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HomeMy WebLinkAbout16, Update on COVID-19 ReliefAgenda Item #16 To: From: Date: Subject: Board of Directors Steven Poncelet May 20, 2020 Review of the District's COVID-19 Relief Efforts WORKSHOP 1. WHY THIS MATTER IS BEFORE THE BOARD The District continues to respond to the COVID-19 crisis to protect our employees and customers while ensuring continuity of electric and water services. This includes District's efforts to help customers who are experiencing a financial hardship due to COVID-19. This item is a review of those efforts. 2. HISTORY At the April 15, 2020 District Board meeting, the Board took action to respond to the COVID-19 crisis's economic impacts on residential customers by reallocating $275,000 from within the Conservation Department's budget to the existing Payment Assistance Program. The program provides qualifying District primary residential customers with an annual credit on their bill, equal to their largest total TDPUD bill in the last 12-months, and requires that they complete a free District Residential Energy Survey (RES). The existing program qualification guidelines include traditional Nevada County low-income levels along with a demonstrated loss of 25% of income category. The Board also authorized a doubling of the payment assistance during the temporary program. This program is administered in partnership with the Sierra Community House (SCH) who does the intake and qualification for the Payment Assistance Program on behalf of District. The temporary COVID-19 Customer Relief Program details include: SCH continues to qualify District customers under the current program rules (i.e. using the 25% documented loss of income qualification for those who can show application for State or Federal Unemployment). You must still be a primary resident to qualify for the District’s Payment Assistance Program (P10 rate class for Electric customers). The District had previously suspended the Residential Energy Survey (RES) portion of this program due to COVID-19 restrictions but will attempt to complete these when RES is reinstated; Payment Assistance Program bill credits are temporarily increased from one month bill to two months bill credit. There is a 12-month ‘look-back’ for customer who are already in the program where they would get a second credit. All new applicants get the two months during the temporary period. At the end of the crisis, all will revert back to the 1-month credit once a year and all who of the crisis, all will revert back to the 1-month credit once a year and all who came in under the loss of 25% of income would need to reapply for future assistance; and The temporary program took effect on April 16, 2020 and will remain in effect for 30 days after California (or local jurisdiction) has ended the shelter in place order OR until the reallocated budget funds are expended ($55,000 existing plus $275,000 reallocated for a total of $330,000 for FY20). If you assume the average customer two month bill credit is $400 total, plus $50 for SCH, plus $150 for RES, the temporary COVID-19 Customer Relief Program -based on the $330,000 total budget - could serve 550+ customers in need. There was confirmation that the District had temporarily suspended disconnects for non-payment and the Board directed staff to also seek ways to help District business customers including considering waiving late penalties and interests for all customers who are having trouble paying their bills. The Board also asked that staff come back in a month with an update on the COVID-19 Customer Relief Program and other relief efforts.3. NEW INFORMATION Staff has been working with SCH to launch the temporary COVID-19 Customer Relief Program, aggressively promote it to our customers, and adjust resources to respond to the increased participation. Immediately following the Board action, District staff promoted the program on local KTKE radio (interview and regular spots), issued a press release, reached out to partners at the Town of Truckee and Truckee Chamber of Commerce to leverage their outreach, updated the District website, plus a social media campaign targeted at primary residential customers. SCH has seen a dramatic increase in customer requests compared to the normal Payment Assistance Program. Since the Board took action on April 15th, the District has processed 73 applications. This is more than all of 2019. Since the beginning of April, the District has process almost 100 customer applications. Of this total, 44 were processed in the last week alone. Staff has evaluated the data to date, and consulted with the staff at SCH who are processing the applications, and have found the following: ~95% of primary residential customer's applying have sited loss of more than 25% of income with almost all directly citing COVID-19 restrictions; Of these, ~60% have filed for unemployment and 40% demonstrated a loss of income; ~5% were primary residential customers whose business had been shut-down or impacted by COVID-19; and At this point, the District has committed approximately 20% of the existing and reallocated funds for the Payment Assistance Program. There also appears to be a backlog of applicants at SCH that is close the the 100 already processed. What is unknown at this time is the full magnitude of the customer demand along with SCH's capacity to process applications. If the last week of 44 applications submitted continues or grows, then the District could approach the approximately 550 customers that the reallocated budget could support. If the rate drops, there may be excess funds available. It is early in the temporary program so a Steven Poncelet Michael D. Holley Public Information & Strategic Affairs Director General Manager drops, there may be excess funds available. It is early in the temporary program so a few more weeks of data should prove very insightful for estimates of overall participation. One final consideration for the COVID-19 Customer Relief Program is how long to run the temporary program. The Board has currently authorized that the program will remain in effect for 30 days after California (or locally) has ended the shelter in place order or until the reallocated budget funds are expended. Nevada County has taken steps to end the shelter in place orders but, at the time of this writing, it is unclear what direction the State will take. Technically, based on Nevada County's order, the temporary program would end in mid-June unless the Board directs otherwise. With regards to the District's business customers, staff has been investigating ways to help those who are suffering a financial hardship due to COVID-19. The District is currently waiving all penalties and interest and plan to continue this practice while appropriate. Staff have reached out to our sister utilities through the California Municipal Utilities Association (CMUA) and Northern California Power Agency (NCPA) and we have not yet found a compelling business relief program, past waiving penalties and fees, that have been implemented. Almost all utilities have some sort of program on the residential side. It is important to note that staff continue to work with all customers who are having trouble paying their bills to seek solutions and will continue to look into ways to help all of the District's customers who have suffered a financial hardship due to COVID-19. 4. FISCAL IMPACT The District's temporary COVID-19 Customer Relief Program reallocated $275,000 of the FY20 Board approved Conservation Department budget to the Payment Assistance Program. Sufficient funds exist for this reallocation. 5. RECOMMENDATION Provide feedback and direction.