PORT ANGELES — An electric utility discount program that saved 650 low-income households up to about $100 a month this year has been so successful it will run out of money June 19, the City Council learned this week.
But council members said at a utility rates work session Tuesday that they may fund the program later this fall — just in time to buffer the impact of traditionally high winter electric bills.
No ‘blank check’
“We can’t just write a blank check for the program,” Mayor Dan Di Guilio said Wednesday. “We need to have controls on it.
“Six hundred and fifty households got to take advantage of it for this year, and hopefully we’ll bring it back later this year.”
The program is being used by 6 percent of the city’s 10,600 electricity customers.
Discount program customers will receive the discount for electricity they use through June 19.
Council members Tuesday directed city staff to notify those in the program as soon as possible by mail of its pending discontinuation after the effective date of their June bills.
Rick Hostetler, city customer service manager, said Wednesday that program participants have been saving between $20 monthly in the summer and $100 in the winter depending on the discount they were eligible for and if they live in a house or apartment.
In 2013, the program was based on discounts of 20 percent for ratepayers whose monthly income was $1,125 to 30 percent for ratepayers whose income was $833 a month.
The council expanded the guidelines in 2014, and those have also been used this year.
More electric ratepayers were eligible depending on their family size.
“We expanded the criteria and went through it a lot more quickly,” Craig Fulton, public works and utilities director, told the council.
Those whose income was 100 percent of federal poverty guidelines have been eligible for up to a 35 percent discount.
The 2015 federal poverty level for a family of four is $24,250 and for a single person is $11,770.
Those whose income is 125 percent of federal guidelines have been eligible for a maximum 25 percent discount.
Hundreds sign on
The program had about 300 sign-ups in 2014 when the council funded the revised program at $150,000.
The council subsequently reduced the program’s allocation to $125,000 for 2015.
Participation has ended up more than doubling to 650 households.
City staff had a hard time getting a handle on how many of the city’s electricity customers would take advantage of the discount, Hostetler said Wednesday.
He said agencies that serve the city’s low-income population were surveyed on potential discount-program participants.
“We were getting different numbers depending on who you talk to,” Hostetler said.
“As more people know about it, more people are signing up for it.”
Residents older than 65, as a rule, do not appear to make up the bulk of applicants, Hostetler said.
Younger crowd
Rather, a large percentage of his customers are younger single people and ratepayers who are disabled.
Hostetler said that every week, if not every day, he introduces electric customers to the program and receives at least one new application every week.
Other options the council will consider were laid out by Hostetler at Tuesday’s meeting. They include reducing the 35 percent discount to 15 percent and the 25 percent discount to 10 percent to allow funds to last through the end of the year.
He also suggested creating a flat discount based on household size and income.
The program has been funded this year with $90,000 from the electric fund and $35,000 from the general fund.
Based on the program’s current status, it needs $20,000 a month to remain viable, Hostetler said.
The six-page application for the program twice includes the following caveat:
“Funding is limited.
“Discounts will not be guaranteed for the entire year,” it says.
“When the total is reached, the program will end for all customers for the rest of the calendar year.”
No decisions were made on utility rates at the work session during a presentation by Fulton.
Council members will discuss rates for 2016 at a work session July 7.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5060, or at pgottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.