electricity at a "significant portion of the reasonable energy needs of the average residential customer.")

In approving FERA, the commission heeded recommendations from the advocacy groups The Utility Reform Network (TURN) and Latino Issues Forum who testified that the existing baseline determination method was unfair because the household size of residential customers wasn’t taken into account. As a result, a large family was expected to use the same amount of energy as a single person living alone, and often large families exceeded the baseline allowance and paid more expensive rates, the advocates testified.

The program applies only to the three larger utilities: PGE, SCE and SDG&E. PGE estimated in 2004 that approximately 200,000 of its 4.3 million residential customers met the FERA eligibility requirements. At the end of 2007, FERA served about 34,000 households and the utilities spent about $3.7 million for benefits...




...In a decision issued in 2007, the commission set forth a new direction for LIEE, stating that in addition to promoting the quality of life of eligible customers, it should serve as a “resource program,” that is, it should save energy, help limit the need for new power plants, and help curb greenhouse gas emissions.

Under the commission's long-term vision for LIEE, as stated in D.07-12-051, utilities must provide all eligible LIEE customers the opportunity to participate in LIEE programs and to offer those who wish to participate all cost-effective energy efficiency measures in their residences by 2020.

The decision directed the utilities to emphasize the following in their future programs: (1) treat LIEE as a resource program by focusing on energy savings, in addition to customers’ quality of life, (2) propose substantial budget increases so as to provide LIEE measures for 25 percent of eligible and willing customers in the 2009-11 period, (3) emphasize long term and enduring savings, rather than quick fixes, and (4) focus LIEE programs on customers with high energy use, while continuing to serve all eligible low-income populations...


Much more: http://liheap.ncat.org/dereg/states/california.htm