As cold fronts continued to blanket snow and bring in freezing winds and weather across the country, especially the Northeast, where CBS News reported at the top of February that “a winter storm is impacting nearly 70 million Americans, pummeling major cities with snow, including New York City, Philadelphia and Boston. The storm warnings currently stretch from northern Georgia to Maine. So far, northern and central New Jersey have already been hit with nearly 2 feet of snow and another foot could fall by Tuesday evening. Heavy snow, gusts topping 60 mph and white-out conditions have caused numerous accidents and grounded more than 1,600 from Washington, D.C., to Boston. The storm has also knocked out power and forced COVID-19 vaccination sites to shut down across D.C., Philadelphia, New York, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Connecticut and Massachusetts.”
Thinking out of the box to work around the snow, Lewistown, Pennsylvania announced its 11th annual WALK FOR WARMTH will take a digital path this year against the backdrop of the Covid crisis, with the Lewistown Sentinel announcing that “between now and February 13th, you can walk safely for a cause while practicing social distancing. You are encouraged to walk outside and endure the cold temperatures so you can experience what it would be like to live without heat.”
Energy Assistance advocates and organizations around the country were rolling up their sleeves and pitching in in a similar spirit of giving, with DUKE Energy announcing to Indiana customers that $300,000 would be contributed toward helping customers currently behind in their winter heating bills, with Duke’s Indiana President Stan Pinegar commenting that “these funds, in combination with federal Low-Income Energy Assistance dollars administered by the state, can help hundreds of Hoosiers with energy costs during a challenging time.” Clearly grateful for the help, Indiana Community Action Association director Ed Gerardot added that “while the Indiana Community Action Agency network can help in many ways, the Duke Energy Helping Hand Program is a valuable resource during uncertain times as moratoriums on utility disconnections and evictions expire."
Next door in Frankfort, Kentucky, WSAZ Channel 3 shared the good news that the state’s Cabinet for Health and Family Services had helped 150,000 families with their heating bills this past year, but Secretary Eric Friedlander still cautioned in spite of the impressive record of assistance that with a new year in front of them, “a lot of folks are nervous about how much money the federal government is going to extend benefits. I know they’re still working on it in Washington, but we know we need to provide as much support as we possibly can.”
As frigid winds whipped off the lake and through the Windy City, Mayor Lightfoot warmed up the city’s hardest-hit families with the late Christmas gift that the city was forgiving nearly $9 million in past-due heating bills via the city’s Utility Billing Relief Program. Speaking personally on the progress for thousands of urban residents, Mayor Lightfoot highlighted the move as part of a broader reform effort underway towards “dismantling the historically regressive fines and fees practices that have crippled many of our communities has been a top priority of my administration from day one, and the economic pressures created by COVID-19 have only compounded the need for programs like UBR to help struggling families trying to make ends meet. Utility billing relief and other financial reforms we’ve rolled out since I came into office give the tens of thousands of Chicago residents who accumulate debt each year a pathway into compliance and are part of our broader effort to ensure we are creating equitable policies that work for all Chicagoans.”
Next door in the Show Me state, the Central Missouri News Tribune was busy getting word out that “energy assistance dollars are still available for families in Central Missouri who get their electric and gas service from Ameren Missouri and are experiencing financial strain due to the COVID-19 pandemic.” With over $12 million in overall energy assistance and charitable contributions in 2020 alone, Ameren’s Vice President of Customer Experience, Tara Oglesby, affirmed that like many of her colleague companies around the country, "we are continuing to offer payment plans with more flexible terms than normal and doing everything we can to work with our customers during this challenging time. This includes working to ensure that families who are new to being in a low-income bracket are aware of what options are available."
Down South in Georgia, the same outreach was underway throughout the state, with utilities, non-profits and CAAs working overtime to spread the word about available health via events like what the Georgia’s Calhoun Times reported in January was Tallatoona Community Action Partnership’s hosting of an event appropriately titled ‘Pathway to Empowerment,’ providing “services and supports individuals and their families who are committed to changing their lives. Families can receive training and guidance regarding career pathways, education, financial literacy, job training and life skills development.”
Out in Southwestern states, the story was much the same, with Texas news outlets broadcasting the badly needed injection of nearly $47.6 million in LIHEAP assistance coming courtesy of the new Covid relief package passed in December and heading out the door in January. Local San Antonio TV station KSAT noted of the difference the aid would immediately make for hard-hit households that “this could extend the life of the city’s popular Emergency Housing Assistance Program (EHAP) for several months. The EHAP has already awarded $68.5 million to more than 26,000 San Antonio households since the pandemic began through rent or mortgage payments, utility assistance and even cash. Excluding the federal money, the total amount allocated to the program, including some $10.1 million on Wednesday, amounts to about $86.8 million.” Asst. City Manager Lori Houston, speaking beyond the immediate relief, reflected the city’s commitment to helping residents in need with her pledge that “we’ll go through the Culture and Neighborhood Services council committee first with our recommendations to potentially amend the Emergency Housing Assistance Program, which would include a discussion about maybe extending eligibility -- maybe no longer two months, go more.”
Nearby, the Austin Monitor spotlighted local utility Austin Energy for their good works in providing “more than $15.3 million in discounts for electricity, water, wastewater and drainage in Fiscal Year 2020. Approximately 35,000 customers per month receive these discounts and the average discount is about $437 a year.” Elaborating on her company’s commitment to lending an extra helping hand during the Covid crisis, Austin Energy V.P. Jerry Galvan declared that “we are proud of our Customer Assistance Program and we continue to assess our programs to maintain integrity while removing barriers to entry, all with the goal of making utilities more affordable to those who qualify for assistance.”
Affecting every region of the country equally, the Southwestern state of New Mexico, the Los Alamos Daily Post shared the needed news that “the New Mexico Human Services Department received $5.3 million from the Federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (CARES Act),” while out in California, facing the pressure of over $11 million in unpaid utility bills on the part of its customers vs. just $700,000 the previous year. The Desert Sun broke the news that utility the Imperial Irrigation Project was taking its own proactive action to try and catch up, such that “customers with a past-due balance of $50 or more will automatically be enrolled in a payment plan for utility debt accrued through Dec. 31, 2020. Customers without a financial hardship will be enrolled in an eight-month plan to catch up on their back balances. Those who are on an energy assistance program or who can provide a COVID-19 declaration of hardship will be rolled in a 12-month plan.” Speaking to the necessity of the move for their own operational bottom line, general manager Henry Martinez reasoned that “our goal is to continue to assist our customers, to keep the lights on in these difficult and unprecedented times, while also protecting the financial health of the district so that IID can continue to be able to provide essential services.”
Residents throughout the Pacific Northwest were benefiting from utilities going above and beyond to help their struggling customers, with The Columbian quoting Clark Public Utilities Community Care Manager Chiharu Russell elaborating on the special care Operation Warm Heart’s customer service representatives take when speaking “to people who’ve lost their jobs, or still have their jobs, but had their hours cut, and are facing some very tough choices at home. Knowing the pandemic would have serious financial consequences, the utility enacted an emergency community response early in the pandemic so we could help customers get the assistance they needed quickly. When customers call us about financial assistance, not only will we review their account to see what in-house programs they might qualify for, but we also check if they’ll qualify for other public assistance programs, they often do.”
Sources:
Major winter storm dumps snow across the Northeast (cbsnews.com)
Duke Energy Indiana Provides US$300,000 in Energy Assistance Funds | T&D World
LIHEAP funds available to help families with heating bills (wsaz.com)
Utility assistance available for those facing COVID-19 hardship (newstribune.com)
Calhoun Community Calendar, Jan. 20, 2021 | Gordon Life | northwestgeorgianews.com
San Antonio gets $46.7M from federal government for rental assistance (ksat.com)
Consumer advocate seeks audit of Austin Energy program - Austin MonitorAustin Monitor
With few resources, heat is a deadly threat in rural Arizona (azcentral.com)
Imperial Irrigation District wants delinquent customers to pay up (desertsun.com)
Energy Adviser: Many ways to give, receive energy aid - The Columbian
Reporting by J.B.
