WEBVTT

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<v ->Thank you for your patience.</v>

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(energetic upbeat music)

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(energetic music)

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<v ->And every other...</v>

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(woman speaking foreign language)

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<v Announcer>Welcome to
WebEx, enter your access code</v>

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or meeting number followed by pound.

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<v ->Help customers through
those programs to get</v>

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through this COVID crisis.

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And we'll talk a little bit

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about the energy efficiency programs

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and how some modifications were made

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to the program delivery in these times.

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And then finally, I'll just make a note

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that we have internally a
process whereby our staff

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are collecting data from the utilities

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on customer energy
usage on both the electric

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and natural gas side as
well as disconnection metrics

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under collection and
under collectibles metrics,

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a variety of metrics
that are of interest

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to the Commissioners, so that
they can monitor very closely

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the status of these issues,
and they're being provided

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those reports internally
on a bi-weekly basis,

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and that informs them and ensures

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that we have a good
dialogue with the staff

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that are tracking those issues.

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Next slide, please, this slide
basically just emphasizes

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what we all know, which is
that the COVID crisis is real,

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it's serious, and it's
having a substantial impact.

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And therefore so many
things in our economy

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are being oriented around
adapting to this situation.

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Next slide, in April of 2020,

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the Commission issued resolution M-4842

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which directs the energy, water
and communication companies

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to apply customer
protections for up to a year

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through April of 2021.

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The resolution places
a moratorium on gas

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and electric
disconnections of residential

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and small commercial customers

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from our payment until April, 2021.

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The utilities generally
require some customers

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who pay bills late or are
disconnected for nonpayment

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to re-establish credit
by paying a deposit.

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Which can be up to twice
the average monthly bill,

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and the utilities may also
assess late fees and interest.

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The resolution orders, the IOUs

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to suspend these practices for one year.

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Payment plans are an important
tool for preserving access

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to utility service for the customers

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that are struggling pay their bills.

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So the resolution orders the
IOUs to provide payment plans

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with an initial payment of no greater

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than 20% of the amount due.

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And then with equal
installments for the remainder

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of not less than 12 going cycles.

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For those customers
who currently have service

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but then subsequently
go into an arrearage,

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the utility is required
to offer a payment plan

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with an initial payment
and no greater than 20%.

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Again, with equal
installments for the remainder

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of not less than eight growing cycles.

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A customer who's offered a payment plan,

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shall not be precluded from paying

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off the arrearage more quickly,

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and interest on the
balance shall not accrue.

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So these were some of
the payment plan protections

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that were included in the resolution.

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In addition, the resolution
ordered the IOUs

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to support low-income
residential customers

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by freezing standard
and high usage reviews

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for CARE customers
for at least one year.

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Also it required the IOUs

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to increase community
outreach, to increase enrollment

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to raise the assistance limit amounts

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and to suspend CARE and
FERA program removals.

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The hiatus on requirements
for customers to recertify

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or complete post enrollment verification

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and bill discount programs has been

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the most impactful measure
for increasing the accessibility

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of CARE and FERA during these times.

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And finally, the resolution
directed all energy, water

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and telecommunication companies

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to enhance their public outreach

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on the additional production
measures they're taking

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in response to the crisis.

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And this outreach
builds off of prior direction

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that the PUC established
requiring certain utility

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communications what I did to disasters.

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And these requirements
to do more public outreach

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encouraged the utilities to
do so in multiple languages,

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and multiple delivery formats

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to reach a wide range of customers.

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Next slide please.

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Back in April of this year,
the PUC hosted a workshop

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with the objective of seeking
input on the challenges faced

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by industries focused
on customer oriented,

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clean energy programs
during the COVID crisis.

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And to identify
possible solutions there.

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There was a panel that
looked at the challenges

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that were faced by the
industry during COVID,

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and there were a number
of different learnings

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that came out of that,
and we learned that there

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were difficulties getting into homes

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to do behind the meter
work or delays in inspections,

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cashflow issues for contractors
and difficulty sourcing,

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personal protective
equipment and inability

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to do in-person outreach in
the San Joaquin Valley pilots

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that are ongoing.

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On that panel as well, we heard a number

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of different major
highlights and themes,

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that there are varying
restrictions across the state

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on construction activity,
and that that's hard to track,

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and that Statewide
organizations are looking

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to see the PUC provide
more regulatory guidance

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over the utilities
consistently across the state.

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That some municipal permitting
processes have moved on

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to online formats easily
but others have not,

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and that in some industries
we're seeing significant layoffs

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and furloughs and pay cuts
and having significant impacts.

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The second panel had to do
with brainstorming solutions

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and among the proposed
solutions were ideas

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to provide incentives upfront,
extend product deadlines

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align them with more realistic
construction timeframes,

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conduct virtual inspections
and use digital media.

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In implementing new solutions,

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the parties discussed the importance

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of the total rate impact
of any relief mechanisms

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and to ensure virtual outreach

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reaches low-income customers as well.

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As a result, the PUC staff
worked with this information

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and used it to in follow
up to the workshop

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and engage with the IOUs on
their plans and put into place,

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some of these recommendations
that were made by parties.

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And among them were to
do more expanded outreach

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informing customers of their
energy savings opportunities

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that are there for them.

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Also, there were some
measures that were taken

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to implement work arounds and extensions

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for carrying out certain programs,

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such as the self generation
incentive program

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and energy efficiency programs

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that traditionally require
face-to-face interactions.

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Next slide please.
(clears throat)

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So on the electric
side there is something

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called the high usage
charge which applies

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to residential tier grade customers

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with very high electric
usage that exceeds 400%

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of their baseline quantity.

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And they're intended
to be a price signal to

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and encourage conservation
for those customers

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that have extremely high electric usage.

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But there was some concern that due

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to the stay at home orders,

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people would be
consuming more electricity

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really without any
ability to manage that,

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and that that would
then cause them to go up

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and to be HUC usage rate levels

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that would then cause
significant bill impacts.

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So in May of this year the
PUC issued the decision 2005-13

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to temporarily reduce
the high usage charge

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for the three large
IOUs, from the 75% level

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of the tier two price to a
25% of the tier two price level.

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And this was done to
provide a measurability

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to the customers,
starting in June of 2020

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through the end of October.

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Later the PUC extended
that price reduction

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so that it remains in effect

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until the PUC's executive director,

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tells the IOUs to return
the high usage charge

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to its original levels.

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The PUC also adopted two decisions,

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one in April for PG&amp;E

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and for Southern California Edison.

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And again in may for
the smaller utilities, Liberty

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and Pacific Corp to mitigate the effects

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of increased residential electric bills

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when the pandemic started

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by taking the California climate credit

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for electric residential customers

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and advancing those payments so that

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they were received earlier in the year

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during the summer months when bills

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were expected to be highest.

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And so for PG&amp;E and
Southern California Edison

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they received their fall credit
split between the months

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of May and June and the
Liberty customers received

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their fall credit in July and
Pacific core customers receive

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their fall credits split
between June and July.

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There were some other
measures that were taken

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for San Diego gas
and electric customers.

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The PUC delayed an
increase in core commercial

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and industrial bills on the gas
side through December 31st

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of this year, with the resulting
accrued under collections

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to be paid by that same customer class

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and amortized over two
years, beginning next year.

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And for San Diego
gas electric customers,

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PUC melded differential
from tiered rates

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and the residential
default time of use rates

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was reduced to help manage them bills.

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Next slide.

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Another major provision
action that was taken was

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that the Commissions marketing campaign,

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the energy upgrade California
brand and marketing campaign

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was reoriented to
communicate to Californians

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about additional ways to
save energy and reduce bills

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while spending more time
at home during the pandemic,

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in April, we quickly
pivoted the messaging

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from broader energy
saving tips for residential

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and small business customers

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to focus on residential customers

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spending a greater
amount of time at home.

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And this was done
through a combination of TV

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and social media campaigns
that were launched initially

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in April and have been
ongoing since then

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Next slide.

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The CARE/FERA and
ISA programs are designed

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to provide a support to
assist low-income customers

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to pay their bills, and the
PUC encourage the IOUs

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to support low-income
and vulnerable populations

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through marketing to
increase the enrollment

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and accessibility of these programs.

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And this was done through
the utilities doing significantly

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more marketing and
signing up our customers

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getting more enrollment, there
was also a all party meeting

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for the CARE program
that was held on May 22nd

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to discuss additional
strategies for outreach

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and data sharing, and we
will be seeing a presentation

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from Emma Johnston later in the workshop

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that will cover some of the
program enrollment numbers

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that we've been seeing as
a result of these activities,

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have PUC also directed the utilities

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to offer a 60 day advanced payment

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to contractors implementing
the ISA program,

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which is a weatherization
energy efficiency programs

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for income qualified customers.

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Shelter-in-place orders
forced a hiatus on on-site work

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that made up the bulk
of the ISA program,

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and 65 ISA implementers
and contractors excepted

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over $42 million in advanced payments

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for labor and non-labor costs
during the program suspension.

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The IOUs also temporary
are also temporary allowing

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a self-certification of
income via an affidavit.

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Next slide, some actions
that have been taken

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on the energy efficiency program side,

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one is that most of the
programs they typically require

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a face-to-face contact,
and this was suspended

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around March of this year,

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and that suspension
was subsequently lifted

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in May and early June of this year.

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The programs have
transitioned to onsite inspections

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now with technical
assistance and audits, training,

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and evaluation activities,

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moving to virtual
platforms when possible.

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They're also offering higher rebates

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for certain measures and programs.

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And all of the energy
efficiency program administrators

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are required to file new business
plans by September of 2021

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because of the COVID-19
crisis for a ruling in July.

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Next slide, please.

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So turning to the topics
of the day this workshop

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will explore basically what has happened

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in the energy sector, since
the workshop that we held

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in April, what has changed,
what do we need to be aware of?

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And so that we can be informed
as to what potential actions

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to the PUC may need
to take to respond to that.

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Also how our customers have
impacted as shown by the data

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and as heard through customer contacts

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that are contacting the
utilities and the CPC.

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We're also gonna be looking
at what will be the impact

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of lifting the disconnections
moratorium in April of 2021

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and what innovative solutions
from other states put this

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you've used to explore to
help customers in this time.

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Next slide please.

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Just a walk through of the
agenda, so our first segment

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is treating the basically an assessment

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of current customer impacts.

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At 9:30 we'll be looking
at some of the data

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and what the data is telling us.

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And then at 9:50, we'll
have a panel to hear

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from panelists about what we're
hearing from customers based

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on their work with
customers and what are some

00:24:52.780 --> 00:24:56.000
of the key trends and
insights that are out there

00:24:56.000 --> 00:24:59.930
that we should be aware of
and potentially responding to.

00:24:59.930 --> 00:25:03.120
And we'll then turn to
Q&amp;A and take a break.

00:25:03.120 --> 00:25:05.180
And then the second segment will be

00:25:05.180 --> 00:25:10.050
on identifying potential new
actions that the CPC could take

00:25:10.050 --> 00:25:14.230
to address customer
impacts, beginning at 11:00 am

00:25:14.230 --> 00:25:17.510
with current California policies.

00:25:17.510 --> 00:25:22.390
And then at 11:10, we will
have a panel to get ideas

00:25:22.390 --> 00:25:24.280
about what's going on in other states

00:25:24.280 --> 00:25:25.773
and with other utilities,

00:25:26.620 --> 00:25:31.620
and panelists may
address other states actions

00:25:32.220 --> 00:25:35.060
that they're taking to
protect customers in this time,

00:25:35.060 --> 00:25:38.550
and we'll learn from what's
going on in other states.

00:25:38.550 --> 00:25:41.340
And then we'll go to
Q&amp;A with the audience

00:25:41.340 --> 00:25:44.463
and that will wrap us up for the day.

00:25:46.400 --> 00:25:49.570
So with that, I think it's
time now to turn back

00:25:49.570 --> 00:25:53.510
to the remainder of the workshop agenda.

00:25:53.510 --> 00:25:54.510
Thank you very much.

00:25:57.020 --> 00:26:00.123
<v ->Wonderful, thank you Simon.</v>

00:26:00.123 --> 00:26:02.470
And I also wanna recognize that we have

00:26:02.470 --> 00:26:05.803
(indistinct chattering)

00:26:07.620 --> 00:26:08.770
with us as well.

00:26:08.770 --> 00:26:13.260
So that's wonderful as we
move into our next segment

00:26:13.260 --> 00:26:16.360
where we're all first
hear from Emma Johnston

00:26:17.248 --> 00:26:20.140
on what the data are
telling us the impact

00:26:20.140 --> 00:26:21.880
to customers from COVID.

00:26:28.880 --> 00:26:29.713
<v Emma>Thank you,</v>

00:26:29.713 --> 00:26:31.993
I think we can move
on to the next slide.

00:26:39.600 --> 00:26:42.450
Great, so my name is Emma Johnston

00:26:42.450 --> 00:26:45.490
and I'm an at the CPC,
and I'm just going to be going

00:26:45.490 --> 00:26:48.180
over some broad trends
that we've observed

00:26:48.180 --> 00:26:51.680
since the beginning of
the pandemic in March,

00:26:51.680 --> 00:26:53.080
we can go to the next slide.

00:26:54.410 --> 00:26:56.380
So these are four broad
trends that we've seen

00:26:56.380 --> 00:26:58.340
across the forum large IOUs.

00:26:58.340 --> 00:27:01.430
So that's PG&amp;E,
Southern California Edison,

00:27:01.430 --> 00:27:03.680
SoCalGas and STG&amp;E.

00:27:03.680 --> 00:27:06.610
So the first is that residential
customer energy usage

00:27:06.610 --> 00:27:09.310
has increased which you
already talked a little bit about.

00:27:09.310 --> 00:27:10.590
The second is the enrollment

00:27:10.590 --> 00:27:13.870
in our bill assistance payment
programs has increased.

00:27:13.870 --> 00:27:16.650
The third is that
customers are having larger

00:27:16.650 --> 00:27:20.020
and older arrearages, and
the fourth is that the number

00:27:20.020 --> 00:27:22.990
of customers with bill
payment arrangements

00:27:22.990 --> 00:27:27.273
has decreased overall,
we can go to the next slide.

00:27:28.360 --> 00:27:29.670
So this is the first trend

00:27:29.670 --> 00:27:33.530
that residential customer
energy usage has increased,

00:27:33.530 --> 00:27:36.430
so for both electric and
gas, we've seen an increase

00:27:36.430 --> 00:27:40.710
in residential customer
energy usage and a decrease

00:27:40.710 --> 00:27:45.520
in commercial and
industrial energy usage.

00:27:45.520 --> 00:27:48.850
So there's been less
pronounced increase for gas,

00:27:48.850 --> 00:27:51.500
just we've been in summer months

00:27:51.500 --> 00:27:52.900
in a more pronounced increase

00:27:52.900 --> 00:27:55.420
for electric for residential usage.

00:27:55.420 --> 00:28:00.060
And this is comparing March to
September, 2019 energy usage

00:28:00.060 --> 00:28:03.693
versus March to September,
2020 energy usage.

00:28:05.162 --> 00:28:06.762
And we can go to the next slide.

00:28:09.400 --> 00:28:11.800
So this is just another way of looking

00:28:11.800 --> 00:28:16.800
at that same information and
this plot 2020 electric usage

00:28:17.738 --> 00:28:20.200
versus 2019 electric usage.

00:28:20.200 --> 00:28:23.580
So a percent increase would
be above that gear align.

00:28:23.580 --> 00:28:27.400
And we see that for
residential CARE and lawn care

00:28:27.400 --> 00:28:29.580
for all months from March to October,

00:28:29.580 --> 00:28:32.850
there's been an increase
for these customers

00:28:32.850 --> 00:28:36.690
in electric usage,
starting with the beginning

00:28:36.690 --> 00:28:38.690
of the pandemic and
people staying at home

00:28:38.690 --> 00:28:41.810
and working from home and
going to school from home.

00:28:41.810 --> 00:28:46.410
And then we see a decrease.

00:28:46.410 --> 00:28:49.920
So for all, and in commercial customers

00:28:49.920 --> 00:28:52.940
we're seeing their usage has decreased

00:28:52.940 --> 00:28:55.890
and they're below that zero line.

00:28:55.890 --> 00:28:57.340
You can go to the next slide.

00:28:59.720 --> 00:29:04.720
And then this is this
information for gas usage

00:29:04.980 --> 00:29:08.240
to the percent increase
for residential customers

00:29:08.240 --> 00:29:09.800
has been a little less pronounced

00:29:09.800 --> 00:29:12.260
but for most months
from March to October,

00:29:12.260 --> 00:29:14.920
you can see those lights green dots

00:29:14.920 --> 00:29:18.940
are residential customers
and they're above that zero line.

00:29:18.940 --> 00:29:22.110
So we've seen a percent
increase for gas usage,

00:29:22.110 --> 00:29:24.990
and then a percent
decrease for commercial

00:29:24.990 --> 00:29:26.603
and industrial usage.

00:29:28.383 --> 00:29:30.879
We can go to the next slide please.

00:29:30.879 --> 00:29:33.310
And then, so this is the
second term that we've seen

00:29:33.310 --> 00:29:34.350
which is that enrollment

00:29:34.350 --> 00:29:36.300
in our bill payment assistance programs

00:29:36.300 --> 00:29:38.713
that are income qualified has increased.

00:29:39.770 --> 00:29:44.770
So for CARE, we've seen
an 11% increase in enrollment

00:29:44.850 --> 00:29:46.890
from March to September, 2020

00:29:46.890 --> 00:29:51.810
which represents about
507,000 new customers for CARE.

00:29:51.810 --> 00:29:54.790
For FERA we've seen a
41% increase in enrollment

00:29:54.790 --> 00:29:57.550
from March to September,
2020 which represents

00:29:57.550 --> 00:30:01.510
around 22,000 new customers for FERA.

00:30:01.510 --> 00:30:04.800
So FERA had been
under enrolled historically.

00:30:04.800 --> 00:30:06.000
So it makes sense that we're seeing

00:30:06.000 --> 00:30:08.200
a larger percent
increase for this program

00:30:08.200 --> 00:30:11.470
than we are seeing for CARE
because our penetration rate

00:30:11.470 --> 00:30:14.630
or the number of customers
that are enrolled for CARE

00:30:14.630 --> 00:30:19.150
is a lot higher in months
that are not COVID month

00:30:19.150 --> 00:30:23.223
just in regular normal
quote unquote normal time.

00:30:25.910 --> 00:30:27.320
And another important thing to note

00:30:27.320 --> 00:30:32.260
is that we've suspended
some of the recertification

00:30:32.260 --> 00:30:35.840
and enrollment requirements
for both of these programs

00:30:35.840 --> 00:30:39.050
which could also help
explain some of that increase,

00:30:39.050 --> 00:30:40.900
and then we can go to the next slide.

00:30:42.880 --> 00:30:47.530
So this graph shows the
percent of residential customers

00:30:47.530 --> 00:30:51.030
that are enrolled in CARE,
broken down by each IOU.

00:30:51.030 --> 00:30:54.340
So you can see that since
March, there's been an increase

00:30:54.340 --> 00:30:56.877
all four of the large IOUs,

00:30:56.877 --> 00:30:59.950
and that dotted line
shows the increase overall.

00:30:59.950 --> 00:31:04.080
So first of SoCalGas, we
can see that the increase

00:31:04.080 --> 00:31:05.490
has been most pronounced as well

00:31:05.490 --> 00:31:08.350
as first Southern California Edison,

00:31:08.350 --> 00:31:12.373
and then PG&amp;E and SDG&amp;E below that.

00:31:14.048 --> 00:31:19.048
But there's been an
about 3% increase overall

00:31:19.200 --> 00:31:21.550
in this percent of total
residential customers

00:31:21.550 --> 00:31:26.550
that are enrolled in CARE
from March until September,

00:31:26.600 --> 00:31:28.063
we can go to the next slide.

00:31:33.770 --> 00:31:37.210
And then this graph just
shows the percent change month

00:31:37.210 --> 00:31:41.800
over month in CARE and FERA
enrollment since February of,

00:31:41.800 --> 00:31:44.270
so since the beginning of the year

00:31:44.270 --> 00:31:47.560
and you can see that
there's a pretty large spike

00:31:47.560 --> 00:31:50.330
in April, especially for FERA.

00:31:50.330 --> 00:31:54.413
And then there was another
spike in August for enrollment.

00:31:57.550 --> 00:31:59.300
We can go to the next slide please.

00:32:00.430 --> 00:32:02.860
So this third trend that we're seeing

00:32:02.860 --> 00:32:06.210
is that customers have
larger and older arrearages.

00:32:06.210 --> 00:32:10.480
So for this slide, we are
comparing the number of customers

00:32:10.480 --> 00:32:12.250
with their arrearages by a not owed,

00:32:12.250 --> 00:32:17.055
and we're looking at September,
2019 versus September, 2020.

00:32:17.055 --> 00:32:19.340
So we used the same
month to try and cancel out

00:32:19.340 --> 00:32:21.713
for other factors that
might be affecting this.

00:32:22.707 --> 00:32:25.300
So this graph on the left-hand side,

00:32:25.300 --> 00:32:30.300
you can see that overall
the number of customers

00:32:30.540 --> 00:32:34.370
with the arrearages in
September, 2019 versus 2020

00:32:34.370 --> 00:32:36.340
has not actually increased,

00:32:36.340 --> 00:32:37.800
there's actually been a slight decrease

00:32:37.800 --> 00:32:39.607
in customers with arrearage.

00:32:40.910 --> 00:32:43.560
And this information is
broken down by amount

00:32:43.560 --> 00:32:45.730
is kind of hard to see
because you can see the bulk

00:32:45.730 --> 00:32:50.730
of customers still have that
$500 or less in arrearages.

00:32:51.060 --> 00:32:53.480
But then when we take
a closer look at the graph

00:32:53.480 --> 00:32:57.450
on the right hand side, which
breaks down the percent change

00:32:57.450 --> 00:33:00.090
of customers with certain
overages announced

00:33:00.090 --> 00:33:03.670
in September 2019 versus 2020,

00:33:03.670 --> 00:33:06.550
we can see that there's been
a substantial percent increase

00:33:06.550 --> 00:33:09.309
in the number of
customers with these issue,

00:33:09.309 --> 00:33:14.309
especially for that over
$500 in every urge amount.

00:33:15.420 --> 00:33:18.940
So for example, if we
zoom in on the fact that

00:33:19.820 --> 00:33:23.750
for CARE and FARE customers
the number of customers

00:33:23.750 --> 00:33:26.890
with over a thousand
dollars in arrearages

00:33:26.890 --> 00:33:29.643
has increased over 400%.

00:33:31.490 --> 00:33:34.470
So I think this kind of
just shows something

00:33:34.470 --> 00:33:37.120
that we probably already
are aware of, which is the fact

00:33:37.120 --> 00:33:39.550
that the economic impacts
of the pandemic are having

00:33:39.550 --> 00:33:43.490
the biggest impact on
customers that were already

00:33:44.542 --> 00:33:47.320
in lower income brackets at
the beginning of the pandemic

00:33:47.320 --> 00:33:49.190
or prior to it.

00:33:49.190 --> 00:33:53.400
And then these statistics at
the bottom of the screen show

00:33:53.400 --> 00:33:58.400
that, so just how many
customers that represent.

00:34:00.360 --> 00:34:05.210
So until the percent
increase for CARE and FERA

00:34:05.210 --> 00:34:09.340
and the number of
customers that represents

00:34:09.340 --> 00:34:13.213
those combined categories,
and we can go to the next slide.

00:34:16.650 --> 00:34:20.490
So basically this graph
shows the information

00:34:20.490 --> 00:34:23.320
that I just described
in the previous slide,

00:34:23.320 --> 00:34:25.923
but broken down by
each of the four IOUs.

00:34:26.940 --> 00:34:29.000
So you can see that
there's a common trend

00:34:29.000 --> 00:34:31.920
for all four IOUs that you're
seeing the largest increase

00:34:31.920 --> 00:34:36.920
in that 1,000 to $2,000
and over $2,000 categories

00:34:36.990 --> 00:34:39.510
for percent change in arrearage amount.

00:34:39.510 --> 00:34:43.500
And this is again, looking at
September 2019 versus 2020.

00:34:43.500 --> 00:34:46.200
You can see that for the
less than $500 in arrearages.

00:34:48.800 --> 00:34:50.580
The number of
customers, there's actually

00:34:50.580 --> 00:34:52.490
going to percent decrease in customers

00:34:52.490 --> 00:34:54.497
with that lowest on arrearage.

00:34:56.100 --> 00:34:57.500
We can go to the next slide.

00:34:59.770 --> 00:35:02.750
So instead of showing the
total number of customers

00:35:02.750 --> 00:35:04.260
with the arrearages is vicious,

00:35:04.260 --> 00:35:07.250
so the outstanding dollar amount,

00:35:07.250 --> 00:35:11.350
so the outstanding customer
balances owed to all four

00:35:11.350 --> 00:35:16.230
of those IOUs for September,
2019 versus September, 2020

00:35:16.230 --> 00:35:21.230
for the left two columns show
how much money was owed

00:35:21.440 --> 00:35:23.900
that was aging one month,

00:35:23.900 --> 00:35:26.550
so one month old and
outstanding balances

00:35:26.550 --> 00:35:30.470
the second two columns in
the middle so aging two months

00:35:30.470 --> 00:35:33.100
in the right to column and
show aging three months.

00:35:33.100 --> 00:35:35.560
And you can see that
the largest increase

00:35:35.560 --> 00:35:40.560
has been in those arrearages
that are three plus months old.

00:35:42.480 --> 00:35:47.480
So the arrearage amounts
are older than they were in 2019.

00:35:50.190 --> 00:35:52.180
And this is again looking at a snapshot

00:35:52.180 --> 00:35:55.290
of what we where we
were at in September, 2019

00:35:55.290 --> 00:35:58.893
versus September, 2020 year to date.

00:36:00.300 --> 00:36:02.250
And we can go to the next slide please.

00:36:03.910 --> 00:36:08.910
One more thing we wanted to
know is that, so the resolution

00:36:09.370 --> 00:36:12.850
that provided emergency
customer protection for residential

00:36:12.850 --> 00:36:16.520
and small commercial
customers, did not cover medium

00:36:16.520 --> 00:36:18.560
and large commercial customers.

00:36:18.560 --> 00:36:21.310
So there are on medium and
large commercial customers

00:36:21.310 --> 00:36:22.480
who haven't paid their bills

00:36:22.480 --> 00:36:25.270
and have not arranged a payment plan,

00:36:25.270 --> 00:36:27.990
and are at imminent
risk of disconnection.

00:36:27.990 --> 00:36:32.470
We estimate that there are
probably six to 7,000 medium

00:36:32.470 --> 00:36:33.760
and large commercial customers

00:36:33.760 --> 00:36:37.100
at some risk of disconnection,
so not in the net risk

00:36:37.100 --> 00:36:40.980
but at potential risk of being
disconnected in the future

00:36:40.980 --> 00:36:43.553
if they don't enroll in one
of those payment plan.

00:36:46.130 --> 00:36:47.773
We can go to the next slide.

00:36:49.507 --> 00:36:50.680
So this is the fourth and final trend,

00:36:50.680 --> 00:36:53.040
which is that across the utility.

00:36:53.040 --> 00:36:55.820
So on the aggregate,
the number of customers

00:36:55.820 --> 00:36:58.990
with bill payment arrangements
has decreased overall

00:36:58.990 --> 00:37:01.370
since the beginning of the year.

00:37:01.370 --> 00:37:04.070
So this shows the customers
with three plus months

00:37:04.070 --> 00:37:06.740
bill payment arrangement,
and you can see that

00:37:06.740 --> 00:37:09.330
at the beginning of the year there are

00:37:09.330 --> 00:37:12.110
around 160,000 customers

00:37:12.110 --> 00:37:14.910
on these longer payment
arrangement plans.

00:37:14.910 --> 00:37:17.350
And then in September,

00:37:17.350 --> 00:37:21.623
it's dropped down to
around 97,000 customers.

00:37:22.998 --> 00:37:23.831
And this is the trend,

00:37:23.831 --> 00:37:26.450
the trend like aggregated
across the utilities,

00:37:26.450 --> 00:37:28.580
but we're gonna see a
little bit of a difference

00:37:28.580 --> 00:37:30.583
when we break it down by utility.

00:37:33.150 --> 00:37:36.610
I guess, so the utilities
are sort of speculating

00:37:36.610 --> 00:37:40.474
that this might be because of
the disconnection moratorium

00:37:40.474 --> 00:37:43.190
and the fact that people's power

00:37:43.190 --> 00:37:44.888
is not going to be shut off,

00:37:44.888 --> 00:37:48.240
there's less of an
incentive to enroll in one

00:37:48.240 --> 00:37:50.690
of these bill payment
arrangements despite the fact

00:37:50.690 --> 00:37:54.140
that as we saw from
some of the previous slides,

00:37:54.140 --> 00:37:55.340
people's arrearage amounts

00:37:55.340 --> 00:37:58.020
are really pretty quickly increasing

00:37:58.020 --> 00:38:00.763
in those larger original categories.

00:38:01.610 --> 00:38:04.900
So this could be sort of
like an impending problem

00:38:06.200 --> 00:38:07.610
if it's not addressed.

00:38:07.610 --> 00:38:09.860
And then we can go
to the next slide, please.

00:38:10.720 --> 00:38:14.860
So this shows the percent
increase in customers

00:38:14.860 --> 00:38:19.276
with those longer bill
payment arrangements

00:38:19.276 --> 00:38:21.770
and it breaks it down by IOU.

00:38:21.770 --> 00:38:24.241
So you can see it's
a little bit different

00:38:24.241 --> 00:38:28.573
a little bit different, by
IOU and that for SDG&amp;E

00:38:30.090 --> 00:38:33.520
and for SoCalGas we
saw a pretty large increase

00:38:33.520 --> 00:38:35.503
at the beginning of the
pandemic and customers

00:38:35.503 --> 00:38:36.520
that were seeking out

00:38:36.520 --> 00:38:38.810
these longer bill payment arrangements.

00:38:38.810 --> 00:38:41.100
And then it's sort of leveled off

00:38:41.100 --> 00:38:42.823
for all the utilities since then.

00:38:45.636 --> 00:38:48.240
We can go to the next slide.

00:38:48.240 --> 00:38:50.680
And this information compares...

00:38:50.680 --> 00:38:53.340
So the previous two
slides were sort of showing

00:38:53.340 --> 00:38:54.990
what the percent change has been,

00:38:55.862 --> 00:38:59.940
it's just the beginning of
2019, I mean, 2020, sorry.

00:38:59.940 --> 00:39:03.070
From here and this information shows

00:39:03.070 --> 00:39:08.070
how our 2020 information data
compares to data from 2019.

00:39:09.870 --> 00:39:13.340
So you can see that for
SDG&amp;E and SoCalGas

00:39:15.720 --> 00:39:18.400
sorry for STG&amp;E and in
Southern California Edison

00:39:18.400 --> 00:39:21.050
there's actually been a
pretty substantial increase

00:39:21.050 --> 00:39:24.500
in the percent percent of
customers with those three

00:39:24.500 --> 00:39:28.620
plus month payment
arrangements for 2019 versus 2020.

00:39:28.620 --> 00:39:32.220
But then there has been
a decrease for PG&amp;E

00:39:32.220 --> 00:39:37.220
and for SoCalGas because
PG&amp;E has the highest amount

00:39:38.900 --> 00:39:42.230
of customers is what's
sort of driving this trend

00:39:42.230 --> 00:39:45.820
of seeing fewer customers

00:39:45.820 --> 00:39:47.953
in these long payment arrangements.

00:39:49.940 --> 00:39:52.430
And then we can go to the next slide.

00:39:52.430 --> 00:39:55.870
And then we can pause for questions now,

00:39:55.870 --> 00:40:00.390
we have utility experts on the line too.

00:40:00.390 --> 00:40:02.920
There'll be able to answer
any utility specific questions

00:40:02.920 --> 00:40:05.547
you might have, and we
also have energy division staff

00:40:05.547 --> 00:40:10.160
better subject matter
experts in this than I am

00:40:10.160 --> 00:40:12.360
that we'll be able to
answer your questions.

00:40:20.410 --> 00:40:22.597
<v ->So, hi, this is Amy
from energy division.</v>

00:40:22.597 --> 00:40:25.910
So let's open it up to Commissioners

00:40:25.910 --> 00:40:28.870
if you have any questions on the data,

00:40:28.870 --> 00:40:32.713
please feel free to unmute
yourselves and ask your question.

00:40:37.400 --> 00:40:40.780
<v ->Okay, this is Commissioner
Guzman thank you very much</v>

00:40:40.780 --> 00:40:45.780
that was really helpful
and very concerning.

00:40:47.880 --> 00:40:51.000
I had one comment and
then a question one was just

00:40:51.000 --> 00:40:53.630
and I know that Ben is
gonna be speaking of this,

00:40:53.630 --> 00:40:56.210
but I did just wanna clarify for folks

00:40:56.210 --> 00:41:01.210
that some of the interim protection
have been made permanent

00:41:01.970 --> 00:41:05.140
particularly that provisions
on reconnection fees

00:41:05.140 --> 00:41:08.430
and deposit fees are
no longer required at all.

00:41:08.430 --> 00:41:11.300
So those are not
contingent on the order.

00:41:11.300 --> 00:41:16.300
As well as the payment plan
duration, and that 12 months

00:41:18.500 --> 00:41:22.610
has to be offered for a customer

00:41:22.610 --> 00:41:24.890
can be disconnected moving forward.

00:41:24.890 --> 00:41:27.290
So I just wanted to make that point,

00:41:27.290 --> 00:41:29.570
now I know it'll be made later.

00:41:29.570 --> 00:41:31.703
A question for Emma, which is,

00:41:33.970 --> 00:41:36.670
I think at one point I heard you say

00:41:36.670 --> 00:41:41.670
that the increase in CARE
participation was only 3%.

00:41:41.790 --> 00:41:46.296
And I also heard you say it was 11%

00:41:46.296 --> 00:41:47.746
and maybe ask you to clarify.

00:41:50.326 --> 00:41:55.326
<v ->I think I must've made a
mistake it's been at 11%</v>

00:41:57.237 --> 00:41:59.430
of, Oh, actually I see what
I see what you're asking.

00:41:59.430 --> 00:42:04.430
So the percent increase in
CARE enrollment has been 11%,

00:42:05.190 --> 00:42:10.190
which is 507,000 new customers
but 3% represents the fact

00:42:10.260 --> 00:42:14.490
that I think that at the
beginning of the pandemic,

00:42:14.490 --> 00:42:19.100
around 26% of all of
our residential customers

00:42:19.100 --> 00:42:23.970
were involved in CARE,
and now around 29%

00:42:23.970 --> 00:42:26.250
of residential customers
are enrolled in CARE.

00:42:26.250 --> 00:42:30.113
So overall for all of
the utility customers,

00:42:30.113 --> 00:42:31.810
there has been an increase of those

00:42:31.810 --> 00:42:34.690
like three percentage points more...

00:42:34.690 --> 00:42:35.790
<v ->Year over year?</v>

00:42:35.790 --> 00:42:36.910
Is that a year?

00:42:36.910 --> 00:42:40.460
I see, so does that mean
there was a dip in enrollment

00:42:40.460 --> 00:42:45.460
pre COVID and then we
gained 11% year over year to 3%.

00:42:48.976 --> 00:42:53.330
<v ->The 3% is just that, so
across residential customers</v>

00:42:53.330 --> 00:42:55.970
it was 26% of all residential customers

00:42:55.970 --> 00:43:00.970
were enrolled in CARE,
and then now it's 29%.

00:43:01.930 --> 00:43:05.950
I can also check in
some of these questions

00:43:05.950 --> 00:43:09.070
if there are more specifics
and she's a subject matter,

00:43:09.070 --> 00:43:10.923
expert on CARE and FERA.

00:43:12.520 --> 00:43:14.190
<v ->Okay, no, that's
helpful actually</v>

00:43:14.190 --> 00:43:18.810
because it's a growth
rate versus an overall rate.

00:43:18.810 --> 00:43:22.760
And I've been looking
at that growth rate,

00:43:22.760 --> 00:43:25.930
I thought it was overall,
so really in some sense,

00:43:25.930 --> 00:43:30.163
we really have a net
3% participation in CARE.

00:43:31.160 --> 00:43:33.473
<v ->Exactly, yeah.</v>
<v ->Thank you.</v>

00:43:40.239 --> 00:43:44.660
<v ->This is Genevieve...</v>

00:43:45.554 --> 00:43:47.503
<v ->Cliff, you can ask
the question first.</v>

00:43:50.029 --> 00:43:51.560
<v ->Go ahead Genevieve</v>

00:43:52.932 --> 00:43:54.310
<v ->Okay, thank you.</v>

00:43:54.310 --> 00:43:56.730
First of all, thank you
for the presentation.

00:43:56.730 --> 00:44:01.730
Very, very insightful, on the
number of people who are

00:44:04.053 --> 00:44:07.117
that there are less people
on the payment plan.

00:44:07.117 --> 00:44:11.053
And I see that one of our panel members

00:44:11.053 --> 00:44:14.587
asked the question as well as far as,

00:44:14.587 --> 00:44:17.330
do any of our subject
matter experts know

00:44:17.330 --> 00:44:19.930
why are there less
people on the payment plan

00:44:21.750 --> 00:44:26.650
and is there a minimum 20%
payment to get onto the plan?

00:44:26.650 --> 00:44:30.642
Or how does this comport
with the proceeding

00:44:30.642 --> 00:44:35.642
that we had adopted out in
terms of the handling arrearages?

00:44:37.390 --> 00:44:40.340
Any explanation as to why
are there less people getting

00:44:40.340 --> 00:44:41.943
onto a payment plans?

00:44:49.820 --> 00:44:51.850
So I'm probably gonna pause

00:44:51.850 --> 00:44:55.180
and let a subject matter
expert answer that question.

00:44:55.180 --> 00:44:57.690
Again, I kinda like to note that,

00:44:57.690 --> 00:45:02.690
so that increase that decrease
in the number of customers

00:45:03.280 --> 00:45:06.960
that have gotten onto a payment
plan has really been driven

00:45:06.960 --> 00:45:08.710
by just choosing utilities.

00:45:08.710 --> 00:45:10.630
And then for the other two utilities

00:45:10.630 --> 00:45:12.730
there's been an increase
in the number of customers

00:45:12.730 --> 00:45:15.780
that have gotten on the payment plans.

00:45:15.780 --> 00:45:19.917
So the decrease that
we're seeing is from PG&amp;E

00:45:19.917 --> 00:45:23.010
and SoCalGas, which is
driving down the total number

00:45:23.010 --> 00:45:25.750
of residential customers
on payment plans.

00:45:25.750 --> 00:45:29.087
And then we've seen an
increase for SDG&amp;E and S&amp;E

00:45:29.990 --> 00:45:34.750
and talking to PGD&amp;E
utility representatives

00:45:34.750 --> 00:45:37.270
they think that the reason is the answer

00:45:37.270 --> 00:45:40.930
that I had given previously
which is that because

00:45:40.930 --> 00:45:43.010
of the disconnection moratorium,

00:45:43.010 --> 00:45:47.270
there's usually what sort
of like prompts the customer

00:45:47.270 --> 00:45:50.350
to get onto a payment plan
is that disconnection notice.

00:45:50.350 --> 00:45:53.580
And since the disconnection
notice, is it being sent out,

00:45:53.580 --> 00:45:57.070
they don't have that reminder
or sort of prompt to get

00:45:57.070 --> 00:46:01.420
on a payment plan, but if
there's a subject matter expert

00:46:01.420 --> 00:46:05.424
on the line, that's able
to answer that, thank you.

00:46:05.424 --> 00:46:06.892
<v ->Yeah, thank you.</v>

00:46:06.892 --> 00:46:11.892
I think that, I thought I
saw Marlene from PG&amp;E.

00:46:25.470 --> 00:46:27.970
<v Marlene>Okay, I am not
the subject matter expert</v>

00:46:27.970 --> 00:46:31.450
on credit, but we do have
the credit expert on the line,

00:46:31.450 --> 00:46:36.450
but I do believe it is a
functional what Emma just said

00:46:36.690 --> 00:46:40.660
that we have seen a much
lower volume of calls going

00:46:40.660 --> 00:46:44.878
into the contact center since the COVID

00:46:44.878 --> 00:46:47.333
and the moratoriums went into place.

00:46:48.370 --> 00:46:52.190
In addition, I see Lorenza
says that he cannot unmute,

00:46:52.190 --> 00:46:55.780
so I'll go ahead and answer,
what we are in the process

00:46:55.780 --> 00:47:00.780
of doing now is creating
the letter that will be sent out

00:47:02.270 --> 00:47:07.270
to the customers who are
behind who have growing balances

00:47:07.870 --> 00:47:12.230
and to make them aware
that their accounts are behind

00:47:12.230 --> 00:47:16.670
and providing them with some
resources that they can access

00:47:16.670 --> 00:47:20.320
which includes payment
arrangements if they choose

00:47:20.320 --> 00:47:23.040
to contact us and get on
that payment arrangement

00:47:23.040 --> 00:47:25.350
extended period arrangements as well

00:47:25.350 --> 00:47:29.430
as heavily promoting the LIHEAP program.

00:47:29.430 --> 00:47:31.800
I recently chatted with Jason about this

00:47:31.800 --> 00:47:34.020
and we will be having
Jason review the letter

00:47:34.020 --> 00:47:37.860
before he goes out, as
we will be promoting heavily

00:47:37.860 --> 00:47:41.900
the LIHEAP program and all
the other payment assistance

00:47:41.900 --> 00:47:44.570
that customers can access from PG&amp;E.

00:47:47.800 --> 00:47:49.857
<v ->Thank you Marlene, thank you.</v>

00:47:53.552 --> 00:47:54.823
<v ->Can I ask a question?</v>

00:47:59.873 --> 00:48:00.706
<v ->Yeah.</v>

00:48:04.860 --> 00:48:09.310
<v ->I had a question that CARE
and FARE enrollments it looks</v>

00:48:09.310 --> 00:48:13.720
like we had a pretty
significant uptick in February,

00:48:13.720 --> 00:48:18.720
March, April, early months,
it's been continuing to go up

00:48:18.840 --> 00:48:23.130
at lower amounts but
leveling off over the summer

00:48:23.130 --> 00:48:26.420
and early fall, maybe we should add

00:48:26.420 --> 00:48:27.940
within Steve utilities this as well.

00:48:27.940 --> 00:48:31.260
Do we have an expectation
that it's sort of reached a point

00:48:31.260 --> 00:48:36.260
of market saturation or do
we expect more enrollments

00:48:38.190 --> 00:48:40.468
this part of it, depending on whether

00:48:40.468 --> 00:48:42.850
or not unemployment runs
out stimulus payments run out,

00:48:42.850 --> 00:48:46.600
or where are we, do we
feel like we got, you know,

00:48:46.600 --> 00:48:50.100
most of the customers who
were in need of assistance

00:48:50.100 --> 00:48:53.160
with this early wave of
outreach and other changes

00:48:53.160 --> 00:48:55.843
to the program, we
feel like there's another,

00:48:55.843 --> 00:48:57.540
they got untapped potential,

00:48:57.540 --> 00:48:59.430
or is it just that we're waiting to see

00:48:59.430 --> 00:49:02.090
if the other shoe drops in
terms of economic impacts,

00:49:02.090 --> 00:49:06.220
if you have a sense of that.

00:49:06.220 --> 00:49:08.120
<v Marlene>This is
Marlene from PG&amp;E.</v>

00:49:08.120 --> 00:49:10.360
Thank you, that's a good question,

00:49:10.360 --> 00:49:12.140
Commissioner Rechtschaffen.

00:49:13.260 --> 00:49:17.580
At PG&amp;E, we have seen
the penetration rates go up

00:49:19.390 --> 00:49:24.390
from 97% of the eligible
customers up to 108%,

00:49:26.410 --> 00:49:29.970
which is where we are at
and where we had forecasted

00:49:29.970 --> 00:49:33.154
that we would be somewhere by 106%

00:49:33.154 --> 00:49:37.987
of the estimated eligible
population by the end of the year

00:49:39.110 --> 00:49:43.380
simply because we are not
removing anyone from the program.

00:49:43.380 --> 00:49:46.240
And with a heavy
marketing that has been done

00:49:46.240 --> 00:49:47.840
using both traditional

00:49:47.840 --> 00:49:51.150
and non-traditional marketing channels.

00:49:51.150 --> 00:49:56.100
We have seen certain promotion
known channels really deliver

00:49:56.100 --> 00:50:01.100
very strong drive, very strong response,

00:50:01.230 --> 00:50:05.210
such as the digital Google marketing

00:50:10.162 --> 00:50:13.495
if somebody searches for EBT or CalFresh

00:50:15.663 --> 00:50:20.663
that it will pop up an ad
about the CARE program.

00:50:21.570 --> 00:50:24.980
So we're trying all these new channels

00:50:24.980 --> 00:50:27.200
and they seem to be working well.

00:50:27.200 --> 00:50:30.460
We do expect that we will
continue to see a little bit

00:50:30.460 --> 00:50:33.630
of growth, maybe getting up to 109%.

00:50:33.630 --> 00:50:37.680
We have also seen in our FERA enrollment

00:50:37.680 --> 00:50:42.680
that's gone from 13% pre
COVID to 21% at present.

00:50:45.020 --> 00:50:48.620
So we do expect to see,
but we think the majority

00:50:48.620 --> 00:50:52.420
of the customers who lost jobs

00:50:52.420 --> 00:50:57.220
have a definite would be
gone to get the message

00:50:57.220 --> 00:50:58.720
and have been enrolling.

00:50:58.720 --> 00:51:03.090
So we expect to see
a taper off even though

00:51:03.090 --> 00:51:06.397
on aggressive marketing
will be continuing, thank you.

00:51:08.210 --> 00:51:10.123
<v ->Thank you
Marlene, that's helpful.</v>

00:51:12.970 --> 00:51:14.330
<v Maribel>Martha, this is Maribel.</v>

00:51:14.330 --> 00:51:15.910
I don't have any questions,

00:51:15.910 --> 00:51:19.865
this has been enormously
helpful and as you said earlier,

00:51:19.865 --> 00:51:24.639
somewhat difficult to see
some of these numbers

00:51:24.639 --> 00:51:28.500
knowing full well that
our fellow Californians

00:51:28.500 --> 00:51:30.880
are really suffering, so thank you,

00:51:30.880 --> 00:51:34.492
very good data and good information.

00:51:34.492 --> 00:51:38.220
And I told Commissioners
have asked clarifying questions

00:51:38.220 --> 00:51:39.733
that I had in mind, thank you on that,

00:51:39.733 --> 00:51:43.410
3% I was concerned about
the same thing, Martha so.

00:51:43.410 --> 00:51:45.760
Thank you, and I'm looking forward

00:51:45.760 --> 00:51:48.163
to the further presentations.

00:51:51.860 --> 00:51:54.790
<v ->Okay great, thanks
president Batjer.</v>

00:51:54.790 --> 00:51:57.440
So Jillian, can you move
on to the next slide please?

00:51:59.480 --> 00:52:01.995
Okay, so hi everyone, I'm Amy Mesrobian,

00:52:01.995 --> 00:52:04.980
I'm a supervisor in the
CPC energy division

00:52:04.980 --> 00:52:07.890
and I'll be facilitating our first panel

00:52:07.890 --> 00:52:09.650
of the workshop today to look at

00:52:09.650 --> 00:52:11.600
what we're hearing from customers.

00:52:11.600 --> 00:52:15.510
And we will have four
panelists joining us here today,

00:52:15.510 --> 00:52:19.980
Carla Remigi from the CPC
consumer affairs branch.

00:52:19.980 --> 00:52:23.690
Lourdes Medina from the
florist Huerta foundation.

00:52:23.690 --> 00:52:26.730
Kathy Andry from the
California Department

00:52:26.730 --> 00:52:28.900
of Community Services and Development,

00:52:28.900 --> 00:52:32.253
and Val Martinez from Redwood
Community Action Agency.

00:52:33.862 --> 00:52:38.862
So let me ask all of the
panelists to please turn

00:52:40.700 --> 00:52:44.160
on your camera then, and
let's get ready for our panel

00:52:45.519 --> 00:52:48.319
and please keep yourself
muted when you're not speaking.

00:52:49.370 --> 00:52:53.730
So first, so each of the
four panelists is going to give

00:52:53.730 --> 00:52:56.260
about a five to seven
minute overview presentation

00:52:56.260 --> 00:52:58.530
and then we'll open it up for questions

00:52:58.530 --> 00:53:01.300
and answers at the end of that.

00:53:01.300 --> 00:53:05.877
So first I will turn it over to
Carla and next slide please.

00:53:10.900 --> 00:53:11.790
<v ->Good morning, everyone.</v>

00:53:11.790 --> 00:53:13.598
My name is Carla Remigi,

00:53:13.598 --> 00:53:16.070
I'm a nail was supposed
to be at first branch.

00:53:16.070 --> 00:53:18.870
You're the PUC was the same thing,

00:53:18.870 --> 00:53:22.229
a second an overview
context related to the core

00:53:22.229 --> 00:53:25.090
of the conference we received in CAB,

00:53:25.090 --> 00:53:28.690
from the period of March
15th through October 17th,

00:53:28.690 --> 00:53:31.410
which covers the current COVID report

00:53:31.410 --> 00:53:33.703
that we've been putting
out to the Commissioners.

00:53:34.850 --> 00:53:39.300
This will be an emphasis on
the compact related to energy.

00:53:39.300 --> 00:53:40.403
Next slide please.

00:53:43.430 --> 00:53:45.587
Okay, very quick overview of what

00:53:45.587 --> 00:53:50.587
the consumer affair branch
is, in essence is a let's say,

00:53:51.490 --> 00:53:55.010
it's the face of the Commission
when it goes to humor

00:53:55.010 --> 00:53:58.550
has a problem with
their utilities issues

00:53:58.550 --> 00:54:01.570
with these items providers,
CAB receives context

00:54:01.570 --> 00:54:04.920
from the consumer, both
in phone and in writing.

00:54:04.920 --> 00:54:08.587
And just as a verification,
the context that

00:54:08.587 --> 00:54:12.726
we're receiving CAB are
called informal contacts.

00:54:12.726 --> 00:54:14.550
And those that are
forwarded to the utilities

00:54:14.550 --> 00:54:17.050
for solution are cold
and portable complaints.

00:54:17.050 --> 00:54:20.280
When a consumer issue
falls under the jurisdiction

00:54:20.280 --> 00:54:23.630
of the Commission, the normal
processes for phone contacts

00:54:23.630 --> 00:54:27.560
the consumer is transferred
as we call it warm transfer

00:54:27.560 --> 00:54:31.830
to the utilities executive
office, and the consumers is less

00:54:31.830 --> 00:54:36.570
than the capable hands of
the utility and is instructed

00:54:36.570 --> 00:54:39.025
if they do not gait able to look

00:54:39.025 --> 00:54:40.090
on a satisfactory resolution,

00:54:40.090 --> 00:54:44.560
they should contact the
customer service branch in writing.

00:54:44.560 --> 00:54:49.280
There is normally no followup
from CAB for phone contacts.

00:54:49.280 --> 00:54:53.528
During COVID or COVID related context,

00:54:53.528 --> 00:54:57.980
to specify what the color
related context an hour for us

00:54:57.980 --> 00:55:02.980
the process was changed to
make sure that were follow-ups

00:55:03.400 --> 00:55:08.400
from CAB to the utilities
requesting the update

00:55:09.830 --> 00:55:13.440
on the solutions, so we'll
keep track of the resolutions

00:55:14.589 --> 00:55:17.410
and the dispositions
of this, everything,

00:55:17.410 --> 00:55:18.970
I'm sorry, phone contacts.

00:55:18.970 --> 00:55:22.900
For reasons, risk and context
for CAB can take up to upwards

00:55:22.900 --> 00:55:25.890
of 30 days for a resolution,

00:55:25.890 --> 00:55:28.750
for those written comments
that were received though,

00:55:28.750 --> 00:55:31.550
identify as COVID related.

00:55:31.550 --> 00:55:34.300
They were fast tracked
instead of submitted

00:55:34.300 --> 00:55:36.130
in through the normal channels.

00:55:36.130 --> 00:55:39.300
They were immediately
forward to the utilities yet

00:55:39.300 --> 00:55:42.920
either emails or phone calls
and followups phone calls

00:55:42.920 --> 00:55:45.680
were always placed within
few days just to make sure

00:55:45.680 --> 00:55:47.320
that there was a resolution,

00:55:47.320 --> 00:55:50.740
so we could keep track of
those phases in particular

00:55:51.720 --> 00:55:56.260
In addition CAB made a very extra effort

00:55:56.260 --> 00:56:00.000
in helping mostly
non-jurisdictional issues

00:56:00.000 --> 00:56:03.170
to just implant a cable, we
had a lot of humorous contact

00:56:03.170 --> 00:56:06.400
at the beginning
contacting us with regards

00:56:06.400 --> 00:56:11.240
to municipalities and
CAB made an extra effort

00:56:11.240 --> 00:56:16.240
to send the providing
information to the consumers

00:56:16.580 --> 00:56:19.143
to the appropriate places
where they could get this help

00:56:19.143 --> 00:56:22.680
that they needed, next slide, please.

00:56:25.640 --> 00:56:30.030
Okay, the effect of
COVID in the contacts

00:56:30.030 --> 00:56:32.940
that we have received
in CAB is very obvious.

00:56:32.940 --> 00:56:35.460
They have been a sharp decline.

00:56:35.460 --> 00:56:39.660
We can safety to say that I
thought 40% declining customer

00:56:39.660 --> 00:56:44.510
contacts to CAB from the
same period March to September

00:56:44.510 --> 00:56:47.923
of two programs, sorry,
of 2019 when comparing,

00:56:48.905 --> 00:56:51.630
there has been a sharp
decline about 40%,

00:56:51.630 --> 00:56:55.470
and we can safely assume
that the consumer protections

00:56:55.470 --> 00:56:58.960
that are in place are the
main reasons for this decline.

00:56:58.960 --> 00:57:03.960
For example, for
communications, the moratoriums

00:57:04.250 --> 00:57:07.660
for lifeline, there has been
a 50% reduction in contact

00:57:07.660 --> 00:57:11.289
from lifeline when due to the
elimination for requirements

00:57:11.289 --> 00:57:14.037
or recertifications of independence.

00:57:14.037 --> 00:57:18.920
For energy, we can also
simply assume that also

00:57:18.920 --> 00:57:21.210
the reduction has been done due

00:57:21.210 --> 00:57:25.460
to the protection set in place,
because while we assume

00:57:25.460 --> 00:57:26.700
that if the consumer is not receiving

00:57:26.700 --> 00:57:28.460
the disconnection
notices they're not getting

00:57:28.460 --> 00:57:31.464
the 15 day notice of the 48 hour notice,

00:57:31.464 --> 00:57:35.113
there's no reason to contact
CAB, so next slide please.

00:57:39.840 --> 00:57:42.670
So the COVID related 19 context,

00:57:42.670 --> 00:57:45.410
what does he mean
to CAB in our reporting?

00:57:45.410 --> 00:57:48.710
CAB counts all payment
arrangements and just connection

00:57:48.710 --> 00:57:52.540
for an a payment context
that we see as COVID related,

00:57:52.540 --> 00:57:55.240
whether the customer mentions it or not.

00:57:55.240 --> 00:57:59.360
The same thing is for outages,
and I'll get to in a moment

00:57:59.360 --> 00:58:01.400
of why outages are so important.

00:58:01.400 --> 00:58:06.400
Well, the categories
that I'm not, I'm sorry

00:58:07.190 --> 00:58:10.470
Oh, the categories do
require an active statement

00:58:10.470 --> 00:58:13.809
from the consumer saying
that they have a problem

00:58:13.809 --> 00:58:16.990
to the pandemic, to COVID-19 or a virus,

00:58:16.990 --> 00:58:19.533
whatever way they want to refer to it.

00:58:20.660 --> 00:58:23.290
They have to be an active
mentioned for those cases

00:58:23.290 --> 00:58:27.730
to be included into the
product 19 related accounts.

00:58:27.730 --> 00:58:31.856
Between March 15th, when
we started reporting in the 19th

00:58:31.856 --> 00:58:35.200
which was the last report,
caviar received, or identify

00:58:35.200 --> 00:58:39.800
as 17,740 to be covered related context,

00:58:39.800 --> 00:58:43.000
communication a counselor
50% of those contexts

00:58:43.000 --> 00:58:47.300
in energy for 39% of
those contexts water only

00:58:47.300 --> 00:58:50.750
has received 3% of the
cover related context.

00:58:50.750 --> 00:58:54.430
And my apologies from the
chart, somewhere along the line,

00:58:54.430 --> 00:58:58.470
I lost my legends,
the bar chart indicate

00:58:58.470 --> 00:59:02.120
the energy related context
and the line chart indicate

00:59:02.120 --> 00:59:04.510
the total quarter related contacts,

00:59:04.510 --> 00:59:07.830
is what you can see how
they really want to another,

00:59:07.830 --> 00:59:08.823
next slide please.

00:59:10.810 --> 00:59:13.083
So what are we hearing
from the consumers?

00:59:14.980 --> 00:59:19.131
The early start of the thing
consumers mentioned concerns

00:59:19.131 --> 00:59:21.290
about the high bills
due to high consumption

00:59:21.290 --> 00:59:24.440
because you stayed at
home about the peak time

00:59:24.440 --> 00:59:26.043
time of use higher rate.

00:59:27.170 --> 00:59:28.600
And it would like to have the race

00:59:28.600 --> 00:59:31.070
to be the same doing the whole day

00:59:31.070 --> 00:59:33.300
while there were shelter in place,

00:59:33.300 --> 00:59:35.400
was doing this requested
that the baseline allotments

00:59:35.400 --> 00:59:38.070
be recalibrated to allow
for higher consumption

00:59:38.070 --> 00:59:43.070
to understand home, and do it
powdered outages consumers

00:59:43.360 --> 00:59:47.390
were worried about losing
food or refrigerator medications

00:59:47.390 --> 00:59:49.367
because there have been
stockpiling due to COVID-19

00:59:49.367 --> 00:59:51.900
and not being able to go out as often

00:59:51.900 --> 00:59:56.073
to get supplies and
consumers express a lot

00:59:56.073 --> 00:59:57.590
of frustration with the
timing and duration.

00:59:57.590 --> 01:00:01.840
So planned outages or
otherwise, which were interfering

01:00:01.840 --> 01:00:04.540
with working from home
and distance learning

01:00:04.540 --> 01:00:07.933
in consumers also another
thing that we heard was

01:00:07.933 --> 01:00:10.151
where a consumers protested,

01:00:10.151 --> 01:00:14.270
there were some plan rate
hikes during the pandemic,

01:00:14.270 --> 01:00:15.313
next slide please.

01:00:18.380 --> 01:00:22.500
So the effect of the
pandemic under type of context

01:00:22.500 --> 01:00:25.760
that we received, how has
always received contacts

01:00:25.760 --> 01:00:28.900
about high bills and the need
for payment arrangements,

01:00:28.900 --> 01:00:31.400
extensions to avoid
disconnections for non-payments

01:00:31.400 --> 01:00:33.480
and the help with restoring the service

01:00:33.480 --> 01:00:35.110
as a result of non-pay.

01:00:35.110 --> 01:00:38.853
CAB has not perceived
an audible difference

01:00:38.853 --> 01:00:40.977
in the type of consumer
context for our sisters

01:00:40.977 --> 01:00:43.680
due to COVID-19 other than on a set,

01:00:43.680 --> 01:00:46.280
where there were more
concepts from customers

01:00:46.280 --> 01:00:48.390
who have lost their
jobs and were concerned

01:00:48.390 --> 01:00:50.790
about the inability to pay their bill.

01:00:50.790 --> 01:00:55.400
We did not affect a big
change in the context

01:00:55.400 --> 01:00:57.930
until the end of the moratoriums,

01:00:57.930 --> 01:01:02.930
when the bills come to
you, next slide please.

01:01:05.756 --> 01:01:08.607
All right, the top
energy context related

01:01:10.100 --> 01:01:13.760
to COVID-19 CAB categorizes,

01:01:13.760 --> 01:01:15.750
the type of contacts that we receive

01:01:15.750 --> 01:01:18.020
in some discreet categories,

01:01:18.020 --> 01:01:22.250
and the bulk of the context are outages.

01:01:22.250 --> 01:01:25.480
They comprise about 47% of the contents

01:01:25.480 --> 01:01:27.770
that we hear with you related to COVID.

01:01:27.770 --> 01:01:30.410
Again, I'll get back to
auditors in a moment,

01:01:30.410 --> 01:01:34.279
payment arrangements
comprise about 16% of the cases

01:01:34.279 --> 01:01:37.630
that we receive a disconnection
current payments contexts

01:01:37.630 --> 01:01:40.450
have declined considerably since March

01:01:40.450 --> 01:01:42.480
as you can see on the
graph, as they're represented

01:01:42.480 --> 01:01:47.160
with a line, I'm sorry, the blue cost.

01:01:51.710 --> 01:01:56.330
And they have, like I
said, they have the client

01:01:56.330 --> 01:01:59.650
since March, but unfortunately
we still received complaints

01:01:59.650 --> 01:02:01.990
from consumers being
there that they're in danger

01:02:01.990 --> 01:02:04.160
of the service had been disconnected.

01:02:04.160 --> 01:02:06.640
And I learned to give a
couple of examples on that,

01:02:06.640 --> 01:02:10.157
one of the examples,
one of the reasons why

01:02:10.157 --> 01:02:13.060
customers are contacting
CAB, believing that

01:02:13.060 --> 01:02:14.680
they're going to be disconnected,

01:02:14.680 --> 01:02:17.790
we're getting few contacts
from Edison consumers

01:02:17.790 --> 01:02:20.153
because it appears that
even though they adhere

01:02:20.153 --> 01:02:21.700
to the moratorium guidelines

01:02:21.700 --> 01:02:23.833
of the lenders connecting consumers,

01:02:23.833 --> 01:02:26.115
consumers are still receiving notices

01:02:26.115 --> 01:02:31.050
that don't clearly reflect
the change in policy.

01:02:31.050 --> 01:02:35.260
I do know that they have
received the bills do stay

01:02:35.260 --> 01:02:39.250
that they have passed you
amounts which leads to consumers

01:02:39.250 --> 01:02:41.890
to believe that they're
going to be disconnected.

01:02:41.890 --> 01:02:46.050
We do understand that Edison is working

01:02:46.050 --> 01:02:47.750
with the CPOC regarding that,

01:02:47.750 --> 01:02:49.720
I believe they have mentioned something

01:02:49.720 --> 01:02:53.790
about their system not being
able to accommodate the change

01:02:53.790 --> 01:02:57.720
or Yeah, to eliminate the language

01:02:57.720 --> 01:02:59.280
that they're going to be disconnected,

01:02:59.280 --> 01:03:02.390
and they're adding extra
language in the back of the bill

01:03:02.390 --> 01:03:07.390
or somewhere trying to educate
the consumer about the fact

01:03:07.540 --> 01:03:11.110
that no notice, and they're
not going to get disconnected.

01:03:11.110 --> 01:03:15.330
Another reason why we
getting people contact us

01:03:15.330 --> 01:03:17.770
regarding disconnections, and this is,

01:03:17.770 --> 01:03:21.270
I believe is mostly
in the PG&amp;E territory.

01:03:21.270 --> 01:03:25.048
A few consumers I hesitate to
say a lot but a few consumers

01:03:25.048 --> 01:03:30.048
call us because they have
been victim of a scam callers,

01:03:30.290 --> 01:03:32.240
we'll try to convince
them that they're about

01:03:32.240 --> 01:03:35.190
to be disconnected
because of past due amount.

01:03:35.190 --> 01:03:39.710
And that it's very just start
being in my opinion industry,

01:03:39.710 --> 01:03:43.320
just that the consumer
benefit from a campaign

01:03:43.320 --> 01:03:45.440
to make them aware of
the different types of scams.

01:03:45.440 --> 01:03:47.590
So they're not just doing this time,

01:03:47.590 --> 01:03:50.340
but also just the at old times,

01:03:50.340 --> 01:03:52.660
because that seems to be very prevalent

01:03:52.660 --> 01:03:55.990
that we get people who
actually fall from the scams,

01:03:55.990 --> 01:03:59.410
or just call us to confirm
whether they are going

01:03:59.410 --> 01:04:00.900
to be disconnected, or
they know they're not going

01:04:00.900 --> 01:04:05.900
to be connected and they
call us to clarify or confirm that.

01:04:05.930 --> 01:04:07.033
Next slide, please.

01:04:08.880 --> 01:04:11.838
<v Amy>And you have about
just one minute, Carlos,</v>

01:04:11.838 --> 01:04:14.029
thank you.
<v ->[ Yes, okay, okay.</v>

01:04:14.029 --> 01:04:15.700
Okay, why outages are important?

01:04:15.700 --> 01:04:18.843
And there are definitely
important, CAB reports all outages,

01:04:20.212 --> 01:04:21.640
that is context related to COVID

01:04:21.640 --> 01:04:24.880
because of the direct
impact they outages now,

01:04:24.880 --> 01:04:28.120
not only when something at
home but working from home

01:04:30.238 --> 01:04:34.510
and we see really a report on outages,

01:04:37.037 --> 01:04:39.210
PSPS as well in black house,
and that's where you see

01:04:39.210 --> 01:04:41.680
that big spike in August because there

01:04:41.680 --> 01:04:44.060
was a rolling blackouts
or were mandated due

01:04:44.060 --> 01:04:46.400
to the heat wave to
California, so I meet August.

01:04:46.400 --> 01:04:48.050
Can I have the next slide please?

01:04:50.180 --> 01:04:52.003
Okay, and the last slide on this,

01:04:53.234 --> 01:04:55.784
lastly, if this is a
breakdown by the top utilities

01:04:58.280 --> 01:05:00.890
we're seeing the highest
number of complaints

01:05:00.890 --> 01:05:05.890
as you can see is the
usual, the, you know,

01:05:06.150 --> 01:05:08.590
the four top utilities has
received 95% of the complaints

01:05:08.590 --> 01:05:12.440
and all other utilities will
have four or less contacts

01:05:12.440 --> 01:05:15.193
mostly have just one
contact related to COVID.

01:05:19.760 --> 01:05:20.603
So that was it from me,
thank you very much.

01:05:22.130 --> 01:05:23.530
And you have the questions,

01:05:23.530 --> 01:05:26.193
will address them at
the end of the panel.

01:05:27.460 --> 01:05:30.420
<v Amy>Great, thank you so
much, Carla for giving us,</v>

01:05:30.420 --> 01:05:33.779
giving us the lay of the
land in terms of the types

01:05:33.779 --> 01:05:36.910
of customer contacts
we receive at the CPC.

01:05:36.910 --> 01:05:40.470
Next, I'm gonna turn it
over to Lourdes Medina

01:05:40.470 --> 01:05:44.220
to give us her perspective
from what she's hearing directly

01:05:44.220 --> 01:05:46.763
from customers in her work, Lourdes.

01:05:49.910 --> 01:05:54.270
<v ->Yes, good morning everyone
and thank you for this space</v>

01:05:54.270 --> 01:05:57.540
and for all the work
everybody's putting forth

01:05:57.540 --> 01:05:59.770
to ensure that Californians, you know,

01:05:59.770 --> 01:06:02.070
have an opportunity to survive.

01:06:02.070 --> 01:06:04.693
Not only this virus,
because I myself was the fact

01:06:04.693 --> 01:06:07.960
that the last three weeks
I've been fighting COVID

01:06:07.960 --> 01:06:11.240
and I'm getting to talk to participants

01:06:11.240 --> 01:06:13.710
and community members who are scared,

01:06:13.710 --> 01:06:18.330
not only of the consequences
that the sickness brings

01:06:18.330 --> 01:06:22.920
but also the social impact
that has on them economically

01:06:22.920 --> 01:06:26.880
and in society, unfortunately,

01:06:26.880 --> 01:06:28.430
and as being treated just like,

01:06:29.330 --> 01:06:30.940
and the Spanish speaking community

01:06:30.940 --> 01:06:34.350
is just like hearing
that you guys be HIV.

01:06:34.350 --> 01:06:36.160
So it's unfortunate because that brings

01:06:36.160 --> 01:06:37.980
a lot of social stress.

01:06:37.980 --> 01:06:40.270
So I've been able to
work with the Dolores

01:06:40.270 --> 01:06:43.100
went to foundation now for
three years and in the community,

01:06:43.100 --> 01:06:46.850
so the central Valley I've
been involved for 23 years

01:06:46.850 --> 01:06:50.380
and unfortunately these local media,

01:06:50.380 --> 01:06:55.380
and also community based
organizations I've always seen

01:06:55.450 --> 01:06:59.920
in my work and trashed my
information enough to ask me

01:06:59.920 --> 01:07:04.250
about what's going on with
what a moratorium means.

01:07:04.250 --> 01:07:05.930
That was the first interesting fact

01:07:05.930 --> 01:07:09.940
that I found in the community
that even if you know,

01:07:09.940 --> 01:07:14.070
the state issues
information or in the news

01:07:14.070 --> 01:07:17.610
they say about this moratorium
for that to be disconnected,

01:07:17.610 --> 01:07:20.800
they still not aware of
how to deal with that data

01:07:20.800 --> 01:07:24.640
or that information, they
don't know how to address that,

01:07:24.640 --> 01:07:28.340
and the questions I posted a
community one was, you know,

01:07:28.340 --> 01:07:32.290
about the programs that we
have with the CARE/FERA

01:07:32.290 --> 01:07:37.290
and medical baseline in most
of the community members

01:07:37.560 --> 01:07:42.140
that I took a sample from, you
know, about 75% were aware

01:07:42.140 --> 01:07:45.410
of the products and I'm asking them to

01:07:45.410 --> 01:07:47.800
if they have used some
more currently use,

01:07:47.800 --> 01:07:52.800
I would say 75% of them
were in taking advantage

01:07:53.530 --> 01:07:55.170
of those programs.

01:07:55.170 --> 01:07:58.590
However, the ones that
still were on those programs,

01:07:58.590 --> 01:08:02.723
the question was like, if they
weren't on it, why, you know,

01:08:04.570 --> 01:08:06.200
some of them fell right at the cusp

01:08:06.200 --> 01:08:10.250
that they had to be sending
in their paperwork by January,

01:08:10.250 --> 01:08:11.860
I guess, for the renewal.

01:08:11.860 --> 01:08:16.350
So maybe they fell off then,
and came back in has been more

01:08:16.350 --> 01:08:17.830
of a challenge because there's some more

01:08:17.830 --> 01:08:22.447
of a waiting time, I guess,
to address the reapplication

01:08:23.300 --> 01:08:25.630
or to check if they are on,

01:08:25.630 --> 01:08:28.080
until we went into look at
their bills, is that I was like,

01:08:28.080 --> 01:08:31.910
no, you are fine, but
then they didn't understand

01:08:31.910 --> 01:08:36.333
the increase of usage
hours and peak hour.

01:08:37.400 --> 01:08:38.780
You know, they didn't understand that.

01:08:38.780 --> 01:08:43.360
And I had to take time to
explain to them that you know,

01:08:43.360 --> 01:08:46.500
that during the day
we have different hours.

01:08:46.500 --> 01:08:49.460
The field working
community like in agriculture,

01:08:49.460 --> 01:08:54.460
their working hours had
always been not on peak hours

01:08:54.600 --> 01:08:57.100
because they wake up three
in the morning, you know,

01:08:57.100 --> 01:08:59.400
get everything done,
by six in the morning,

01:08:59.400 --> 01:09:01.270
the kids who are out to school.

01:09:01.270 --> 01:09:05.430
And now the increase of
these community members,

01:09:05.430 --> 01:09:09.240
their bills have gone up
higher and in fact, and more

01:09:09.240 --> 01:09:12.130
because now the kids are
there and one parent has to stay,

01:09:12.130 --> 01:09:15.993
now, cooking is literally
like 24 hours a day, per se.

01:09:17.090 --> 01:09:19.570
Unfortunately, you know,
the use of distance learning

01:09:19.570 --> 01:09:23.500
has made them feel very,
very pressured to make sure

01:09:23.500 --> 01:09:26.503
to keep the energy bills on,
so they were borrowing money

01:09:26.503 --> 01:09:30.340
and now whatever funds they
were given if they even qualify

01:09:30.340 --> 01:09:33.790
for any state or federal
funds, they use them right away

01:09:33.790 --> 01:09:38.200
to pay their utility bills
as they fear not being able

01:09:38.200 --> 01:09:40.810
to have their kids safe at home.

01:09:40.810 --> 01:09:43.290
So maybe another issue
with the presentation

01:09:43.290 --> 01:09:45.590
that I heard earlier about, you know,

01:09:45.590 --> 01:09:47.870
less people getting on payment plans,

01:09:47.870 --> 01:09:50.370
it's because most of these people

01:09:50.370 --> 01:09:51.870
these are the ones that I spoke,

01:09:51.870 --> 01:09:55.040
didn't understand what it
would mean that a moratorium

01:09:55.040 --> 01:09:58.660
is in place, or that they're on
that gonna be disconnected.

01:09:58.660 --> 01:10:01.420
So they don't trust that,
so they're might as well,

01:10:01.420 --> 01:10:02.990
you know, pay for those bills and stay

01:10:02.990 --> 01:10:06.860
without maybe a CAB payment
or without an insurance payment.

01:10:06.860 --> 01:10:09.820
A lot of this community
members mostly women,

01:10:09.820 --> 01:10:14.230
express, you know, the stress
of having to communicate now

01:10:14.230 --> 01:10:18.480
to their usual partners to help them

01:10:18.480 --> 01:10:21.083
when they didn't have
money for energy bills,

01:10:21.930 --> 01:10:25.580
they have all mostly expressed to me

01:10:25.580 --> 01:10:28.470
that they were never offered
more than three months

01:10:28.470 --> 01:10:32.270
for a payment plan
and or given the option.

01:10:32.270 --> 01:10:34.240
One participant she even told me,

01:10:34.240 --> 01:10:37.360
she even asked to ask her
supervisor or the supervisor

01:10:37.360 --> 01:10:40.040
to see if they could
stretch that payment out,

01:10:40.040 --> 01:10:43.740
four more months, because
a meeting that, you know

01:10:43.740 --> 01:10:45.260
the minimum payment they had to make

01:10:45.260 --> 01:10:49.150
to make the payment
arrangement was not a possible one,

01:10:49.150 --> 01:10:51.347
and she straight out just
told them out of frustration.

01:10:51.347 --> 01:10:53.320
"I have five kids at home,

01:10:53.320 --> 01:10:55.700
unfortunately my husband's in jail now

01:10:55.700 --> 01:11:00.070
and in danger of deportation
and you can not disconnect me,

01:11:00.070 --> 01:11:01.870
you cannot disconnect me.

01:11:01.870 --> 01:11:05.950
I'll send what I can, which
is $75 or this is what I can

01:11:05.950 --> 01:11:07.800
I'm not saying I don't want to pay,"

01:11:07.800 --> 01:11:10.550
for her to have to get to
that expression of, you know

01:11:10.550 --> 01:11:13.060
private information
and insensitive at that

01:11:13.060 --> 01:11:16.530
because you know, she is undocumented,

01:11:16.530 --> 01:11:18.160
it was very hard for her.

01:11:18.160 --> 01:11:20.210
So for me, that broke my
heart that they would have

01:11:20.210 --> 01:11:21.980
to be put in that position.

01:11:21.980 --> 01:11:24.340
So I asked her, you
know, well, on your bill,

01:11:24.340 --> 01:11:27.513
do you see anything that
tells you, you could get help?

01:11:28.392 --> 01:11:31.477
She says, "I called those
numbers, I called those numbers

01:11:31.477 --> 01:11:33.930
and this is what it was
always stated to me,

01:11:33.930 --> 01:11:36.247
this is the way it is, how
much you have to pay.

01:11:36.247 --> 01:11:39.020
And this is the kind of
payment plan you have to do."

01:11:39.020 --> 01:11:42.310
So I think that the customer
CARE part you know,

01:11:44.648 --> 01:11:47.410
to increase to a point
yeah, we are more sensitive

01:11:47.410 --> 01:11:49.450
to understand that
people who have are years

01:11:49.450 --> 01:11:53.300
from prior to COVID, you know
I have a different experience

01:11:53.300 --> 01:11:57.080
to approach for finding
help with assistance

01:11:57.080 --> 01:12:01.170
on getting their bills paid,
and also there is new people

01:12:01.170 --> 01:12:03.990
that have senior citizens
that had never had

01:12:03.990 --> 01:12:08.990
to do energy bill assistance
because they usually

01:12:10.000 --> 01:12:12.550
do cover it with a little
bit of social security

01:12:12.550 --> 01:12:14.900
or pension money they had.

01:12:14.900 --> 01:12:19.080
Now they have increased the
family members because of COVID,

01:12:19.080 --> 01:12:22.220
some of their grandkids
who are college students

01:12:22.220 --> 01:12:23.693
had to come live with them

01:12:23.693 --> 01:12:25.760
because they didn't fit
in there parents' home,

01:12:25.760 --> 01:12:28.631
so now their senior citizens are found

01:12:28.631 --> 01:12:30.440
with higher utility bills,

01:12:30.440 --> 01:12:32.730
because they have more people at home,

01:12:32.730 --> 01:12:37.730
and they trying to look for
help, found it more troubling

01:12:37.810 --> 01:12:41.605
and hurdling, I guess you would say,

01:12:41.605 --> 01:12:46.605
to find assistance with
mighty programs that they felt

01:12:46.680 --> 01:12:48.130
that the community based organizations

01:12:48.130 --> 01:12:50.030
they have never addressed them.

01:12:50.030 --> 01:12:52.860
They don't know the lingo or
the, you know, how things work,

01:12:52.860 --> 01:12:56.700
and obviously they
probably are not as tough

01:12:56.700 --> 01:13:01.070
as poor people have to put
up with a lot in customer service

01:13:01.070 --> 01:13:04.080
when they're looking
for help with their bills.

01:13:04.080 --> 01:13:06.742
Whereas someone that
has never used a system

01:13:06.742 --> 01:13:11.340
to for assistance, it's a little
bit more sensitive or more,

01:13:11.340 --> 01:13:14.300
I would say like, how would I say, well,

01:13:14.300 --> 01:13:16.339
you know, that we're not used to it,

01:13:16.339 --> 01:13:18.400
so we were used to
being consumers who pay

01:13:18.400 --> 01:13:21.090
and we have a right to
ask for you to treat us right.

01:13:21.090 --> 01:13:22.710
But when you're asking for something,

01:13:22.710 --> 01:13:24.780
I think that they don't
know how to address that

01:13:24.780 --> 01:13:28.780
so most of them express
frustration with it being able

01:13:28.780 --> 01:13:32.340
to communicate and not
be hurt, I kind of have that.

01:13:32.340 --> 01:13:34.670
It felt like they would be hurt

01:13:34.670 --> 01:13:37.720
by the way they're being
treated by those people

01:13:37.720 --> 01:13:40.660
who could possibly help
them with a bill payment

01:13:40.660 --> 01:13:43.810
or assistance to pay it off.

01:13:43.810 --> 01:13:46.830
So this is where
we're at, it's unfortunate

01:13:46.830 --> 01:13:50.730
you know, then enrollments,
as I was looking at your charts

01:13:50.730 --> 01:13:52.500
was very interesting to me,

01:13:52.500 --> 01:13:55.840
especially because I
would like to see data to this.

01:13:55.840 --> 01:13:59.020
It reflects, okay, we had a
hundred calls, a hundred calls,

01:13:59.020 --> 01:14:01.720
we got 10 people who were able to make

01:14:01.720 --> 01:14:03.010
an payment arrangement plan

01:14:03.010 --> 01:14:05.170
or that was what they were calling for.

01:14:05.170 --> 01:14:08.090
And that maybe they were
deterred from me waiting

01:14:08.090 --> 01:14:11.344
on the payment plan
because they could not meet

01:14:11.344 --> 01:14:12.943
that minimum payment.

01:14:14.150 --> 01:14:17.290
So I think everybody's work,
and I'm glad that California

01:14:17.290 --> 01:14:19.850
has such a system to be able to dialogue

01:14:19.850 --> 01:14:22.450
and work something out
because coming months

01:14:22.450 --> 01:14:25.680
is gonna be tougher,
as part of what they call

01:14:25.680 --> 01:14:28.450
the third wave of this pandemic.

01:14:28.450 --> 01:14:31.130
And we have to look forward to that.

01:14:31.130 --> 01:14:32.720
Now it's gonna get even stronger

01:14:32.720 --> 01:14:36.210
because we have to be in
inside, I mean, new Fresno,

01:14:36.210 --> 01:14:38.360
it 10:32 in the morning, you know

01:14:38.360 --> 01:14:41.810
so we're gonna be
seeing a lot more issues

01:14:41.810 --> 01:14:46.810
with them being charged
more and having less power

01:14:48.140 --> 01:14:50.850
to understand how to find help.

01:14:50.850 --> 01:14:54.080
And then to the last point I
really wanted to make was

01:14:54.080 --> 01:14:57.460
that I feel that IOUs need
to be more aggressive

01:14:57.460 --> 01:15:00.810
in helping us all California understand

01:15:00.810 --> 01:15:04.860
peak hour usage, lots in the tiers

01:15:04.860 --> 01:15:06.730
like they were mentioning, you know,

01:15:06.730 --> 01:15:09.950
people who are even on
solar energy, like not views,

01:15:09.950 --> 01:15:12.510
they're still affected by these charts,

01:15:12.510 --> 01:15:17.140
and if we don't understand
like layman's terms

01:15:18.520 --> 01:15:22.110
what that means that we're
not gonna be able to conserve

01:15:22.110 --> 01:15:25.923
or save money, so even if
we're on CARE or on FERA,

01:15:26.888 --> 01:15:28.870
or any of the other programs.

01:15:28.870 --> 01:15:30.890
Thank you, Amy, for this opportunity

01:15:30.890 --> 01:15:33.930
<v ->Yeah thank you so much
Lourdes for sharing those stories</v>

01:15:33.930 --> 01:15:37.029
directly from customers
and for letting us know about

01:15:37.029 --> 01:15:39.760
how sometimes it's
difficult for customers

01:15:39.760 --> 01:15:41.320
to kind of understand the information

01:15:41.320 --> 01:15:43.233
or the programs that are out there.

01:15:44.450 --> 01:15:47.640
So thank you Lourdes,
and next, I will turn it over

01:15:47.640 --> 01:15:50.960
to Kathy Andry with the
California Department

01:15:50.960 --> 01:15:53.760
of Community Services and Development.

01:15:53.760 --> 01:15:57.100
Thank you Kathy.
<v ->Thank you, good morning.</v>

01:15:57.100 --> 01:15:59.340
I appreciate the opportunity to be part

01:15:59.340 --> 01:16:01.110
of this workshop today.

01:16:01.110 --> 01:16:04.920
Just wanted to provide a brief
overview of the department,

01:16:04.920 --> 01:16:07.580
talk about some of the data we're seeing

01:16:07.580 --> 01:16:09.610
from our customer contact

01:16:09.610 --> 01:16:13.180
and talk about some key
partnerships, you know,

01:16:13.180 --> 01:16:17.130
that we worked with
in response to COVID.

01:16:17.130 --> 01:16:19.180
So with that, I can
go to the next slide.

01:16:20.520 --> 01:16:23.570
The department of community
services and development,

01:16:23.570 --> 01:16:25.400
we oversee the administration

01:16:25.400 --> 01:16:28.890
of the federal low-income
home energy assistance program,

01:16:28.890 --> 01:16:30.780
you've heard it called LIHEAP.

01:16:30.780 --> 01:16:34.070
Today and in July, I
just wanted to mention

01:16:34.070 --> 01:16:36.970
that we also received CARES Act funding

01:16:36.970 --> 01:16:39.573
that supplements the
LIHEAP program as well.

01:16:41.130 --> 01:16:44.960
A lot, your program
provides an array of services

01:16:44.960 --> 01:16:47.230
to help low-income families,

01:16:47.230 --> 01:16:49.310
better manage the financial burdens

01:16:49.310 --> 01:16:51.550
of their home energy costs

01:16:51.550 --> 01:16:55.260
and overcome energy-related emergencies.

01:16:55.260 --> 01:16:59.020
Some of the services we
provide is financial assistance

01:16:59.020 --> 01:17:03.070
to help pay their or
help offset or energy bill,

01:17:03.070 --> 01:17:05.460
we also provide weatherization services

01:17:05.460 --> 01:17:08.790
to improve the energy
efficiency of their homes

01:17:08.790 --> 01:17:11.080
and we provide emergency services

01:17:11.080 --> 01:17:16.080
such as preparedness education services,

01:17:16.650 --> 01:17:18.920
we recently implemented providing

01:17:18.920 --> 01:17:23.010
battery power backup devices
to help minimize the impacts

01:17:23.010 --> 01:17:26.270
of the public safety power shutoffs,

01:17:26.270 --> 01:17:29.450
and we also provide
repair services to appliances

01:17:29.450 --> 01:17:32.300
that made threaten the health
and safety of the customer.

01:17:33.390 --> 01:17:38.260
The LIHEAP grant funds that
we do oversee are very limited,

01:17:38.260 --> 01:17:42.460
we're only able to serve about
6% of the eligible population

01:17:42.460 --> 01:17:45.300
on the annual basis.

01:17:45.300 --> 01:17:48.520
And we do work closely
and administer these funds

01:17:48.520 --> 01:17:53.520
through a 41 nonprofit and
local government organizations

01:17:53.610 --> 01:17:58.180
throughout the state, we
refer to them here as LSP

01:17:58.180 --> 01:17:59.620
as local service providers

01:17:59.620 --> 01:18:03.400
and you'll hear me say LSPs for short.

01:18:03.400 --> 01:18:07.560
Last year, the LSP network
provided lots of services

01:18:07.560 --> 01:18:11.233
to over 223,000 low-income households.

01:18:12.200 --> 01:18:14.060
If you go to the next
slide I'll just touch

01:18:14.060 --> 01:18:15.723
on some data point.

01:18:17.510 --> 01:18:21.430
Since March CSD, we have
seen an increase in the need

01:18:21.430 --> 01:18:24.860
for LIHEAP services across the state.

01:18:24.860 --> 01:18:27.750
The first data point
is a number of calls

01:18:27.750 --> 01:18:29.793
that we have received from the public,

01:18:30.730 --> 01:18:33.790
seeking services, seeking
LIHEAP assistance.

01:18:33.790 --> 01:18:38.570
As you can see in the
first graph, starting in April

01:18:38.570 --> 01:18:43.097
we saw an increase of
about 31% in call volume

01:18:43.097 --> 01:18:47.230
and CSD call center in
comparison to last year.

01:18:47.230 --> 01:18:50.170
And you'll see, in July we
saw the largest increase

01:18:50.170 --> 01:18:53.470
of about 67% increase in call volume

01:18:53.470 --> 01:18:56.020
in comparison to last year.

01:18:56.020 --> 01:19:00.003
The second data point in the
graph is illustrating the calls

01:19:00.003 --> 01:19:03.390
that we have been receiving
from households indicating

01:19:03.390 --> 01:19:06.173
that they have been impacted by COVID.

01:19:07.502 --> 01:19:09.990
And you can see
between the two data points

01:19:09.990 --> 01:19:13.920
that definitely confirms that
between May and September.

01:19:13.920 --> 01:19:16.840
Well over half of the
callers seeking information

01:19:16.840 --> 01:19:19.520
for LIHEAP persistence
are, were, you know

01:19:19.520 --> 01:19:22.710
directly related to COVID
or a financial impact

01:19:22.710 --> 01:19:24.363
due to the pandemic.

01:19:25.200 --> 01:19:28.460
I just wanna say that
this data is specific

01:19:28.460 --> 01:19:32.210
to CSDs call center
and calls to our LSDs

01:19:32.210 --> 01:19:35.240
may show different
trends, which you may hear

01:19:35.240 --> 01:19:38.130
from Val here in our next presentation.

01:19:38.130 --> 01:19:42.010
I also wanna mention too that at CSD

01:19:42.010 --> 01:19:45.990
we have seen a definite
increase in the foot traffic

01:19:45.990 --> 01:19:48.600
to our website with
a majority of visits,

01:19:48.600 --> 01:19:52.660
looking for information
on utilities assistant,

01:19:52.660 --> 01:19:53.783
next slide please.

01:19:55.523 --> 01:19:59.930
And just wanna touch on some
key partnerships that centered

01:19:59.930 --> 01:20:03.230
on contributions to how
you know, CSDs response

01:20:03.230 --> 01:20:08.230
to the COVID crisis, CSD
first partnership with our LSPs

01:20:08.330 --> 01:20:10.100
in the energy council.

01:20:10.100 --> 01:20:12.320
Our CSD consistently engages

01:20:12.320 --> 01:20:16.730
with our LSPs concerning
elements of local planning

01:20:16.730 --> 01:20:20.050
to promote effective
program administration,

01:20:20.050 --> 01:20:24.130
and keeping with this a CSD
did convene some meetings

01:20:24.130 --> 01:20:27.620
with the energy council, which
is an advisory body to CSD,

01:20:27.620 --> 01:20:31.260
which is a representative
of select LSP members

01:20:31.260 --> 01:20:34.270
to help inform us in our decision-making

01:20:34.270 --> 01:20:36.950
when we did receive
the CARES Act funding

01:20:36.950 --> 01:20:41.260
it also needed adjustments
to the regular LIHEAP funding

01:20:41.260 --> 01:20:43.503
that we are so oversee.

01:20:44.560 --> 01:20:48.530
Through these conversations
CSD and LSPs were able

01:20:48.530 --> 01:20:51.970
to accomplish an
accelerated implementation

01:20:51.970 --> 01:20:56.970
of the CARES Act program
and provide a program framework

01:20:56.970 --> 01:21:01.970
that extended services to
as many impacted households

01:21:02.330 --> 01:21:04.440
as possible especially in light

01:21:04.440 --> 01:21:07.380
of the state's high unemployment rates.

01:21:07.380 --> 01:21:12.130
We also ensured that, you
know, program operation resiliency

01:21:12.130 --> 01:21:15.820
at the local level by providing
resources to our LSDs,

01:21:15.820 --> 01:21:19.130
to purchase personal
protective equipment

01:21:19.130 --> 01:21:21.490
to also adopt safe work practices,

01:21:21.490 --> 01:21:24.970
to ensure that the
workers and the customers

01:21:24.970 --> 01:21:26.760
that we serve are safe.

01:21:26.760 --> 01:21:31.110
And we placed an emphasis
on essential services

01:21:31.110 --> 01:21:34.660
or utility assistance
and emergency services.

01:21:34.660 --> 01:21:35.683
Next slide, please.

01:21:38.540 --> 01:21:41.960
Another key partnership
was our interactions

01:21:41.960 --> 01:21:43.833
with the investor owned utilities,

01:21:44.976 --> 01:21:46.300
and other state utilities.

01:21:46.300 --> 01:21:49.160
Around July, we convened some meetings

01:21:49.160 --> 01:21:52.900
with the state utility reps to, you know

01:21:52.900 --> 01:21:56.360
discuss plans for implementing
the CARES Act program

01:21:56.360 --> 01:21:59.100
and to provide implementation overviews

01:21:59.100 --> 01:22:01.433
of our regular annual LIHEAP funding.

01:22:02.950 --> 01:22:05.380
Definitely these
meetings more informative

01:22:05.380 --> 01:22:07.740
you know, made us a better understanding

01:22:07.740 --> 01:22:12.540
of how the utilities were
responding to the COVID crisis

01:22:12.540 --> 01:22:16.003
with these establishments
of moratoriums Statewide,

01:22:17.100 --> 01:22:21.010
also better understanding of
customer changes and behavior,

01:22:21.010 --> 01:22:23.560
which you've seen
quite a bit of data already

01:22:23.560 --> 01:22:28.170
on how they're
managing their utility bills.

01:22:28.170 --> 01:22:31.060
How they're you know, how
usage has really gone up due

01:22:31.060 --> 01:22:33.500
to the shelter in place orders.

01:22:33.500 --> 01:22:37.840
And also, you know, being
made aware of suspension

01:22:37.840 --> 01:22:41.300
to you know, utility
weatherization services.

01:22:41.300 --> 01:22:46.090
We also got input from
utilities on adjustments

01:22:46.090 --> 01:22:49.580
to financial assistant
benefits for CARES,

01:22:49.580 --> 01:22:52.770
and we identify opportunities
where we can work

01:22:52.770 --> 01:22:55.500
with each other, any
companies to further assist

01:22:55.500 --> 01:22:56.993
in the outreaching from LIHEAP

01:22:58.130 --> 01:23:00.770
to low-income utility customers.

01:23:00.770 --> 01:23:04.710
For example our CSD and PG&amp;E,

01:23:04.710 --> 01:23:08.680
having engaged in an
innovative marketing campaign

01:23:08.680 --> 01:23:12.583
under a data sharing agreement
between CSD and a PG&amp;E

01:23:13.943 --> 01:23:17.815
PG&amp;E is been providing
customer information

01:23:17.815 --> 01:23:22.815
to our LSPs to provide direct
marketing LIHEAP services

01:23:24.370 --> 01:23:27.050
to customers with higher arrearages.

01:23:27.050 --> 01:23:31.210
We just recently implemented
this outreach effort.

01:23:31.210 --> 01:23:33.420
It's a little bit
premature to understand

01:23:33.420 --> 01:23:35.760
the customer's response to the outreach

01:23:36.750 --> 01:23:41.450
but we definitely see
the strong potential

01:23:41.450 --> 01:23:44.070
and having this customer information

01:23:44.070 --> 01:23:47.650
to make very direct
targeted outreach to help

01:23:47.650 --> 01:23:50.590
you know, those customers
exhibiting the great need

01:23:50.590 --> 01:23:52.868
which you've definitely
seen through the data

01:23:52.868 --> 01:23:55.781
in preventing disconnections.

01:23:55.781 --> 01:24:00.781
We do encourage that the
other IOUs, our partner with CSD

01:24:01.610 --> 01:24:04.650
and LSPs to provide
similar customer lists

01:24:04.650 --> 01:24:07.483
for this direct marketing outreach.

01:24:08.810 --> 01:24:11.930
Another thing I wanted
to mention was CSD

01:24:11.930 --> 01:24:15.230
has developed a LIHEAP
outreach digital toolkit

01:24:15.230 --> 01:24:19.920
that does contain down
messages to promote LIHEAP.

01:24:19.920 --> 01:24:24.250
The LIHEAP the outreach tool
kit was made available to IOUs

01:24:24.250 --> 01:24:27.460
and absence to the Ellis teen network

01:24:27.460 --> 01:24:29.343
as an outreach resource as well.

01:24:30.700 --> 01:24:31.823
Next slide, please.

01:24:33.800 --> 01:24:38.696
The third key partnership
is with the in May of 60

01:24:38.696 --> 01:24:42.500
and the CTC entered
into a MOU memorandum

01:24:42.500 --> 01:24:46.390
of understanding to enhance coordination

01:24:46.390 --> 01:24:49.600
to help reduce energy burden
of low-income customers

01:24:49.600 --> 01:24:53.500
swept state reduce the
amount of utility disconnections

01:24:53.500 --> 01:24:56.023
and create an energy resource Statewide.

01:24:57.050 --> 01:25:00.364
Through this MOU, the CSD and CQC,

01:25:00.364 --> 01:25:03.520
we've made some improvements to the way

01:25:03.520 --> 01:25:07.880
that I use our handling, the
LIHEAP our payments also,

01:25:07.880 --> 01:25:11.370
you know, pledge processes
to prevent disconnections.

01:25:11.370 --> 01:25:15.284
And we strengthened collaboration
between the IOUs CSPs

01:25:15.284 --> 01:25:18.478
and LSPs, to ensure the online portals

01:25:18.478 --> 01:25:20.793
that are currently being worked on,

01:25:21.803 --> 01:25:24.510
and also working on, you know,

01:25:24.510 --> 01:25:27.930
the new arrears management
plans, the percentage

01:25:27.930 --> 01:25:32.020
of income payment plans
to ensure that they deliver on

01:25:32.020 --> 01:25:34.540
you know, their
useful and full potential.

01:25:34.540 --> 01:25:38.500
But in closing, I just want to
say as the impact of COVID

01:25:38.500 --> 01:25:41.930
and pandemic continues and
persistence to be understood

01:25:41.930 --> 01:25:46.930
it is essential that our
continued coordination efforts

01:25:47.322 --> 01:25:51.150
are gonna be necessary.

01:25:51.150 --> 01:25:53.970
We need to, you know, continue
to work together, you know

01:25:53.970 --> 01:25:58.070
strengthen our IOUs, TST, LSPs to ensure

01:25:58.070 --> 01:26:01.680
that energy access for
financially challenged

01:26:01.680 --> 01:26:05.740
is very coordinated in that we provide

01:26:05.740 --> 01:26:09.180
you know, all available
resources to the customers.

01:26:09.180 --> 01:26:12.720
And especially when you
know, that more touring now,

01:26:12.720 --> 01:26:15.453
even more so now
there'll be a great need

01:26:15.453 --> 01:26:17.483
when the more tornadoes are lifted.

01:26:18.740 --> 01:26:22.170
So thank you, look
forward to the questions

01:26:22.170 --> 01:26:24.253
when we get to the Q&amp;A session.

01:26:25.570 --> 01:26:26.403
<v Amy>Great.</v>

01:26:34.590 --> 01:26:38.130
And with that we're gonna
turn it over to Val Martinez

01:26:38.130 --> 01:26:40.190
of Redwood Community Action Agency

01:26:41.330 --> 01:26:44.450
which is one of the local
service providers or LSP

01:26:44.450 --> 01:26:46.360
that Kathy was just mentioning,

01:26:46.360 --> 01:26:49.610
and that will give us a
little bit of a deeper look

01:26:49.610 --> 01:26:52.670
into actual interactions with customers

01:26:52.670 --> 01:26:53.953
via the LIHEAP program.

01:27:05.830 --> 01:27:08.630
Val Martinez if you
wanna unmute yourself.

01:27:08.630 --> 01:27:11.763
<v Val>There we go excuse
me, next slide please.</v>

01:27:14.580 --> 01:27:18.490
So be the role of the local
service providers changes

01:27:18.490 --> 01:27:20.933
in customer interactions since COVID.

01:27:21.950 --> 01:27:24.750
Providing some information
on customer feedback,

01:27:24.750 --> 01:27:27.230
energy use and their
ability to pay the bills,

01:27:27.230 --> 01:27:29.200
and touch slightly on the pilot

01:27:29.200 --> 01:27:32.600
that we're participating
with CSD and PG&amp;E

01:27:32.600 --> 01:27:37.011
to target services for
customers with high bills.

01:27:37.011 --> 01:27:37.911
Next slide please.

01:27:39.880 --> 01:27:42.250
So Kathy did a good job of describing

01:27:42.250 --> 01:27:45.197
the local service
provider network or LSPs,

01:27:45.197 --> 01:27:48.528
and we are a variety of
different types of agencies,

01:27:48.528 --> 01:27:51.400
community action
agencies, private nonprofits,

01:27:51.400 --> 01:27:55.680
local governmental
entities, and our role really is

01:27:55.680 --> 01:27:59.420
to provide outreach
education and enrollment

01:27:59.420 --> 01:28:02.130
for eligible low to moderate
income households

01:28:02.130 --> 01:28:04.600
for the program, and we
coordinate these services

01:28:04.600 --> 01:28:08.352
with the IOUs and the state to maintain,

01:28:08.352 --> 01:28:11.900
essential home heating
for eligible households.

01:28:11.900 --> 01:28:14.850
We also work with the
IOUs and non-regulated

01:28:14.850 --> 01:28:19.560
utility companies to purchase
the essential heating fuels

01:28:19.560 --> 01:28:23.560
and make payment arrangements
for client's energy bills,

01:28:23.560 --> 01:28:27.080
including a large
number of past due bills

01:28:27.080 --> 01:28:30.720
that are held on arrearage,
you assist these clients

01:28:30.720 --> 01:28:33.870
with the planning of, and
making payment arrangements

01:28:33.870 --> 01:28:37.410
to prevent termination,
and we coordinate services

01:28:37.410 --> 01:28:41.310
with the LIHEAP program,
in some instances in the past

01:28:41.310 --> 01:28:45.600
we've also had to require that
our clients make co-payments

01:28:45.600 --> 01:28:47.490
in order to maintain those services.

01:28:47.490 --> 01:28:50.000
So it's changed a lot
though, since COVID,

01:28:50.000 --> 01:28:51.563
so next slide, please.

01:28:56.980 --> 01:28:58.690
So Redwood has now changed the way

01:28:58.690 --> 01:29:00.270
that we deliver our services,

01:29:00.270 --> 01:29:02.860
we're primarily mail
in process right now.

01:29:02.860 --> 01:29:07.860
Whereas in the past 40
years, it's all been direct contact.

01:29:08.450 --> 01:29:11.550
We've had to implement
these safety precautions

01:29:11.550 --> 01:29:13.563
to protect ourselves and the public.

01:29:14.588 --> 01:29:16.270
We no longer hold our weekly outreach

01:29:16.270 --> 01:29:19.430
and education workshops in the office,

01:29:19.430 --> 01:29:22.860
or handle large volumes of
clients coming into the office

01:29:22.860 --> 01:29:24.643
with shut off notices for help.

01:29:25.700 --> 01:29:29.810
We can no longer implement
a robust outreach program

01:29:29.810 --> 01:29:32.909
which we did a lot of work
throughout the entire year,

01:29:32.909 --> 01:29:36.283
going out to local
reservations Rancherias,

01:29:36.283 --> 01:29:39.670
remote communities,
senior housing decks,

01:29:39.670 --> 01:29:42.860
we went out to where the
people needed to help them most,

01:29:42.860 --> 01:29:45.430
but that now has all been changed

01:29:45.430 --> 01:29:47.920
because of the advent of COVID.

01:29:47.920 --> 01:29:50.160
We now have to limit the
number of people coming

01:29:50.160 --> 01:29:52.980
into our office to initiate services

01:29:52.980 --> 01:29:56.105
because of social
distancing and the fact

01:29:56.105 --> 01:29:58.120
that we have a very small office.

01:29:58.120 --> 01:30:00.085
We're now finding that
we actually have to go out

01:30:00.085 --> 01:30:05.085
and reach out for these folks
rather than having to go out

01:30:05.312 --> 01:30:08.963
and wait for them or go out
and do our outreach services.

01:30:10.050 --> 01:30:12.090
So it's really changed the
way that we do business.

01:30:12.090 --> 01:30:13.223
Next slide please.

01:30:15.880 --> 01:30:18.490
So the number of people
calling and I thought

01:30:18.490 --> 01:30:20.930
that was really interesting
cause CSTs experience

01:30:20.930 --> 01:30:23.080
at their call centers very different,

01:30:23.080 --> 01:30:26.448
our experience with the advent of COVID

01:30:26.448 --> 01:30:29.750
and the shelter in
place orders are called

01:30:29.750 --> 01:30:33.270
into our office that drop by 80%.

01:30:33.270 --> 01:30:35.830
And I actually think
it was closer to 90%,

01:30:35.830 --> 01:30:38.670
I think my staff, when I
asked them this question

01:30:38.670 --> 01:30:41.200
we're thinking more into
current rather than the past.

01:30:41.200 --> 01:30:43.370
Because as the joke goes,

01:30:43.370 --> 01:30:45.860
it was like crickets in the office.

01:30:45.860 --> 01:30:48.430
No one was calling,
no one was coming in,

01:30:48.430 --> 01:30:52.200
everyone was staying home,
clients were more focused

01:30:52.200 --> 01:30:54.940
on the virus and we
were afraid to go out,

01:30:54.940 --> 01:30:57.080
they were afraid to even go out

01:30:57.080 --> 01:30:58.780
and gather the required information

01:30:58.780 --> 01:31:00.870
or complete their applications,

01:31:00.870 --> 01:31:03.520
which has really slowed
down the process.

01:31:03.520 --> 01:31:07.530
Initially it was partially
impacted by the fact

01:31:07.530 --> 01:31:09.640
that governmental offices and the places

01:31:09.640 --> 01:31:11.980
where they could normally
go and get the information

01:31:11.980 --> 01:31:15.027
that was required to
complete their application

01:31:15.027 --> 01:31:17.620
and verify their income were closed.

01:31:17.620 --> 01:31:19.830
Now they're up and
running, but there's still

01:31:19.830 --> 01:31:22.715
that fear of going out and in some parts

01:31:22.715 --> 01:31:26.670
of California as well,
there's huge spikes

01:31:27.527 --> 01:31:29.540
in the number of
cases that are occurring

01:31:29.540 --> 01:31:32.300
and people are very much afraid,

01:31:32.300 --> 01:31:34.927
we're no longer getting
the calls from sister agencies

01:31:34.927 --> 01:31:38.880
and local level, referring
people with a shut off notices

01:31:38.880 --> 01:31:40.783
to us because of the moratorium,

01:31:41.800 --> 01:31:44.330
and this used to take place frequently,

01:31:44.330 --> 01:31:47.120
we worked a little bit
in tribes, we worked

01:31:47.120 --> 01:31:50.190
with Indian Tanach,
who was the South clinics

01:31:50.190 --> 01:31:54.560
programs, welfare department
would send people to us.

01:31:54.560 --> 01:31:57.830
We have a lot of strong
collaborative partners

01:31:57.830 --> 01:32:01.600
that provide us leads,
clients are aware that

01:32:01.600 --> 01:32:02.850
they're not getting shut off

01:32:02.850 --> 01:32:04.550
but they're not quite
making the connection

01:32:04.550 --> 01:32:07.180
with the moratorium, but the net result

01:32:07.180 --> 01:32:09.703
is they've stopped
worrying about that bill,

01:32:10.570 --> 01:32:11.653
next slide, please.

01:32:14.550 --> 01:32:18.600
<v ->So the virus, as I mentioned
on the top of everyone's mind</v>

01:32:18.600 --> 01:32:21.210
and these we're hearing
this over and over again,

01:32:21.210 --> 01:32:23.000
that along with the wildfires,

01:32:23.000 --> 01:32:26.547
and we had a number of
wildfires in our County this summer,

01:32:26.547 --> 01:32:29.140
and that was tracking
throughout California.

01:32:29.140 --> 01:32:33.260
So wildfires the virus,
the uncertainty, the teacher

01:32:33.260 --> 01:32:35.880
people are really
kind of hot in the cross

01:32:35.880 --> 01:32:39.208
was they really don't
quite know what to do.

01:32:39.208 --> 01:32:41.640
We have a growing number
of clients who are now

01:32:41.640 --> 01:32:44.250
starting to contact us with
the change in the weather,

01:32:44.250 --> 01:32:45.800
it's getting colder.

01:32:45.800 --> 01:32:47.867
Laura has mentioned the
fact that there were down

01:32:47.867 --> 01:32:51.440
in the 30s and Fresno
were in the 30s and humble

01:32:51.440 --> 01:32:54.660
in Eureka, which is unusual
for us this time of the year.

01:32:54.660 --> 01:32:56.930
Cause that's pretty cool pretty early.

01:32:56.930 --> 01:32:58.670
But they're worried
about their energy bills,

01:32:58.670 --> 01:33:00.750
they're worried about rent.

01:33:00.750 --> 01:33:03.570
We are getting quality about water bills

01:33:03.570 --> 01:33:08.490
and we are seeing about 30%
new people into our program.

01:33:08.490 --> 01:33:10.680
People who previously didn't come to us,

01:33:10.680 --> 01:33:14.460
whether it's because they're
underemployed or unemployed

01:33:14.460 --> 01:33:16.330
or they now they find themselves

01:33:16.330 --> 01:33:18.500
in a position where
they do you need help,

01:33:18.500 --> 01:33:21.790
they're calling us, the
majority of the clients

01:33:21.790 --> 01:33:23.630
who are calling though as I mentioned,

01:33:23.630 --> 01:33:26.860
they're not really aware
of the more 20 per se

01:33:26.860 --> 01:33:30.440
or the fact that it's
going to be expiring April,

01:33:30.440 --> 01:33:34.173
and so they're really not
prepared to deal with the gyms.

01:33:35.040 --> 01:33:37.880
Some of the clients say
they don't know what to do

01:33:37.880 --> 01:33:39.920
and they have no plan,

01:33:39.920 --> 01:33:42.880
I was listening to a
senior home specialist

01:33:42.880 --> 01:33:46.960
who works primarily with
clients who are 70 and above

01:33:46.960 --> 01:33:51.960
and home-bound, I was
listening to a conversation she had

01:33:53.240 --> 01:33:55.570
with a 93 year old lady
and the woman called

01:33:55.570 --> 01:33:56.810
she was getting fives and stuff.

01:33:56.810 --> 01:33:58.790
She had a bill, it was
a couple months old.

01:33:58.790 --> 01:34:01.400
She wasn't sure what to do.

01:34:01.400 --> 01:34:04.737
She was worried about
what her future health held,

01:34:04.737 --> 01:34:06.856
she said, "I don't really
have a plan on calling you

01:34:06.856 --> 01:34:09.562
for help, 'cause I just
don't know what to do."

01:34:09.562 --> 01:34:11.011
And that's kind of
consistent with people

01:34:11.011 --> 01:34:12.594
who are calling us.

01:34:14.779 --> 01:34:17.002
Basically, the many of the
households that was she

01:34:17.002 --> 01:34:19.620
she this as a respite
period the people notice

01:34:19.620 --> 01:34:21.950
that they're not
getting shut off notices.

01:34:21.950 --> 01:34:23.816
And some of these
people are using this time

01:34:23.816 --> 01:34:27.398
as a bill balancing tool,
they're paying off some

01:34:27.398 --> 01:34:29.880
of their other non-energy
bills that are critical

01:34:29.880 --> 01:34:32.256
like rent so they can't afford to pay,

01:34:32.256 --> 01:34:33.530
so they're doing that.

01:34:33.530 --> 01:34:36.140
They're looking at other
bills that need to be paid,

01:34:36.140 --> 01:34:39.370
right now because PG&amp;E
is not shutting off in our area

01:34:39.370 --> 01:34:41.890
and they're not
issuing shut off notices,

01:34:41.890 --> 01:34:44.130
that's seen as something
that can be put in a bay

01:34:44.130 --> 01:34:47.396
and we'll deal with that when
they have to deal with that.

01:34:47.396 --> 01:34:51.640
So one senior referred
to it as a breather,

01:34:51.640 --> 01:34:53.143
this is giving me a breather.

01:34:54.199 --> 01:34:56.830
And when you're living
on SSI or social security

01:34:56.830 --> 01:35:00.420
or fixed income tasks,
and you're doing everything

01:35:00.420 --> 01:35:03.560
you can possibly
do to pay all your bills

01:35:03.560 --> 01:35:06.820
to keep your family safe,
to keep your family close

01:35:06.820 --> 01:35:11.460
and housed during this time
and try to have a decent life.

01:35:11.460 --> 01:35:14.250
It's hard to keep all the bills covered.

01:35:14.250 --> 01:35:16.300
So this period has
been used as a breather

01:35:16.300 --> 01:35:19.860
by all the populations,
generally speaking.

01:35:19.860 --> 01:35:22.960
And so many of these
households to dealing with it,

01:35:22.960 --> 01:35:25.170
but they're putting it
as bands and they know

01:35:25.170 --> 01:35:27.290
that they'll have to deal with it later.

01:35:27.290 --> 01:35:31.000
Roughly speaking
though, even with that said

01:35:31.000 --> 01:35:33.790
by half the population
that we're serving right now

01:35:33.790 --> 01:35:36.220
are viewing this as such,

01:35:36.220 --> 01:35:38.280
but are still trying to make payments.

01:35:38.280 --> 01:35:40.580
They may still have those
arrearages, but they're trying

01:35:40.580 --> 01:35:42.760
to stay current with their bills.

01:35:42.760 --> 01:35:44.750
Our education with them is if

01:35:44.750 --> 01:35:46.330
you're gonna make payment arrangements

01:35:46.330 --> 01:35:49.070
or if you're gonna have these bills

01:35:49.070 --> 01:35:50.300
you make your payment arrangements,

01:35:50.300 --> 01:35:53.690
pay what you can don't offer the payment

01:35:53.690 --> 01:35:56.820
for them what you can in
order to make them feel better

01:35:56.820 --> 01:35:59.410
or to make the utility
company feel like they're gonna

01:35:59.410 --> 01:36:01.540
work with you more if you can pay more,

01:36:01.540 --> 01:36:03.130
make sure that you pay your bill

01:36:03.130 --> 01:36:05.220
make sure that you pay it on time

01:36:05.220 --> 01:36:07.077
and make sure that
you're consistent with it

01:36:07.077 --> 01:36:08.813
and that you can afford it.

01:36:10.400 --> 01:36:14.020
But like I said, 50/50 path
say they can go ahead.

01:36:14.020 --> 01:36:15.960
And they're trying hard right now

01:36:15.960 --> 01:36:17.990
to make their bill payments.

01:36:17.990 --> 01:36:20.510
As the other half
are just letting it slide.

01:36:20.510 --> 01:36:23.590
And as one person put
it they're riding the wave

01:36:23.590 --> 01:36:24.690
until they have to do.

01:36:25.790 --> 01:36:27.940
And that's kind of what's
happening right there

01:36:27.940 --> 01:36:30.107
that we're seeing out in the field

01:36:30.107 --> 01:36:33.890
and to that in to try to help
people with their arrearages

01:36:33.890 --> 01:36:34.840
next slide, please.

01:36:39.460 --> 01:36:43.590
We're working with PG&amp;E
and the state of a pilot project.

01:36:43.590 --> 01:36:45.810
Redwood was one of the
agencies who volunteered

01:36:45.810 --> 01:36:48.180
to be part of this, and
we've received a list

01:36:48.180 --> 01:36:53.180
of about 317 clients, and
we're targeting from that list

01:36:53.410 --> 01:36:57.000
finance with bills that
are $2,000 or less.

01:36:57.000 --> 01:37:00.770
Other 317 clients last bill was $40,

01:37:00.770 --> 01:37:05.770
highest bill was
$20,000, 991 and 2 cents.

01:37:07.836 --> 01:37:09.790
Now that's an outrageous amount.

01:37:09.790 --> 01:37:14.790
So 77% were below
2016% were a below 4,000

01:37:18.581 --> 01:37:20.690
the balance or within that higher range.

01:37:20.690 --> 01:37:22.290
Some of these folks in the higher range

01:37:22.290 --> 01:37:24.840
I don't know how that's
ever going to be like that,

01:37:25.690 --> 01:37:26.920
but we'll see.

01:37:26.920 --> 01:37:28.680
Our goal is to work with the people

01:37:28.680 --> 01:37:32.530
that we can afford to help,
through either combination

01:37:32.530 --> 01:37:34.993
of payment plans, combining
the energy programs

01:37:34.993 --> 01:37:38.650
that we currently have
CARES and our regular LIHEAP

01:37:38.650 --> 01:37:42.000
soon we'll have the 2021 LIHEAP.

01:37:42.000 --> 01:37:44.310
Our goal is to get them out of the hole,

01:37:44.310 --> 01:37:47.070
we wanna make them whole
so they can have a fresh start

01:37:47.070 --> 01:37:51.040
and try to keep up with
bills as they come along.

01:37:51.040 --> 01:37:53.347
Our clients, as I mentioned
earlier educated stay current

01:37:53.347 --> 01:37:57.250
on the bill, them
it's going to be lifted,

01:37:57.250 --> 01:37:58.880
so you need to be mindful of that.

01:37:58.880 --> 01:38:02.340
The breather periods going
to inches a day of the wave.

01:38:02.340 --> 01:38:03.750
And if you make a payment plan,

01:38:03.750 --> 01:38:06.300
make sure you've been
for it, make sure you pay it.

01:38:07.210 --> 01:38:10.283
I think that this is a
very helpful approach,

01:38:11.376 --> 01:38:14.960
I would recommend this
expansion with a few changes

01:38:14.960 --> 01:38:16.590
to improve its success.

01:38:16.590 --> 01:38:18.392
One of the problems that we have,

01:38:18.392 --> 01:38:20.520
and I was really
interested in hearing earlier

01:38:20.520 --> 01:38:23.330
about the scams, because my clients

01:38:23.330 --> 01:38:25.960
are staff received this list.

01:38:25.960 --> 01:38:28.610
But to my knowledge there was no letter

01:38:28.610 --> 01:38:31.260
from the utility company,
introducing the fact

01:38:31.260 --> 01:38:34.180
that we were going to be
contacting their customers

01:38:34.180 --> 01:38:36.736
and that they had provided a list.

01:38:36.736 --> 01:38:38.900
So we started calling, there
was a great deal of resistance

01:38:38.900 --> 01:38:40.090
and people were hanging up on us

01:38:40.090 --> 01:38:42.850
'cause they thought we were
one of the PG&amp;E scammers,

01:38:42.850 --> 01:38:45.277
and they didn't really
want to listen to staff

01:38:45.277 --> 01:38:47.663
or participate in the program.

01:38:48.749 --> 01:38:51.612
So we're able to convince
them that this is not the case,

01:38:51.612 --> 01:38:55.160
we still are finding that
there there's a slowness

01:38:55.160 --> 01:38:58.259
in returning paper
work and there's not that,

01:38:58.259 --> 01:39:02.290
even though they're in a
high bill stress situation,

01:39:02.290 --> 01:39:05.340
there's still a bit of
slowness to the turnaround

01:39:05.340 --> 01:39:07.150
and getting the information in.

01:39:07.150 --> 01:39:09.370
So I think that it'd be really important

01:39:09.370 --> 01:39:12.880
for you to at least
communicate the more twine lift

01:39:12.880 --> 01:39:14.820
that will be coming,
the fact that, you know,

01:39:14.820 --> 01:39:16.850
they wanna work with
some, who wanna work

01:39:16.850 --> 01:39:20.910
with the local service providers
and help them get ahead

01:39:20.910 --> 01:39:24.757
of a wave and that this
is a legitimate program

01:39:24.757 --> 01:39:27.260
and that they should be
working with us to help

01:39:27.260 --> 01:39:29.623
in a speedy manner to
get out of the situation.

01:39:30.600 --> 01:39:32.350
One of the things and
I would offer in terms

01:39:32.350 --> 01:39:34.130
of improving its success,

01:39:34.130 --> 01:39:36.693
we had one client who had a very bill.

01:39:37.584 --> 01:39:40.800
She was on a paperless payment program,

01:39:40.800 --> 01:39:44.240
so she hadn't been cheating,
a bill and everything was email

01:39:44.240 --> 01:39:46.446
and it just totally went by her.

01:39:46.446 --> 01:39:49.488
And I think she had like a $4,000 bill.

01:39:49.488 --> 01:39:51.020
So in her mind, she
wasn't getting built,

01:39:51.020 --> 01:39:54.008
so she didn't have a bill to pay.

01:39:54.008 --> 01:39:56.300
So even with the paperless
people I think that they need

01:39:56.300 --> 01:40:00.600
to do something, some
prompts after silver rush

01:40:00.600 --> 01:40:02.810
to help them keep this in mind

01:40:02.810 --> 01:40:05.880
in order to combat the things
from slipping out of hand.

01:40:05.880 --> 01:40:08.132
So I think that would be that,

01:40:08.132 --> 01:40:09.270
and there's a couple other suggestions.

01:40:09.270 --> 01:40:12.103
One of the things I mentioned
earlier in the chat was that,

01:40:12.103 --> 01:40:15.070
people who can't
qualify for CARE currently

01:40:15.070 --> 01:40:17.240
because the bill is not in their name

01:40:17.240 --> 01:40:19.640
I think the Commission
on the utility should consider

01:40:19.640 --> 01:40:22.740
something the effect that
will allow them to participate

01:40:22.740 --> 01:40:23.640
in those programs.

01:40:25.570 --> 01:40:26.980
And the last thing I like to offer,

01:40:26.980 --> 01:40:28.800
I strongly recommend the formation

01:40:28.800 --> 01:40:31.500
of an ad hoc stakeholders committee,

01:40:31.500 --> 01:40:34.753
comprised of representatives
of the IOUs state,

01:40:35.653 --> 01:40:40.460
the CPC, the LSTs access
which is a Statewide association

01:40:40.460 --> 01:40:43.740
of network of energy providers involved

01:40:43.740 --> 01:40:46.860
in these utility programs, Cal capital,

01:40:46.860 --> 01:40:50.040
which is a Statewide
association of action agencies

01:40:50.040 --> 01:40:54.970
and Fern as others to assist
the low-income customers.

01:40:54.970 --> 01:40:58.290
So working together to
come up with a proactive plan

01:40:58.290 --> 01:41:00.950
to head off, or at least find some way

01:41:00.950 --> 01:41:04.650
to mitigate the impacts
of the impending lift

01:41:04.650 --> 01:41:07.545
of a moratorium, and
the sooner that we can

01:41:07.545 --> 01:41:09.600
do something together,
the sooner we can come up

01:41:09.600 --> 01:41:14.172
with some solutions that
will help lower that impact.

01:41:14.172 --> 01:41:16.247
So those are my comments, and thank you.

01:41:17.280 --> 01:41:19.530
<v ->Great, thank you so much, Val.</v>

01:41:19.530 --> 01:41:22.700
Thank you so much to all
the panelists for your remarks.

01:41:22.700 --> 01:41:25.940
We just have a few minutes,
so I actually want to open it up

01:41:25.940 --> 01:41:29.933
to the Commissioners for any
questions that you might have.

01:41:33.330 --> 01:41:35.040
<v ->This is Commissioner Randolph.</v>

01:41:35.040 --> 01:41:39.543
I have a quick question for
feeding that's been provided not

01:41:46.260 --> 01:41:50.563
by the IRS like propane
and other providers,

01:41:51.415 --> 01:41:54.850
Do Lourdes serval have any indication

01:41:54.850 --> 01:41:58.370
whether those service
providers are making any efforts

01:41:58.370 --> 01:42:02.770
to work with their customers
particularly those who may be

01:42:02.770 --> 01:42:05.060
on the edge of qualifying for LIHEAP,

01:42:05.060 --> 01:42:10.060
but may still need some
assistance or some, you know,

01:42:10.320 --> 01:42:13.690
flexibility with regard to
payments to refill their tanks

01:42:13.690 --> 01:42:16.193
or other other needs.

01:42:18.215 --> 01:42:19.315
<v ->Not to my knowledge.</v>

01:42:20.290 --> 01:42:22.270
To my knowledge the way that

01:42:23.549 --> 01:42:25.660
the non-regulated
utilities work is essentially

01:42:25.660 --> 01:42:29.854
in my opinion, a five,
there, there are no rules.

01:42:29.854 --> 01:42:33.500
There are no regulations
that guide how they're talking

01:42:33.500 --> 01:42:36.780
to other sister agencies who
work with those populations

01:42:36.780 --> 01:42:39.483
that are serviced by
kerosene propane, that type,

01:42:40.490 --> 01:42:43.670
it's up to the individual
service provider meaning

01:42:43.670 --> 01:42:47.370
the local utility, how
they wanna run it.

01:42:47.370 --> 01:42:50.250
I've heard some are
really great to work with,

01:42:50.250 --> 01:42:52.560
I've heard some horror stories.

01:42:52.560 --> 01:42:57.120
Even within my County, I
have several service providers,

01:42:57.120 --> 01:42:59.330
several easier to work with other,

01:42:59.330 --> 01:43:01.563
all of them are aware
of us, and some of them

01:43:01.563 --> 01:43:03.780
have actually been working proactively

01:43:03.780 --> 01:43:06.120
to send their customers to us,

01:43:06.120 --> 01:43:09.269
to ask us about CARES
funding when the CARES funding

01:43:09.269 --> 01:43:11.870
was coming into place, if
we can help their customers

01:43:11.870 --> 01:43:13.640
a second time during the year.

01:43:13.640 --> 01:43:15.950
Many of them have
the customers at heart,

01:43:15.950 --> 01:43:18.690
and they're really concerned
about them, but I'm not aware

01:43:18.690 --> 01:43:21.570
of any special programs
that are being made available

01:43:21.570 --> 01:43:25.130
to them and that others
are equally concerned

01:43:25.130 --> 01:43:26.330
about their livelihood,

01:43:26.330 --> 01:43:28.800
and I think that's a
valid concern as well,

01:43:28.800 --> 01:43:31.050
but I'm not aware of
any special programs,

01:43:31.050 --> 01:43:33.450
or extensions of private
that are being offered.

01:43:36.901 --> 01:43:39.830
<v ->This is Lourdes, I
would agree with Val.</v>

01:43:39.830 --> 01:43:44.830
I actually had two people
out in the really Orosi area

01:43:45.200 --> 01:43:47.720
which is mostly where they
harvest oranges and so forth.

01:43:47.720 --> 01:43:50.918
And they use the propane
off the gas company.

01:43:50.918 --> 01:43:55.918
The customer service itself
to try to find some assistance

01:43:57.520 --> 01:44:00.460
or programs or any help they could give,

01:44:00.460 --> 01:44:04.790
to the client Ms. Sarah,
like, no, they got to pay.

01:44:04.790 --> 01:44:07.280
And I almost felt like we were
being bullied into nowhere,

01:44:07.280 --> 01:44:09.520
she could borrow money
or she could find something

01:44:09.520 --> 01:44:12.880
that you gotta pay, there was no lineage

01:44:12.880 --> 01:44:16.280
or any consideration
or even human quality

01:44:16.280 --> 01:44:18.890
to that conversation,
it was very upsetting.

01:44:18.890 --> 01:44:21.020
And we actually had
to do a little fundraiser

01:44:21.020 --> 01:44:24.460
between friends to help
that, so that they would not

01:44:24.460 --> 01:44:26.210
be disconnected from their propane.

01:44:27.950 --> 01:44:30.000
<v ->Yeah, thank you
for that information.</v>

01:44:30.000 --> 01:44:31.700
That's definitely sort of a gap

01:44:31.700 --> 01:44:34.860
in our state regulatory framework

01:44:34.860 --> 01:44:38.733
that we don't have
the ability to deal with.

01:44:39.664 --> 01:44:42.220
<v ->And the other one would
be the water and partly,</v>

01:44:42.220 --> 01:44:45.730
or the city of partly or
not only was the way

01:44:45.730 --> 01:44:48.600
of paying for it, more
difficult because a lot

01:44:48.600 --> 01:44:52.179
of the community members
didn't have credit cards

01:44:52.179 --> 01:44:55.380
or debit cards or bank cards to be able

01:44:55.380 --> 01:44:57.340
to make that transaction.

01:44:57.340 --> 01:44:59.650
Some had some people borrow their card,

01:44:59.650 --> 01:45:01.750
so they went and bought, you know,

01:45:01.750 --> 01:45:05.020
the temporary credit cards,
or I forgot what they're called

01:45:05.020 --> 01:45:08.690
but they would end up losing
money to dating, understand

01:45:08.690 --> 01:45:11.500
that the card came with
an annual fee or something,

01:45:11.500 --> 01:45:13.060
I don't understand myself.

01:45:13.060 --> 01:45:15.160
And so that was upsetting
because they would lose

01:45:15.160 --> 01:45:17.790
their money and trying
to pay for their water bill,

01:45:17.790 --> 01:45:21.710
and then they're part Parlier,
they're not Indian at all.

01:45:21.710 --> 01:45:25.800
They were disconnected 501,
and if they hadn't already paid

01:45:25.800 --> 01:45:27.830
I don't even know
how they moved so fast.

01:45:27.830 --> 01:45:31.473
But I guess I dunno, it's
upsetting about those utilities.

01:45:33.310 --> 01:45:35.620
<v ->Yeah, we've also had
experienced in some other areas</v>

01:45:35.620 --> 01:45:39.670
where the water bill and the
energy bill are tied together

01:45:39.670 --> 01:45:41.907
so you could get terminated for one,

01:45:41.907 --> 01:45:43.643
and it would affect the other.

01:45:44.532 --> 01:45:46.520
We've seen that on a
number of communities

01:45:46.520 --> 01:45:47.910
throughout California, fortunately,

01:45:47.910 --> 01:45:49.930
I don't have to deal
with it in my community,

01:45:49.930 --> 01:45:52.347
but there has been a
growing concern about that,

01:45:52.347 --> 01:45:55.050
and there has been some
discussion on the federal level

01:45:55.050 --> 01:45:59.710
of coming up with a water
equivalent to LIHEAP.

01:45:59.710 --> 01:46:02.850
And there's been some
discussion with the water association

01:46:02.850 --> 01:46:05.740
on initial discussion between them

01:46:05.740 --> 01:46:09.580
or community action
association about the potential

01:46:09.580 --> 01:46:14.500
of discussing some type of
water LIHEAP type program.

01:46:14.500 --> 01:46:18.900
And I would encourage
the Commission to talk

01:46:18.900 --> 01:46:23.900
to the water folks and
if that's appropriate

01:46:23.960 --> 01:46:27.560
and encourage them to do so,
because that affects everyone,

01:46:27.560 --> 01:46:30.130
and particularly the low income people

01:46:30.130 --> 01:46:34.001
who are marginally employed
or unemployed at this time

01:46:34.001 --> 01:46:36.480
because of the virus, I just
want to add one more comment,

01:46:36.480 --> 01:46:39.360
and that was a Lourdes
(audio distorting) and that was,

01:46:41.021 --> 01:46:43.840
we're seeing more and more
multi-generational families

01:46:43.840 --> 01:46:48.070
coming to us for help,
people who lost their jobs

01:46:48.070 --> 01:46:50.010
or the parents or the grandparents.

01:46:50.010 --> 01:46:52.620
In our case mostly
grandparents are bringing

01:46:52.620 --> 01:46:54.460
the younger ones back into the house

01:46:54.460 --> 01:46:58.760
because they're afraid of
the children getting the virus,

01:46:58.760 --> 01:47:00.460
and they would rather protect them

01:47:00.460 --> 01:47:05.220
and suffer through hardship
than risk losing family members.

01:47:05.220 --> 01:47:07.870
And we're seeing that more
and more in our community.

01:47:13.460 --> 01:47:15.630
<v ->This is Commissioner
Rechtschaffen.</v>

01:47:15.630 --> 01:47:18.700
We are very much
focused on those efforts

01:47:18.700 --> 01:47:22.150
to try to get more assistance
to the water customers.

01:47:22.150 --> 01:47:26.260
And yeah, we tried to get
LIHEAP provision into federal law,

01:47:26.260 --> 01:47:29.317
both with other water utilities here

01:47:29.317 --> 01:47:32.630
and through the national association

01:47:32.630 --> 01:47:36.240
of regulatory Commission, excuse me,

01:47:36.240 --> 01:47:38.930
their efforts to try to
influence federal policy

01:47:38.930 --> 01:47:41.480
in that direction, we don't
know how likely that is

01:47:41.480 --> 01:47:44.970
but certainly something
that's very much on our radar.

01:47:44.970 --> 01:47:49.970
I had a question for Kathy,
could you give any more detail

01:47:50.270 --> 01:47:52.080
on the number of
customers that you provide

01:47:52.080 --> 01:47:53.553
to battery assistance to?

01:47:54.922 --> 01:47:57.589
(phone ringing)

01:48:02.430 --> 01:48:05.420
<v ->You know, I don't have
that data in front of me</v>

01:48:05.420 --> 01:48:10.420
but I do know that we started
the program earlier this year

01:48:11.208 --> 01:48:16.060
sort of, you know, before
COVID efforts were put together

01:48:16.060 --> 01:48:20.400
to start a program, the pilot
program to start distributing

01:48:20.400 --> 01:48:25.270
you know, battery power,
backup devices to customers.

01:48:25.270 --> 01:48:27.853
But I certainly can
get that data to you,

01:48:28.909 --> 01:48:30.740
it's in the early stages,

01:48:30.740 --> 01:48:33.200
I know that we're
providing support for that,

01:48:33.200 --> 01:48:37.920
and I know that also teaching
is piloting a similar program

01:48:37.920 --> 01:48:41.333
with some LSPs at their level as well.

01:48:42.870 --> 01:48:45.760
So I never had it through the pilot.

01:48:45.760 --> 01:48:48.880
You know, we're just
trying to gather information

01:48:48.880 --> 01:48:52.340
because we have learned is
definitely customer education

01:48:52.340 --> 01:48:56.770
is key, so the customer
understands how to use the battery,

01:48:56.770 --> 01:49:00.540
the fact that the battery,
you know, is really intended

01:49:00.540 --> 01:49:01.930
for those essential needs

01:49:01.930 --> 01:49:04.900
to keep their medical
devices operational

01:49:04.900 --> 01:49:09.900
during the shutoff events,
and so just trying to ensure

01:49:10.500 --> 01:49:13.550
that you know, there's
follow up to make sure

01:49:13.550 --> 01:49:16.190
that they understand,
you know, how to use it,

01:49:16.190 --> 01:49:17.253
how to charge it.

01:49:18.610 --> 01:49:23.610
<v ->If I may add a comment
to that, we're participating</v>

01:49:24.130 --> 01:49:26.300
in that pilot, both on
the teaching PG&amp;E side

01:49:26.300 --> 01:49:30.540
and on the state side,
we've installed about 75 units

01:49:30.540 --> 01:49:32.610
into the PG&amp;E pilot project,

01:49:32.610 --> 01:49:35.900
we have another 50
units we'll be installing

01:49:35.900 --> 01:49:38.550
under the state program.

01:49:38.550 --> 01:49:39.800
And I wanna thank Kathy and the state,

01:49:39.800 --> 01:49:42.200
and then we've expanded the program

01:49:42.200 --> 01:49:46.520
to also include air purifiers
because of the high smoke

01:49:46.520 --> 01:49:48.930
and all the problems
with the folks are having

01:49:48.930 --> 01:49:52.990
with the air quality
being so poor as a result

01:49:52.990 --> 01:49:54.805
of the fires we're working

01:49:54.805 --> 01:49:57.910
with Hoopa Valley Indian front of it.

01:49:57.910 --> 01:50:00.848
This time we're going to
be doing outreach this week

01:50:00.848 --> 01:50:05.140
installing air purifiers of
the homes of folks of COVID

01:50:05.140 --> 01:50:08.010
and as well as those folks
who have been identified

01:50:08.010 --> 01:50:11.350
as having high risk
of respiratory issues.

01:50:11.350 --> 01:50:14.500
But I think Kathy and
the state for allowing us

01:50:14.500 --> 01:50:17.523
to expand the program to include that.

01:50:19.958 --> 01:50:21.553
<v ->Thank you Kathy.</v>

01:50:21.553 --> 01:50:24.720
(indistinct)

01:50:24.720 --> 01:50:26.207
<v ->Yeah absolutely, thank you.</v>

01:50:28.750 --> 01:50:31.560
<v ->I just wanted to add
something I've thought of</v>

01:50:31.560 --> 01:50:34.780
so we're speaking and
looking at the presentation

01:50:34.780 --> 01:50:38.310
that Nam customers
are gonna get their bill

01:50:38.310 --> 01:50:40.770
at the end of the year, most
of the ones that I know of,

01:50:40.770 --> 01:50:43.560
will be getting them this
November and December.

01:50:43.560 --> 01:50:46.100
So I don't know how
that is going to be looking

01:50:46.100 --> 01:50:49.300
if we're looking at that
data to come in in some way

01:50:49.300 --> 01:50:52.475
of how solar clients who are Nam,

01:50:52.475 --> 01:50:54.250
I still don't understand all that stuff

01:50:54.250 --> 01:50:56.610
but how's that bill gonna look, you know

01:50:56.610 --> 01:50:59.080
because where they rely on
so much that they were on solar

01:50:59.080 --> 01:51:02.210
and they don't generate
enough energy there we're

01:51:02.210 --> 01:51:06.155
at peak hour usage
with their regular IOUs.

01:51:06.155 --> 01:51:07.760
So that's going to be
kind of tremendous too

01:51:07.760 --> 01:51:10.660
to see how we're going to be
reach out to those customers.

01:51:16.290 --> 01:51:21.180
<v ->Thank you, this has
been very extremely helpful.</v>

01:51:21.180 --> 01:51:26.180
I first wanna thank
Kathy for level-setting us

01:51:26.630 --> 01:51:30.420
and reminding us that
even with our optimization

01:51:30.420 --> 01:51:33.300
of partnering with CSD were only able

01:51:33.300 --> 01:51:37.800
to meet 6% of the customer need.

01:51:37.800 --> 01:51:40.580
And I guess for me,
that reinforces the need

01:51:40.580 --> 01:51:45.580
to really have a focus
on the payment plans,

01:51:46.250 --> 01:51:49.430
and the partnerships
with that we can facilitate

01:51:49.430 --> 01:51:52.960
between utilities and their customers.

01:51:52.960 --> 01:51:57.960
And although LIHEAP is a for
sure, lifesaver for many folks,

01:51:58.600 --> 01:52:01.310
it's really critical for
us to do what we can

01:52:01.310 --> 01:52:03.713
within our jurisdiction.

01:52:05.893 --> 01:52:08.150
And that number is actually much smaller

01:52:08.150 --> 01:52:11.923
than what I recall it, so it is
another reality check there.

01:52:13.220 --> 01:52:17.610
And I'm interested in your
thoughts on what you envision

01:52:17.610 --> 01:52:20.500
with the ad hoc stakeholder committee.

01:52:20.500 --> 01:52:24.520
I think, you know, one
thing that was said by Lulu

01:52:24.520 --> 01:52:27.060
which is concerning is
this notion that there's still

01:52:27.060 --> 01:52:30.820
the utilities are still
requiring a down payment

01:52:30.820 --> 01:52:33.960
for participating in a payment plan

01:52:33.960 --> 01:52:38.960
which is no longer allowed
the utilities certainly can try

01:52:40.990 --> 01:52:43.400
to negotiate that as part
of their payment plan,

01:52:43.400 --> 01:52:46.540
but it's a customer can not do that,

01:52:46.540 --> 01:52:50.120
they must still be offered
a 12 month payment plan

01:52:50.120 --> 01:52:53.480
at minimum, again, before
disconnecting of course,

01:52:53.480 --> 01:52:56.210
with the (indistinct)
and that's not an option.

01:52:56.210 --> 01:53:00.170
So there's all these incidentally,

01:53:00.170 --> 01:53:02.220
I think this is another
reason why we need

01:53:02.220 --> 01:53:05.150
a very clear citation program
because as these rules

01:53:05.150 --> 01:53:06.530
are evolving we need to make sure

01:53:06.530 --> 01:53:08.680
they're all being implemented,

01:53:08.680 --> 01:53:11.430
uniformly across the utilities.

01:53:11.430 --> 01:53:15.940
But you know, this
kind of a situ situation

01:53:15.940 --> 01:53:19.457
where maybe an ad hoc
committee can trouble

01:53:19.457 --> 01:53:23.840
you know, be kind
of the area for working

01:53:23.840 --> 01:53:26.190
to these inconsistencies.

01:53:26.190 --> 01:53:30.080
<v ->I would agree so, I
strongly believe that</v>

01:53:30.080 --> 01:53:33.650
there's the opportunity here,
I know the recent discussion

01:53:33.650 --> 01:53:36.660
the energy council
was CSD, the director,

01:53:36.660 --> 01:53:39.510
chief director as well as Kathy,

01:53:39.510 --> 01:53:43.240
discussion focused on
how do we deal with this,

01:53:43.240 --> 01:53:45.360
I know there's discussions
that are taking place

01:53:45.360 --> 01:53:50.360
between PG&amp;E and SSD
as well as the other IOUs

01:53:50.600 --> 01:53:53.000
and the discussions that
we're having are great.

01:53:53.000 --> 01:53:55.680
But I think that the third
leg of the stool now needs

01:53:55.680 --> 01:53:58.807
to be part of the discussion
that theme, the LSPs

01:53:58.807 --> 01:54:03.090
and other stakeholders,
such as term, who work closely

01:54:03.090 --> 01:54:06.096
in this organization who work closely

01:54:06.096 --> 01:54:08.381
with the target population.

01:54:08.381 --> 01:54:10.490
And some of the things that
we can learn from that I think

01:54:10.490 --> 01:54:13.820
can be extended out
to the larger population

01:54:13.820 --> 01:54:18.210
and inform the policies and
inform how the implementation

01:54:18.210 --> 01:54:21.020
of the programs take
place in communities

01:54:21.020 --> 01:54:22.640
throughout California.

01:54:22.640 --> 01:54:26.270
But I think those discussions
it's timely situation,

01:54:26.270 --> 01:54:29.290
we find ourselves in and I
think we need to move on it,

01:54:29.290 --> 01:54:31.130
sooner rather than later.

01:54:31.130 --> 01:54:34.450
Some of the things that
we find can help inform

01:54:34.450 --> 01:54:37.650
the Commission as well, and I
think the Commission certainly

01:54:37.650 --> 01:54:40.740
holds a position where
you have information

01:54:40.740 --> 01:54:44.860
that can help us, I
found the report earlier

01:54:44.860 --> 01:54:47.700
from the Commission's
staff was excellent,

01:54:47.700 --> 01:54:52.017
I heard a lot of different
things that could help us,

01:54:52.017 --> 01:54:55.262
and I think even though we
can serve 6% of the population

01:54:55.262 --> 01:55:00.262
for years, one of my good
friends with (indistinct)

01:55:01.529 --> 01:55:02.362
who's the executive
director of project goes

01:55:02.362 --> 01:55:05.280
and serves (indistinct)
County talks about the fact

01:55:05.280 --> 01:55:08.850
that we are essentially
working as the credit

01:55:08.850 --> 01:55:11.250
and collections department extension

01:55:11.250 --> 01:55:15.100
for the utility companies,
as such, we're dealing

01:55:15.100 --> 01:55:18.090
with payment plans, we're
dealing with payment arrangements

01:55:18.090 --> 01:55:22.290
we're doing with the customer,
we're educating them as

01:55:22.290 --> 01:55:24.510
to what's taking place
and how they need to work

01:55:24.510 --> 01:55:27.210
with the utility, don't
be afraid to call them,

01:55:27.210 --> 01:55:30.017
make sure that you can afford et cetera.

01:55:30.017 --> 01:55:33.803
So if we're looking at extending
a PIP program or something

01:55:33.803 --> 01:55:35.760
like that, perhaps
we could look at doing

01:55:35.760 --> 01:55:40.190
is building a pilot project
that combines us as the credit

01:55:40.190 --> 01:55:43.290
and collection are and
helps develop policies

01:55:43.290 --> 01:55:46.390
or program prototypes
that would make sense,

01:55:46.390 --> 01:55:49.390
and that would be in the
best interest of both the IOUs

01:55:49.390 --> 01:55:51.091
as well as the customers.

01:55:51.091 --> 01:55:53.023
So I think there's that potential,

01:55:53.920 --> 01:55:56.960
but I think it won't happen
unless we can sit down

01:55:56.960 --> 01:56:01.537
and have a discussion, and
as a good friend of mine says,

01:56:01.537 --> 01:56:05.260
work outside the box because
there's no box, the only box

01:56:05.260 --> 01:56:08.062
that exists is the one that we created.

01:56:08.062 --> 01:56:10.010
So let's just blow that concept up

01:56:10.010 --> 01:56:11.813
and see where we can go from here.

01:56:14.380 --> 01:56:18.210
<v ->Thank you, I think that's
a great note to end on.</v>

01:56:18.210 --> 01:56:22.130
So thank you so much to
our panelists, Carla, Lourdes,

01:56:22.130 --> 01:56:26.190
Kathy and Val for your
really great insights today,

01:56:26.190 --> 01:56:30.200
and thank you to Emma
Johnston and (indistinct)

01:56:30.200 --> 01:56:34.650
for doing a lot of the data
collection and the data analysis

01:56:34.650 --> 01:56:38.210
for the first presentation
that we heard today.

01:56:38.210 --> 01:56:40.890
We are going to take a
two minute stretch break,

01:56:40.890 --> 01:56:45.380
so if everyone can
please reconvene at 11:03,

01:56:45.380 --> 01:56:49.187
we will have our second
panel start at 11:03.

01:56:49.187 --> 01:56:52.100
And just a reminder to audience numbers.

01:56:52.100 --> 01:56:54.920
If you can please use the Q&amp;A feature

01:56:54.920 --> 01:56:59.920
if you have any questions as
we go forward, thanks everyone.

01:57:06.475 --> 01:57:08.010
<v ->And to set the table
for what new protections</v>

01:57:08.010 --> 01:57:10.610
against disconnections
customers will have access

01:57:10.610 --> 01:57:12.840
to as a result of this decision.

01:57:12.840 --> 01:57:17.010
Broadly speaking, I think
of these policies as falling

01:57:17.010 --> 01:57:18.960
into two buckets which I'll try to flag

01:57:18.960 --> 01:57:21.100
as we walk through the policies.

01:57:21.100 --> 01:57:23.630
The first includes direct
customer protections

01:57:23.630 --> 01:57:26.850
meaning policies that prevent
an IOU from disconnecting

01:57:26.850 --> 01:57:29.120
a customer who would
otherwise be eligible

01:57:29.120 --> 01:57:32.740
for disconnection, and before
this most recent decision

01:57:32.740 --> 01:57:36.520
most PC action in this area
had addressed this bucket

01:57:36.520 --> 01:57:39.790
of protections by creating
classes of customers

01:57:39.790 --> 01:57:41.360
that utilities cannot disconnect

01:57:41.360 --> 01:57:44.210
and moratoria on
disconnections altogether.

01:57:44.210 --> 01:57:47.040
The second bucket includes
specific assistance to customers

01:57:47.040 --> 01:57:49.250
to help them afford
their new monthly bills,

01:57:49.250 --> 01:57:51.470
providing discounted
service as a baseline level

01:57:51.470 --> 01:57:53.730
or direct payment assistance.

01:57:53.730 --> 01:57:56.190
And this aims to reduce disconnections

01:57:56.190 --> 01:57:59.520
by minimizing the accumulation
of new arrearages due

01:57:59.520 --> 01:58:02.070
to customers being unable to pay.

01:58:02.070 --> 01:58:04.180
And that also includes
assistance to customers

01:58:04.180 --> 01:58:07.120
to help pay past arrearages like

01:58:07.120 --> 01:58:08.950
through traditional payment plans

01:58:08.950 --> 01:58:12.130
and also the new
arrearage management plans

01:58:12.130 --> 01:58:13.920
which we'll talk about in a moment.

01:58:13.920 --> 01:58:18.270
So next slide please, so first step

01:58:18.270 --> 01:58:21.950
the decision renewed and
expanded a cap on disconnections

01:58:21.950 --> 01:58:25.400
by utility territory
initially implemented

01:58:25.400 --> 01:58:27.010
in the previous decision

01:58:27.010 --> 01:58:29.847
in the disconnections
proceeding back in 2018.

01:58:29.847 --> 01:58:33.220
And that decision, the PUC
directed utilities to set a goal

01:58:33.220 --> 01:58:37.340
of limiting disconnections to
no more than a 2017 a map.

01:58:37.340 --> 01:58:39.070
This was a 2018 decision.

01:58:39.070 --> 01:58:41.860
So 2019 was the first
year in which the was active

01:58:41.860 --> 01:58:46.860
and all IOUs met that 2019
goal of maintaining 2017 levels,

01:58:47.640 --> 01:58:50.060
and this is a good example
of a direct protection

01:58:50.060 --> 01:58:53.100
against disconnection,
although it is only a goal.

01:58:53.100 --> 01:58:54.590
So there isn't a direct punishment

01:58:54.590 --> 01:58:56.650
if utilities miss their goals.

01:58:56.650 --> 01:58:58.370
The new decision expanded this goal

01:58:58.370 --> 01:59:01.470
by adding a ratchet
mechanism, and since IOUs

01:59:01.470 --> 01:59:03.490
have different starting
disconnection rates

01:59:03.490 --> 01:59:07.030
the PUC set goals for 2020 through 2024,

01:59:07.030 --> 01:59:08.870
in which higher disconnection utilities

01:59:08.870 --> 01:59:11.580
would make sharper cuts
to their disconnection rates,

01:59:11.580 --> 01:59:13.970
such that at the end
of 2020 for each IOU

01:59:13.970 --> 01:59:18.000
would have roughly similar
and lower disconnection rates.

01:59:18.000 --> 01:59:19.510
Due to the COVID protections,

01:59:19.510 --> 01:59:24.510
the 2020 goal will be met,
and even the 2021 goal would

01:59:24.690 --> 01:59:28.050
likely be met even, the
disconnections are slightly elevated

01:59:28.050 --> 01:59:30.970
month over month, since
the goal is intended to apply

01:59:30.970 --> 01:59:33.350
to a whole year of
disconnections but utilities

01:59:33.350 --> 01:59:35.220
will only be able to
disconnect customers

01:59:35.220 --> 01:59:37.570
for eight months at the most.

01:59:37.570 --> 01:59:38.713
Next slide please.

01:59:40.580 --> 01:59:43.160
So another example of a
direct customer protection

01:59:43.160 --> 01:59:45.740
is extreme temperature protections.

01:59:45.740 --> 01:59:47.460
These were initially implemented

01:59:47.460 --> 01:59:50.730
in that previous decision as
well, but were made permanent

01:59:50.730 --> 01:59:54.450
in the newest decision, electric
higher use are not allowed

01:59:54.450 --> 01:59:56.640
to disconnect customers
when temperatures

01:59:56.640 --> 01:59:58.930
over the next 72 hours are forecast

01:59:58.930 --> 02:00:01.000
to exceed 100 degrees Fahrenheit

02:00:01.000 --> 02:00:03.780
or go below 32 degrees Fahrenheit,

02:00:03.780 --> 02:00:06.472
and gas utilities are
similarly restricted

02:00:06.472 --> 02:00:08.440
when temperatures are forecast

02:00:08.440 --> 02:00:10.650
to be below 32 degrees Fahrenheit again,

02:00:10.650 --> 02:00:14.870
over the 72 hour period,
this should prevent customers

02:00:14.870 --> 02:00:16.860
from being disconnected for nonpayment.

02:00:16.860 --> 02:00:18.040
When weather conditions would make

02:00:18.040 --> 02:00:20.340
this especially dangerous.

02:00:20.340 --> 02:00:23.260
In addition, the decision
implemented new benefit

02:00:23.260 --> 02:00:26.100
of service procedures when
a customer has benefited

02:00:26.100 --> 02:00:29.720
from past service, for
which the utility was not paid,

02:00:29.720 --> 02:00:31.490
utility may require the customer

02:00:31.490 --> 02:00:35.370
to repay the past due
amount, but now only according

02:00:35.370 --> 02:00:40.343
to an actual finding and
proceed due process findings.

02:00:41.560 --> 02:00:45.060
So the decision required
utilities to implement a clear set

02:00:45.060 --> 02:00:48.930
of procedures requiring
specific evidence-based findings

02:00:48.930 --> 02:00:51.550
by the utility and
affording top customers

02:00:51.550 --> 02:00:53.380
the opportunity to appeal.

02:00:53.380 --> 02:00:56.490
This includes identifying
and a specific trigger

02:00:56.490 --> 02:00:59.980
of information for a benefit
of service investigation

02:00:59.980 --> 02:01:03.160
like common banking
information between customers

02:01:03.160 --> 02:01:05.770
and then customers have 30
days to respond to the utility

02:01:05.770 --> 02:01:09.200
with any evidence of their
own, to substantiate that

02:01:09.200 --> 02:01:12.780
the disputed finding with proof
of residing somewhere else

02:01:12.780 --> 02:01:15.240
during the time charges were accrued.

02:01:15.240 --> 02:01:17.600
The utility must respond
in writing and verbally

02:01:17.600 --> 02:01:20.370
to the evidence the customer
provided within 30 days

02:01:20.370 --> 02:01:22.070
and provide the contact information

02:01:22.070 --> 02:01:24.220
for the customer affairs
branch at the PUC.

02:01:25.267 --> 02:01:27.710
And the utilities are also not
allowed to require a customer

02:01:27.710 --> 02:01:30.640
who was younger than 18
at the time of the charges

02:01:30.640 --> 02:01:32.750
to pay those charges back.

02:01:32.750 --> 02:01:36.240
So Cathy finally, a recent
changes to the LIHEAP program

02:01:36.240 --> 02:01:39.575
which is kind of straddling

02:01:39.575 --> 02:01:43.570
both providing customers
payments for current bills

02:01:43.570 --> 02:01:46.640
and allowing them to pay
back previous arrearages,

02:01:46.640 --> 02:01:49.330
there are some new
changes from the decision,

02:01:49.330 --> 02:01:53.760
primarily related to development
of the new portal system,

02:01:53.760 --> 02:01:55.930
which will simplify communication

02:01:55.930 --> 02:01:58.600
between the local service providers,

02:01:58.600 --> 02:02:02.363
CFD and state, and
the utilities themselves.

02:02:03.620 --> 02:02:06.410
Those are expected to be online in 2021,

02:02:06.410 --> 02:02:08.090
and utilities are also prohibited

02:02:08.090 --> 02:02:09.650
from disconnecting a customer

02:02:09.650 --> 02:02:13.733
while a LIHEAP pledge
is pending, next slide.

02:02:16.070 --> 02:02:17.270
(clears throat)

02:02:17.270 --> 02:02:20.980
Another direct customer
protection is implemented

02:02:20.980 --> 02:02:23.880
by the new decision is
that utilities may not exceed

02:02:23.880 --> 02:02:27.310
a 30% disconnection
rate in any zip code.

02:02:27.310 --> 02:02:30.280
Now, this is a very high
disconnection rate, most zip codes.

02:02:30.280 --> 02:02:31.870
They report any disconnections

02:02:31.870 --> 02:02:35.400
have monthly disconnection
rates in the low single digits.

02:02:35.400 --> 02:02:38.140
Because the cap is based
on a percentage of customers

02:02:38.140 --> 02:02:41.130
in a zip code disconnected
rather than a number

02:02:41.130 --> 02:02:43.870
of disconnections
performed in the zip code,

02:02:43.870 --> 02:02:47.220
it is more likely to affect
low populations zip codes,

02:02:47.220 --> 02:02:49.430
where an increase in
disconnections would result

02:02:49.430 --> 02:02:51.730
in a proportionally larger increase

02:02:51.730 --> 02:02:53.960
in the disconnection rate.

02:02:53.960 --> 02:02:55.970
In addition, utilities are required

02:02:55.970 --> 02:02:59.020
to offer 12 month payment
plans to all customers prior

02:02:59.020 --> 02:03:01.560
to disconnection, this is a good example

02:03:01.560 --> 02:03:05.260
of the second bucket, which
gives customers the ability

02:03:05.260 --> 02:03:08.590
to pay back the amount
owed to the utility

02:03:08.590 --> 02:03:10.940
on a more manageable
schedule than paying it back

02:03:10.940 --> 02:03:13.730
in a shorter period or as one lump sum.

02:03:13.730 --> 02:03:16.610
The requirement will
hopefully enable customers

02:03:16.610 --> 02:03:20.040
to become current on payments
without being disconnected.

02:03:20.040 --> 02:03:23.130
And this is more of a
budgeting their bill option

02:03:23.130 --> 02:03:26.240
for customers rather than
us a forgiveness program

02:03:26.240 --> 02:03:28.700
because customers still
have to pay back the amount

02:03:28.700 --> 02:03:30.330
that they owe to the utility.

02:03:30.330 --> 02:03:32.620
But importantly, it's not limited

02:03:32.620 --> 02:03:34.880
to only CARE or FERA customers

02:03:34.880 --> 02:03:37.963
all customers have access to
these 12 month payment plans.

02:03:39.099 --> 02:03:42.220
And additionally
utilities are now required

02:03:42.220 --> 02:03:45.210
to enroll customers
whenever they speak to them

02:03:45.210 --> 02:03:48.240
in any applicable assistance
programs, they may be eligible

02:03:48.240 --> 02:03:51.290
such as CARE or FERA
to increase participation

02:03:51.290 --> 02:03:53.090
in those bucket two programs

02:03:54.332 --> 02:03:58.690
Utilities are not required
to affirmatively establish this

02:03:58.690 --> 02:04:01.660
of all customers, but when
they speak to a customer,

02:04:01.660 --> 02:04:04.323
they have to make
sure that that's the case.

02:04:05.380 --> 02:04:06.553
Next slide, please.

02:04:09.930 --> 02:04:11.970
In addition, the decision
made some changes

02:04:11.970 --> 02:04:13.820
to the medical baseline program pursuant

02:04:13.820 --> 02:04:18.650
to SB 1338 from 2018, when customers are

02:04:18.650 --> 02:04:20.530
with eligible conditions
are not enrolled

02:04:20.530 --> 02:04:25.530
in medical baseline, they
may incur much higher costs

02:04:25.550 --> 02:04:27.930
for necessary gas or electric service.

02:04:27.930 --> 02:04:29.720
And IOUs may fail to provide them

02:04:29.720 --> 02:04:31.350
with services meeting their needs,

02:04:31.350 --> 02:04:34.440
such as advanced notification of PSPS.

02:04:34.440 --> 02:04:36.700
So this is a bucket two
approach to help customers

02:04:36.700 --> 02:04:39.960
with higher basic demand
for energy afforded.

02:04:39.960 --> 02:04:41.880
There are multiple
changes to medical baseline

02:04:41.880 --> 02:04:44.104
including eligibility for the program

02:04:44.104 --> 02:04:45.920
that has to be certified

02:04:45.920 --> 02:04:47.940
by a qualified medical professional,

02:04:47.940 --> 02:04:50.510
that definition is
expanding as you can see

02:04:50.510 --> 02:04:53.640
which should reduce the
barrier to accessing the program,

02:04:53.640 --> 02:04:55.210
each utility was also directed

02:04:55.210 --> 02:04:57.900
to develop an online
customer facing portal

02:04:57.900 --> 02:05:01.050
for both eligible customers
and medical professionals

02:05:01.050 --> 02:05:03.260
to verify eligibility that's expected

02:05:03.260 --> 02:05:05.910
to come online early in 2021,

02:05:05.910 --> 02:05:09.120
and that should make
the process more smooth.

02:05:09.120 --> 02:05:12.650
And each IOU is also
submitted plans to energy division

02:05:12.650 --> 02:05:15.660
for increased outreach and
engagement of eligible customers

02:05:15.660 --> 02:05:18.590
who may not be aware of
the program or how to enroll,

02:05:18.590 --> 02:05:20.410
and those are currently under review

02:05:20.410 --> 02:05:22.768
through the advice letter process,

02:05:22.768 --> 02:05:27.768
but all utilities are continuing
those outreach efforts

02:05:28.810 --> 02:05:31.493
in the meantime, next slide please.

02:05:32.740 --> 02:05:34.740
And finally as Commissioner
Guzman has said,

02:05:34.740 --> 02:05:37.030
as noted earlier the PUC ordered IOUs

02:05:37.030 --> 02:05:39.710
to stop collecting reconnection
fees and all deposits

02:05:39.710 --> 02:05:41.240
on a permanent basis,

02:05:41.240 --> 02:05:43.070
this essentially makes
the COVID protections

02:05:43.070 --> 02:05:45.640
in this area, permanent,
another bucket two policies

02:05:45.640 --> 02:05:48.400
benefiting all residential
customers who will not have

02:05:48.400 --> 02:05:50.560
to pay these charges anymore.

02:05:50.560 --> 02:05:53.130
This should remove a barrier
for customers to be reconnected

02:05:53.130 --> 02:05:55.670
to service once disconnected,

02:05:55.670 --> 02:05:57.730
and it may free up
customer's household budgets

02:05:57.730 --> 02:06:00.010
as well to allow them
to stay current on bills

02:06:00.010 --> 02:06:02.683
rather than paying
deposits and fees, et cetera.

02:06:03.560 --> 02:06:06.050
And lastly, the arrearage
management plans

02:06:06.050 --> 02:06:07.990
which I've mentioned
a couple of times here

02:06:07.990 --> 02:06:10.560
are another new bucket to program coming

02:06:10.560 --> 02:06:13.190
for all utilities in the
next month modeled

02:06:13.190 --> 02:06:15.351
on the experiences of other states.

02:06:15.351 --> 02:06:18.590
These plans will allow
customers to receive forgiveness

02:06:18.590 --> 02:06:21.010
for their past due
arrearages in exchange

02:06:21.010 --> 02:06:25.250
for on-time payments
of current monthly bills.

02:06:25.250 --> 02:06:27.880
Eligibility is limited to
CARE and FERA customers

02:06:27.880 --> 02:06:32.880
with $500 in arrears, some
portion of which is 90 days old.

02:06:33.190 --> 02:06:37.893
And that amount is only $250
for gas only CARE customers.

02:06:39.193 --> 02:06:43.230
Up to $8,000 in total arrearage
forgiveness is available,

02:06:43.230 --> 02:06:46.560
although customers may
also re-enroll after 12 months

02:06:46.560 --> 02:06:49.713
after a 12 month waiting
period for additional forgiveness.

02:06:50.640 --> 02:06:53.920
CCA customers are
also eligible to participate

02:06:53.920 --> 02:06:56.730
but each CCA has to make
that determination on its own

02:06:56.730 --> 02:07:01.032
and notify the relevant
IOU, and finally customers

02:07:01.032 --> 02:07:03.530
who miss two payments in a row

02:07:03.530 --> 02:07:07.240
or three payments at any time
non sequentially are removed

02:07:07.240 --> 02:07:10.220
from program, but they keep
any arrearage forgiveness

02:07:10.220 --> 02:07:12.840
that they've already
received and they can re-enroll

02:07:12.840 --> 02:07:14.870
after a 12 month waiting period.

02:07:14.870 --> 02:07:17.489
So we're hoping that this
program will enable customers

02:07:17.489 --> 02:07:21.010
that may have arrearages
that otherwise would

02:07:21.010 --> 02:07:23.710
be very difficult or
impossible to pay back

02:07:23.710 --> 02:07:26.540
to become current on their
existing monthly payments.

02:07:26.540 --> 02:07:30.150
And as a result would get
out from under the weight

02:07:30.150 --> 02:07:31.907
of that past due arrearage.

02:07:32.815 --> 02:07:36.730
And that is all of
the slides that I have,

02:07:36.730 --> 02:07:38.580
so I'll pause here for any questions.

02:07:41.350 --> 02:07:44.120
<v ->Thank you Ben, and we're
actually gonna go straight</v>

02:07:44.120 --> 02:07:48.740
into this state panel
and then take questions

02:07:48.740 --> 02:07:51.920
for all together, you
really set the stage nicely

02:07:51.920 --> 02:07:55.070
for the different
types of policy options

02:07:55.070 --> 02:07:59.090
for protecting customer that
are out there for California.

02:07:59.090 --> 02:08:01.700
With this panel we're
going to be hearing

02:08:01.700 --> 02:08:05.920
from other states
other utility jurisdictions

02:08:05.920 --> 02:08:09.230
about their options and policies

02:08:09.230 --> 02:08:12.070
protecting utility
customers through COVID.

02:08:12.070 --> 02:08:16.330
First we'll hear from Jim
Borough, chief of public utilities

02:08:16.330 --> 02:08:20.040
Illinois commerce Commission,
along with Leslie and Lesco

02:08:20.040 --> 02:08:23.660
the LIHEAP program, brome
manager for Illinois department

02:08:23.660 --> 02:08:26.170
of commerce and economic opportunity.

02:08:26.170 --> 02:08:29.970
We'll then hear from
Ohio Barbara Bossart

02:08:29.970 --> 02:08:34.420
who's chief reliability and
service and analysis division

02:08:34.420 --> 02:08:36.580
for the public utilities
Commission of Ohio.

02:08:36.580 --> 02:08:40.400
And then finally, Theresa
Washington will wrap us up

02:08:40.400 --> 02:08:44.640
for the panel, she is a manager
could it hardship programs

02:08:44.640 --> 02:08:47.853
and protections with Eversource Energy.

02:08:48.850 --> 02:08:52.210
So I will now turn it
over and to my panelists,

02:08:52.210 --> 02:08:54.820
please remember to turn your video on

02:08:54.820 --> 02:08:56.750
while you're presenting as you may.

02:08:56.750 --> 02:08:59.753
And Jim Zolnierek you're up.

02:09:01.419 --> 02:09:02.333
<v ->Can you hear me, Allison?</v>

02:09:04.460 --> 02:09:07.410
Great, good morning
Commissioners, Alison, staff,

02:09:07.410 --> 02:09:08.900
thank you for having me here today.

02:09:08.900 --> 02:09:12.040
I am Jim Zolnierek from the
Illinois Commerce Commission.

02:09:12.040 --> 02:09:13.963
It's the PUC and the Illinois.

02:09:15.020 --> 02:09:17.900
I'm gonna be talking about
several programs available

02:09:17.900 --> 02:09:20.830
to Illinois customers,
struggling with their bills.

02:09:20.830 --> 02:09:23.140
My colleague from a sister agency,

02:09:23.140 --> 02:09:26.180
Leslie Ann is gonna
be talking about a couple

02:09:26.180 --> 02:09:28.280
of those programs in
particular our percentage

02:09:28.280 --> 02:09:30.883
of income payment plan program, or PIPP.

02:09:31.940 --> 02:09:33.830
I'll be talking about some
of the programs that are

02:09:33.830 --> 02:09:37.320
under the authority of the
Commission starting with,

02:09:37.320 --> 02:09:39.902
if you could proceed to the next slide,

02:09:39.902 --> 02:09:42.927
and the one after that,
next slide after that, thanks.

02:09:48.520 --> 02:09:50.390
I mentioned the budget payment plans.

02:09:50.390 --> 02:09:52.670
We have a program required by our rules

02:09:52.670 --> 02:09:54.770
with the utilities offer
budget payment plans

02:09:54.770 --> 02:09:56.860
to customers where basically you know,

02:09:56.860 --> 02:09:59.260
they can estimate the
costs for the utility service

02:09:59.260 --> 02:10:04.260
over 12 month period and pay
1/12 of that amount each month

02:10:04.670 --> 02:10:06.510
so that they levelize their payments.

02:10:06.510 --> 02:10:08.949
If you're a gas customer
for example you pay

02:10:08.949 --> 02:10:12.447
more than more in the summer
month than you normally would,

02:10:12.447 --> 02:10:14.539
and then less in the winter months,

02:10:14.539 --> 02:10:15.838
and you get a stable payment.

02:10:15.838 --> 02:10:18.380
And I mentioned this just
because it's a prerequisite

02:10:18.380 --> 02:10:21.420
to being on our pit
plan, that Leslie is going

02:10:22.912 --> 02:10:24.743
to speak to you about
next slide, please.

02:10:27.210 --> 02:10:31.580
One of the other existing
programs to help customers

02:10:31.580 --> 02:10:32.670
that are behind on their bills

02:10:32.670 --> 02:10:34.970
is when we call them different
payment arrangement option

02:10:34.970 --> 02:10:39.970
or DPA's our current rules
require DPA's be offered

02:10:40.180 --> 02:10:42.430
for certain residential customers.

02:10:42.430 --> 02:10:44.950
And these allow
customers basically to build

02:10:44.950 --> 02:10:47.430
you know, take their
arrearages divide them

02:10:47.430 --> 02:10:50.010
by the particular point
of the plan and pay them

02:10:50.010 --> 02:10:53.270
on top of the regular bill
each month to get caught up.

02:10:53.270 --> 02:10:56.810
Currently in our rules
customers do enroll in these plans

02:10:56.810 --> 02:11:00.860
have to pay 25% of the amount past due.

02:11:00.860 --> 02:11:02.960
And if you're a low income customer,

02:11:02.960 --> 02:11:07.470
and you qualify for a
lower 20% down payment.

02:11:07.470 --> 02:11:10.370
And the DPA's and our
current rules go for anywhere

02:11:10.370 --> 02:11:15.370
from four to 12 billing
cycles, next slide, please.

02:11:15.551 --> 02:11:18.219
(paper rustling)

02:11:18.219 --> 02:11:20.880
I'm gonna skip this slide but I
do wanna mention one thing,

02:11:20.880 --> 02:11:23.680
in Illinois we do have a winter
disconnection moratorium

02:11:23.680 --> 02:11:27.680
which for most residents,
many residential customers,

02:11:27.680 --> 02:11:29.000
it means that they can't be shut off

02:11:29.000 --> 02:11:32.174
between December 1st and March 31st.

02:11:32.174 --> 02:11:34.190
It does not apply to all
resident residential customers

02:11:34.190 --> 02:11:36.600
as you can see from
reading the text on the slide,

02:11:36.600 --> 02:11:39.390
but effectively the utilities the gas

02:11:39.390 --> 02:11:42.160
and electric utilities
rarely shut off customers

02:11:42.160 --> 02:11:46.140
in that period, so unlike
what was discussed earlier

02:11:46.140 --> 02:11:48.470
by Lourdes, I think
many customers in Illinois

02:11:48.470 --> 02:11:52.880
are very, very aware of what
moratoria and very familiar

02:11:52.880 --> 02:11:55.000
with them from these winter moratorium.

02:11:55.000 --> 02:11:56.690
So we're in a little
different circumstance there

02:11:56.690 --> 02:11:59.490
I think, than maybe
you are in California.

02:11:59.490 --> 02:12:00.440
Next slide, please.

02:12:02.480 --> 02:12:04.780
A little background on our response here

02:12:04.780 --> 02:12:07.700
and on the way to COVID in early March,

02:12:07.700 --> 02:12:09.050
when things started
getting bad, in terms

02:12:09.050 --> 02:12:11.830
of the health emergency the
Illinois Commerce Commission

02:12:11.830 --> 02:12:15.130
issued an order suspending
disconnections for nonpayment

02:12:15.130 --> 02:12:17.510
and imposition of new late fees.

02:12:17.510 --> 02:12:21.520
And they issued that
requirement to be effective

02:12:21.520 --> 02:12:24.190
until the government ended
the emergency declaration

02:12:24.190 --> 02:12:25.740
which was an indefinite period.

02:12:27.060 --> 02:12:32.060
They also asked for utilities
to go out and create revise,

02:12:32.130 --> 02:12:34.835
flexible credit and
collection practices.

02:12:34.835 --> 02:12:38.680
And once they issue
that order, it triggered staff

02:12:39.790 --> 02:12:43.520
consumer advocate and
the utilities all get together

02:12:43.520 --> 02:12:44.710
and start talking about, okay,

02:12:44.710 --> 02:12:46.960
what can be done to help consumers.

02:12:46.960 --> 02:12:50.450
And so we came up with a
couple of different stipulations

02:12:50.450 --> 02:12:53.420
to address credit and collection
practices and other things,

02:12:53.420 --> 02:12:57.652
and put those before the
Commission and on June 18th, 2020,

02:12:57.652 --> 02:13:00.120
the ICC approved these stipulations.

02:13:00.120 --> 02:13:02.410
The first thing they
did was put a finite date

02:13:02.410 --> 02:13:06.530
on the disconnection moratorium,
so it was effectively tied

02:13:06.530 --> 02:13:08.720
to our reopening in Illinois.

02:13:08.720 --> 02:13:12.730
Basically 30 days passed
when bars and restaurants started

02:13:12.730 --> 02:13:14.746
to reopen utilities would stop

02:13:14.746 --> 02:13:17.990
or the disconnection
moratorium in nonpayment

02:13:17.990 --> 02:13:20.530
for non payment would
end and effectively

02:13:20.530 --> 02:13:25.170
that was 30 days past
June, 26th or July 26th

02:13:25.170 --> 02:13:26.380
is when that moratorium ended

02:13:26.380 --> 02:13:31.380
for most residential customers,
the next slide, please.

02:13:34.260 --> 02:13:36.460
The other key credit
and collection practices

02:13:36.460 --> 02:13:39.930
that were changed with the
stipulation and the Commissions

02:13:39.930 --> 02:13:43.040
that order where that we revise

02:13:43.040 --> 02:13:44.630
the deferred payment arrangement plans.

02:13:44.630 --> 02:13:48.000
So that first of all, they
could be much longer

02:13:48.000 --> 02:13:49.100
for residential customers.

02:13:49.100 --> 02:13:51.450
Now they're anywhere that
utilities have to offer anywhere

02:13:51.450 --> 02:13:55.800
from 18 months for all
residential customers to 24 months

02:13:55.800 --> 02:13:57.600
for customers that are low income

02:13:57.600 --> 02:14:00.070
and low income includes customers

02:14:00.070 --> 02:14:02.140
that simply self-certified hardship.

02:14:02.140 --> 02:14:04.920
So there's some question
about whether they would be able

02:14:04.920 --> 02:14:08.631
to certify with our organizations

02:14:08.631 --> 02:14:13.067
to assert their low-income
status because that was held up

02:14:13.067 --> 02:14:15.300
the utilities agreed that
they would just simply

02:14:15.300 --> 02:14:17.210
take a representation from customers

02:14:17.210 --> 02:14:18.760
that they were facing hardship.

02:14:20.250 --> 02:14:23.240
The other part of those DPA
changes where the down payments

02:14:23.240 --> 02:14:25.570
were capped at 10% for
our residential customers,

02:14:25.570 --> 02:14:28.513
and again, 0%, if you express hardship.

02:14:29.400 --> 02:14:31.790
And there were provisions
for repeated DPA's

02:14:31.790 --> 02:14:33.113
if there was default.

02:14:34.050 --> 02:14:35.650
The other major program
I think that came out

02:14:35.650 --> 02:14:37.890
of our Sydney stipulation was

02:14:37.890 --> 02:14:40.180
a bill payment assistance program

02:14:40.180 --> 02:14:42.757
where many of our utilities
have uncollectable programs,

02:14:42.757 --> 02:14:44.630
and those uncollectable
programs are tied

02:14:44.630 --> 02:14:46.210
to your customers actually defaulting

02:14:46.210 --> 02:14:49.070
before they essentially write off those

02:14:49.070 --> 02:14:51.260
just unfollow those
councils collectibles.

02:14:51.260 --> 02:14:53.270
And of course, during the moratorium

02:14:53.270 --> 02:14:55.670
they weren't writing
up any end collectibles.

02:14:55.670 --> 02:14:58.110
And so what was determined
was that they would take some

02:14:58.110 --> 02:15:02.060
of the money that we
normally go to collectibles

02:15:02.060 --> 02:15:04.428
and create a bill payment
assistance programs.

02:15:04.428 --> 02:15:06.750
And these were each
unique to each of the users

02:15:06.750 --> 02:15:09.610
each of the large utility
of each filed their own plan

02:15:09.610 --> 02:15:13.958
which generally waves from
75 to $500 of customer ranges.

02:15:13.958 --> 02:15:16.260
Next slide, please

02:15:18.552 --> 02:15:22.020
Excuse me, face is that
there's sort of a timing concern.

02:15:22.020 --> 02:15:25.390
The way we design the
plan here in Illinois was that,

02:15:25.390 --> 02:15:27.933
you know, we'd have a discreet stop

02:15:27.933 --> 02:15:29.170
for the moratorium I shut off,

02:15:29.170 --> 02:15:32.300
and then folks would
ease back into, you know,

02:15:32.300 --> 02:15:34.320
payments through deferred
payment arrangements

02:15:34.320 --> 02:15:37.310
and other things, so there
was a transition built in,

02:15:37.310 --> 02:15:41.240
unfortunately, you know as
we all know the emergency

02:15:41.240 --> 02:15:43.930
didn't end as quickly
as we would have hoped.

02:15:43.930 --> 02:15:48.710
And so what happened is we
had two additional extensions

02:15:48.710 --> 02:15:50.000
for all residential customers

02:15:50.000 --> 02:15:52.240
on the disconnection moratorium,

02:15:52.240 --> 02:15:55.404
and then most recently
the Commission reached out

02:15:55.404 --> 02:15:57.950
and asked the utilities
to suspend all the way

02:15:57.950 --> 02:16:02.950
through March of 2021,
and utilities agreed to do so,

02:16:03.180 --> 02:16:05.420
again, for the residential customer,

02:16:05.420 --> 02:16:08.970
I spent only the LIHEAP
qualified customers or those again,

02:16:08.970 --> 02:16:10.523
who self-certified hardship.

02:16:11.460 --> 02:16:13.310
So that's in place, and that creates one

02:16:13.310 --> 02:16:15.870
of the timing issues that I
was discussing in terms of a lot

02:16:15.870 --> 02:16:18.480
of our stipulation was designed

02:16:18.480 --> 02:16:20.970
to create a transition period,

02:16:20.970 --> 02:16:22.990
but with customers not being shut off

02:16:22.990 --> 02:16:24.790
customers not have not
really entered the period

02:16:24.790 --> 02:16:27.540
where they necessarily
need that transition to start,

02:16:27.540 --> 02:16:30.190
so we are currently continuing discuss

02:16:30.190 --> 02:16:32.190
these transition issues.

02:16:32.190 --> 02:16:35.886
Next slide, please,
just briefly touch on it

02:16:35.886 --> 02:16:38.740
in our stipulation
utilities are required

02:16:38.740 --> 02:16:41.550
to reach out to customers,
not only existing customers

02:16:41.550 --> 02:16:43.780
but those had been those
who have been disconnected

02:16:43.780 --> 02:16:46.510
within the last year and
notify them of opportunities

02:16:46.510 --> 02:16:49.220
to reconnect, and they're also supposed

02:16:49.220 --> 02:16:51.640
to post the information on these plans,

02:16:51.640 --> 02:16:53.890
different payment arrangements
and so on their website.

02:16:53.890 --> 02:16:54.890
And they've done so.

02:16:56.494 --> 02:16:58.494
The next plan, our next page, thank you.

02:16:59.550 --> 02:17:02.320
As far as program stacking in Illinois,

02:17:02.320 --> 02:17:04.390
most of our programs
are designed to be stacked

02:17:04.390 --> 02:17:06.710
with the exception of LIHEAP
and why he says so lastly,

02:17:06.710 --> 02:17:07.623
I will talk about.

02:17:08.468 --> 02:17:11.280
PIPP customers must also
participate in budget billing

02:17:11.280 --> 02:17:13.080
that's why I mentioned that earlier.

02:17:13.080 --> 02:17:16.160
But our deferred payment arrangement

02:17:16.160 --> 02:17:19.550
and our bill payment assistance programs

02:17:19.550 --> 02:17:22.240
for both designed to be
on top of the other systems,

02:17:22.240 --> 02:17:24.520
so it was envisioned that
a customer who qualified

02:17:24.520 --> 02:17:26.731
for life would not only
get LIHEAP, but could also

02:17:26.731 --> 02:17:29.980
if they qualify get bill
payment assistance as well,

02:17:29.980 --> 02:17:31.830
so those were designed to be staffed.

02:17:32.810 --> 02:17:33.760
Next slide, please.

02:17:35.100 --> 02:17:36.930
I included a little bit
of information here,

02:17:36.930 --> 02:17:39.130
just so you can see our
trends and disconnect

02:17:39.130 --> 02:17:41.053
or deferred payment arrangement.

02:17:42.164 --> 02:17:43.790
As you'll see, I don't think the data

02:17:43.790 --> 02:17:46.438
is all that informative
because what we found out is,

02:17:46.438 --> 02:17:50.770
by and large, none of
the utilities disconnected

02:17:50.770 --> 02:17:54.537
any residential customers,
only our two largest electric

02:17:54.537 --> 02:17:56.500
customers actually started disconnecting

02:17:56.500 --> 02:17:59.090
and September mid-September,
none of the others

02:17:59.090 --> 02:18:01.820
had disconnected through September.

02:18:01.820 --> 02:18:04.230
And there were a few
disconnection notices

02:18:04.230 --> 02:18:05.300
that went out earlier.

02:18:05.300 --> 02:18:07.590
But again, there was
really no threat of shut off

02:18:07.590 --> 02:18:09.920
for many of these customers,
and you'll see that reflected

02:18:09.920 --> 02:18:11.090
in many of the early numbers.

02:18:11.090 --> 02:18:13.610
So we didn't see market increase

02:18:13.610 --> 02:18:16.590
and deferred payment
arrangements until if you look

02:18:16.590 --> 02:18:20.060
at the two Amarin and comment,
we did see a marked up turn

02:18:20.060 --> 02:18:22.610
when they actually started
disconnecting customers.

02:18:23.670 --> 02:18:27.590
And the next page and we had

02:18:27.590 --> 02:18:30.200
the bill payment assistance
program, but even though

02:18:30.200 --> 02:18:34.190
there have been quite a few
dispersments those dispersants

02:18:34.190 --> 02:18:35.190
have been very recent,

02:18:35.190 --> 02:18:37.580
so we're not even seeing
them reflected in the data.

02:18:37.580 --> 02:18:41.210
Our utilities are required to
file data on disconnections,

02:18:41.210 --> 02:18:45.580
late payment charges DPA's
entered and disbursements

02:18:45.580 --> 02:18:49.247
those types of things
monthly, and, you know,

02:18:49.247 --> 02:18:50.780
for the first several months,

02:18:50.780 --> 02:18:53.260
I think first five months
of the plan, you know,

02:18:53.260 --> 02:18:55.140
none of the data was
really all that useful

02:18:55.140 --> 02:18:56.370
because not much was happening.

02:18:56.370 --> 02:18:58.290
We're just starting to see an uptake

02:18:58.290 --> 02:19:02.350
and we will only get our
September numbers in three days.

02:19:02.350 --> 02:19:04.430
So we're looking forward to those,

02:19:04.430 --> 02:19:05.870
'cause we're now
starting to see a period

02:19:05.870 --> 02:19:07.810
where the numbers are actually
starting to show something,

02:19:07.810 --> 02:19:08.760
and I'll stop there

02:19:09.642 --> 02:19:11.473
and let Leslie Ann talk
about our PIPP program.

02:19:15.130 --> 02:19:16.253
<v ->Hi, thanks Jim.</v>

02:19:17.846 --> 02:19:20.960
So I'm from the department of commerce

02:19:20.960 --> 02:19:25.430
and economic opportunities,
I believe that in California

02:19:25.430 --> 02:19:29.640
Kathy Andry, we are, you
know, we're sort of counterparts

02:19:29.640 --> 02:19:32.543
in different states, next slide please.

02:19:35.562 --> 02:19:37.790
As Jim mentioned, there
is no stacking of PIPP

02:19:37.790 --> 02:19:39.743
and LIHEAP Illinois,

02:19:41.010 --> 02:19:43.130
it is available to residential customers

02:19:43.130 --> 02:19:46.780
and they have an option to
choose between PIPP and LIHEAP,

02:19:46.780 --> 02:19:49.740
and it's always based
on funding availability

02:19:49.740 --> 02:19:51.713
at the County and utility level.

02:19:52.580 --> 02:19:55.200
We have our five regulated utilities,

02:19:55.200 --> 02:19:58.090
they are the ones who
aren't participate in the PIPP,

02:19:58.090 --> 02:20:00.940
we communicate with them electronically.

02:20:00.940 --> 02:20:03.746
Whereas the other
vendors throughout the state

02:20:03.746 --> 02:20:08.746
we can go non communicating
and probably non-regulated also.

02:20:09.750 --> 02:20:12.963
And so we just used the top five,

02:20:15.350 --> 02:20:19.393
so LIHEAP's lot more
available, next slide, please.

02:20:23.240 --> 02:20:24.470
Enrollment trends,

02:20:24.470 --> 02:20:28.610
if you'll see where it
says June 30th, 2020

02:20:28.610 --> 02:20:30.670
that was at the end of
our last program year.

02:20:30.670 --> 02:20:35.530
We had 87% of our customers received

02:20:35.530 --> 02:20:40.530
regular LIHEAP benefits,
and then we had 13% of sorry.

02:20:41.210 --> 02:20:44.090
13% of our population was enrolled

02:20:44.090 --> 02:20:47.230
in the year round PIPP program.

02:20:47.230 --> 02:20:51.410
Right now, looking down
at the November 9th state

02:20:52.700 --> 02:20:56.810
we're projected if we kept
on this same enrollment trend

02:20:56.810 --> 02:21:00.540
we would have 81% LIHEAP and 19% PIPP.

02:21:00.540 --> 02:21:04.580
But LIHEAP just had so much
more money that we anticipate

02:21:04.580 --> 02:21:08.297
by the end of June, we'll
have about 95% LIHEAP

02:21:08.297 --> 02:21:10.480
and 5% PIPP.

02:21:10.480 --> 02:21:13.700
We are already in
meeting for stakeholders

02:21:13.700 --> 02:21:18.350
to discuss more money in the PIPP fund.

02:21:18.350 --> 02:21:22.190
And so we hope that by the end of 2021,

02:21:22.190 --> 02:21:26.550
there's a little typo there,
it should be 6/30/2021

02:21:26.550 --> 02:21:30.020
that we would have even
more than 13% enrollment.

02:21:30.020 --> 02:21:33.463
So we'll see how that
goes, next slide please.

02:21:35.920 --> 02:21:39.200
So the funding for the PIPP in Illinois,

02:21:39.200 --> 02:21:42.530
is it's a rate pay it's based
on ratepayer charges

02:21:42.530 --> 02:21:44.170
that the utilities collect,

02:21:44.170 --> 02:21:46.470
and then they deposit them into a fund

02:21:46.470 --> 02:21:51.330
if you wanted to look
at Public Act 96-003

02:21:51.330 --> 02:21:54.513
you could probably Google
that and get more information.

02:21:55.480 --> 02:21:56.913
Next slide please.

02:22:00.011 --> 02:22:03.180
So the customer eligibility is at 150%

02:22:03.180 --> 02:22:05.483
of the federal poverty level and below.

02:22:06.320 --> 02:22:08.690
There are the top five utilities

02:22:08.690 --> 02:22:10.660
that are in the PIPP program.

02:22:10.660 --> 02:22:14.940
And as Jim said, the
customer must be enrolled

02:22:14.940 --> 02:22:19.940
in budget billing that's a
prerequisite, next slide please.

02:22:23.720 --> 02:22:26.450
So the state benefits for each customer,

02:22:26.450 --> 02:22:31.100
it could be a monthly
benefit up to $150,

02:22:31.100 --> 02:22:34.740
if they're a gas and electric customer,

02:22:34.740 --> 02:22:37.780
they would get up to a
hundred dollars a month

02:22:37.780 --> 02:22:41.710
for the gas and up
to 50 for the electric.

02:22:41.710 --> 02:22:44.210
And I don't have it on
this slide, but it should say

02:22:44.210 --> 02:22:47.220
that the customer's
requirement is to pay 6%

02:22:48.129 --> 02:22:52.490
of their monthly household gross income.

02:22:52.490 --> 02:22:54.180
So there's a calculation that's done.

02:22:54.180 --> 02:22:55.730
And I could you know, explain that more,

02:22:55.730 --> 02:22:57.803
but it's kind of complicated.

02:22:58.750 --> 02:23:03.750
Next slide please, there isn't
arrearage reduction program,

02:23:04.600 --> 02:23:07.840
we call it ARP, it's part of the program

02:23:07.840 --> 02:23:10.870
and it's administered by the utilities,

02:23:10.870 --> 02:23:13.350
what happens when a
customer first signed up

02:23:13.350 --> 02:23:15.061
their balance is set aside

02:23:15.061 --> 02:23:19.090
and that's called a
pre-program arrearage.

02:23:19.090 --> 02:23:21.090
The ARP benefit is up to

02:23:21.090 --> 02:23:24.053
a thousand dollars a year per utility.

02:23:25.394 --> 02:23:29.210
But it's the customers are
required to make on-time

02:23:29.210 --> 02:23:34.210
in full payments of their
customer payment requirement,

02:23:35.530 --> 02:23:37.890
and if they do that, then for each month

02:23:37.890 --> 02:23:39.390
they're on time and paid in full,

02:23:39.390 --> 02:23:42.063
they get 1/12th of their arrearage

02:23:43.080 --> 02:23:46.280
is disregarded it's
set aside in their state

02:23:46.280 --> 02:23:49.720
so that the benefits
for the customer also,

02:23:49.720 --> 02:23:50.883
next slide, please.

02:23:53.700 --> 02:23:56.650
Expenditures and assistance levels,

02:23:56.650 --> 02:24:01.650
the total amount so far this
year we've spent on PIPP

02:24:01.660 --> 02:24:06.660
is 28.7 million for 28,480 households.

02:24:07.930 --> 02:24:12.600
The average PIPP benefit
amount last program year was 1,007

02:24:13.630 --> 02:24:15.863
and we're pretty
close to that right now.

02:24:17.607 --> 02:24:20.610
PIPP also helps lower
household energy burden

02:24:20.610 --> 02:24:22.550
for families with lowest income.

02:24:22.550 --> 02:24:24.000
Go to the next slide, please.

02:24:26.610 --> 02:24:28.580
That's, you know with our federal LIHEAP

02:24:28.580 --> 02:24:31.040
we're looking more at energy
burden, and so we're trying

02:24:31.040 --> 02:24:35.430
to compare our state funded
PIPP in the same regard.

02:24:35.430 --> 02:24:37.020
And this is helping us actually.

02:24:37.020 --> 02:24:41.020
So you can look at this later
and if you have questions,

02:24:41.020 --> 02:24:42.710
I'll try to answer them

02:24:42.710 --> 02:24:47.023
but I'm not the energy
burden expert, next please.

02:24:49.080 --> 02:24:53.700
So changes that we made
in Illinois to the PIPP program

02:24:53.700 --> 02:24:58.700
because of the pandemic,
there are features that are sort

02:24:59.010 --> 02:25:00.650
of like collection activities.

02:25:00.650 --> 02:25:03.390
You know, our local
administering agencies

02:25:03.390 --> 02:25:07.257
they do case management
for the customers

02:25:07.257 --> 02:25:09.470
and there's a recertification,

02:25:09.470 --> 02:25:12.100
there's a missed payment clock

02:25:12.100 --> 02:25:15.130
that gives customers
opportunities to miss payments

02:25:15.130 --> 02:25:19.520
and make them up, and so
we suspended those activities

02:25:19.520 --> 02:25:24.070
because most of the agencies
were not seeing customers

02:25:24.070 --> 02:25:27.050
in person and everybody was confused,

02:25:27.050 --> 02:25:29.220
so that was one thing we did.

02:25:29.220 --> 02:25:34.220
Also, we started our
new PIPP season earlier,

02:25:34.660 --> 02:25:38.093
it started July 27th
instead of October 1st,

02:25:39.290 --> 02:25:43.100
we are also extending the
amount, the length of time

02:25:43.100 --> 02:25:46.960
that customers can apply
for PIPP to March 31st,

02:25:46.960 --> 02:25:49.790
instead of December 31st,

02:25:49.790 --> 02:25:53.700
and normally we have a
priority period enrollment

02:25:55.010 --> 02:25:57.130
but this year, since
we started here in July,

02:25:57.130 --> 02:25:58.980
we just wanted everyone to be able

02:25:58.980 --> 02:26:01.490
to apply especially households

02:26:01.490 --> 02:26:05.760
that maybe are newly
unemployed or underemployed.

02:26:05.760 --> 02:26:10.760
And so far that seems
to be going pretty well.

02:26:12.102 --> 02:26:13.223
The next slide, please.

02:26:14.080 --> 02:26:16.580
So thank you, and there's
our contact information.

02:26:19.250 --> 02:26:21.650
<v ->Wonderful, thank you.</v>

02:26:21.650 --> 02:26:22.660
I'm gonna bounce right along

02:26:22.660 --> 02:26:26.422
'cause we're running behind
to our next next speaker

02:26:26.422 --> 02:26:31.422
is Barbara Bossart with the
Public Utilities Commission.

02:26:34.740 --> 02:26:37.630
<v Barbara>Hello, thank
you for having me.</v>

02:26:37.630 --> 02:26:39.090
As she said, I'm Barbara Bossart

02:26:39.090 --> 02:26:42.160
and I'm with the Public
Utilities Commission of Ohio,

02:26:42.160 --> 02:26:44.870
and I'm the chief of the reliability

02:26:44.870 --> 02:26:46.660
and service analysis division.

02:26:46.660 --> 02:26:49.140
And we oversee the enforcement

02:26:49.140 --> 02:26:51.160
of the deposit disconnection rules

02:26:51.160 --> 02:26:54.193
and the low income program.

02:26:56.290 --> 02:27:01.290
Next slide please, so I
divided my presentation

02:27:01.700 --> 02:27:03.880
into three specific questions.

02:27:03.880 --> 02:27:07.380
First one is what is Ohio done
to protect utility customers?

02:27:07.380 --> 02:27:09.720
So first the Commission took action,

02:27:09.720 --> 02:27:13.220
so it's March 12th, 2020 order.

02:27:13.220 --> 02:27:17.560
And it asked the utility
companies to consider ways

02:27:17.560 --> 02:27:19.660
to keep service on regardless

02:27:19.660 --> 02:27:21.863
of the customer's payment status,

02:27:22.920 --> 02:27:25.317
and the utility companies did respond,

02:27:25.317 --> 02:27:28.910
and they stopped
disconnections while they reviewed

02:27:28.910 --> 02:27:31.930
their policies to help
reduce the economic impact

02:27:31.930 --> 02:27:36.930
on customers, many companies
also waived reconnection fees

02:27:36.940 --> 02:27:38.770
to restore service to those that

02:27:38.770 --> 02:27:41.800
had already previously
been disconnected,

02:27:41.800 --> 02:27:45.170
they also some wave late payment fees

02:27:45.170 --> 02:27:48.280
and credit card payment fees.

02:27:48.280 --> 02:27:51.560
The Commission then
later required the large gas

02:27:51.560 --> 02:27:55.240
and electric utilities to
file transition plans prior

02:27:55.240 --> 02:27:59.410
to resuming disconnections
for nonpayment based plans,

02:27:59.410 --> 02:28:02.270
they filed at least 45 days prior

02:28:02.270 --> 02:28:06.433
to resumption of
disconnection, next slide please.

02:28:08.720 --> 02:28:13.720
So Ohio administrative code
rules, we do have requirements

02:28:13.790 --> 02:28:15.210
I guess when electric companies

02:28:15.210 --> 02:28:17.990
do offer extended
payment plans to customers

02:28:17.990 --> 02:28:22.020
and threat of disconnections,
so first they need to offer,

02:28:22.020 --> 02:28:24.040
a mutually agreeable payment plan,

02:28:24.040 --> 02:28:27.460
but if one cannot be accepted,

02:28:27.460 --> 02:28:32.435
then they are required year
around to offer a 1/6th plan

02:28:32.435 --> 02:28:35.540
or 1/9th plan or the percentage
of income payment plan

02:28:35.540 --> 02:28:37.760
which I'll discuss over the next slide.

02:28:37.760 --> 02:28:42.690
They all are required
to offer the budget plans.

02:28:42.690 --> 02:28:47.490
So customers who are nodding
arrears can join a budget plan

02:28:47.490 --> 02:28:49.363
which is a 12 month program.

02:28:50.360 --> 02:28:53.500
The Commission every year
before it's winter heating season

02:28:53.500 --> 02:28:57.302
which starts in November orders

02:28:57.302 --> 02:29:01.306
a whatever reconnection
order which requires

02:29:01.306 --> 02:29:06.306
that utilities accept a
payment of 175 to prevent

02:29:08.140 --> 02:29:11.630
or maintain service, and then
the customers to be enrolled

02:29:11.630 --> 02:29:14.073
into one of the extended payment plans.

02:29:15.321 --> 02:29:19.300
I know you may not have a winner order,

02:29:19.300 --> 02:29:22.900
but I think this could be
utilized at any time of the year,

02:29:22.900 --> 02:29:24.060
depending on the company.

02:29:24.060 --> 02:29:26.750
Also, I do wanna mention
that utility companies

02:29:26.750 --> 02:29:29.640
do offer assistance to shareholder

02:29:29.640 --> 02:29:32.420
and customer contribution funds.

02:29:32.420 --> 02:29:35.660
During the pandemic, many
of the companies had increased

02:29:35.660 --> 02:29:38.460
the eligibility requirements
and the dollar amount

02:29:38.460 --> 02:29:43.363
to assist more customers,
next slide, please.

02:29:45.610 --> 02:29:47.880
And so I just wanted to give distinction

02:29:47.880 --> 02:29:51.041
between our 1/6th
plan and our 1/9th plan,

02:29:51.041 --> 02:29:53.980
a 1/6th plan requires six equal payments

02:29:53.980 --> 02:29:56.740
on the past due balance, in
addition to the full payment

02:29:56.740 --> 02:29:58.220
of the current bill.

02:29:58.220 --> 02:30:00.090
But the one night
plan is a little different,

02:30:00.090 --> 02:30:02.470
it requires nine equal monthly payments

02:30:02.470 --> 02:30:04.280
on the past due balance in addition

02:30:04.280 --> 02:30:06.940
to a budget payment plan,

02:30:06.940 --> 02:30:09.290
this is hopefully that the
customers will get used

02:30:09.290 --> 02:30:12.900
to the levelized bill and
continue on to a budget plan.

02:30:12.900 --> 02:30:17.636
Also the utilities with
their transition plans,

02:30:17.636 --> 02:30:21.900
we're encouraged off their
flexible payment arrangement,

02:30:21.900 --> 02:30:25.580
and also many of them
offered a 1/12 payment plan

02:30:25.580 --> 02:30:28.600
in addition to the
required payment plan.

02:30:28.600 --> 02:30:30.150
They also offered to work

02:30:30.150 --> 02:30:32.783
with commercial
customers on payment plan.

02:30:33.740 --> 02:30:35.013
Next slide please.

02:30:36.970 --> 02:30:40.450
So our PIPP Plus program
here are the qualifications.

02:30:40.450 --> 02:30:42.580
I'm not going to read them all to you,

02:30:42.580 --> 02:30:44.380
but it is for customers at,

02:30:44.380 --> 02:30:47.560
or below 150% of the poverty level

02:30:47.560 --> 02:30:49.583
for at least the last three months.

02:30:50.680 --> 02:30:53.820
And there are other
eligibility such as applying

02:30:53.820 --> 02:30:58.600
for weatherization
program, next slide, please.

02:30:58.600 --> 02:31:01.050
Trying to get done in 10 minutes.

02:31:01.050 --> 02:31:05.960
So the benefits are,
if you heat with gas,

02:31:05.960 --> 02:31:09.970
you would pay 6% of your
monthly household income for gas,

02:31:09.970 --> 02:31:13.070
and 6% of the monthly
household income for electric

02:31:13.070 --> 02:31:15.200
or 10% whichever is less.

02:31:15.200 --> 02:31:17.470
For households that
heat with electricity,

02:31:17.470 --> 02:31:21.560
you would just pay 10% of
your household income or $10

02:31:21.560 --> 02:31:23.010
whichever is less.

02:31:23.010 --> 02:31:25.170
In order to incentivize customers

02:31:25.170 --> 02:31:29.020
to pay on time and in full
'cause we want the customers

02:31:29.020 --> 02:31:31.220
to get used to paying bills monthly,

02:31:31.220 --> 02:31:33.719
and it helps the cash flow to utilities.

02:31:33.719 --> 02:31:37.900
We have an incentives, so
if you pay on time and in full,

02:31:37.900 --> 02:31:40.680
the remaining balance
of your current utility bill

02:31:40.680 --> 02:31:45.030
would be credited, and also if
you came in with an arrearage

02:31:45.030 --> 02:31:49.303
1/24th credit for the
accumulated arrearage

02:31:50.770 --> 02:31:54.363
would be credited as
well, next slide please.

02:31:57.040 --> 02:32:00.300
And we really stressed customer outreach

02:32:00.300 --> 02:32:02.223
during this transition period.

02:32:03.651 --> 02:32:07.840
So the PUCO course, we provide
education through our website

02:32:07.840 --> 02:32:11.573
our social media, call center,
and speaking engagements.

02:32:12.410 --> 02:32:16.020
I've put a link to our website where

02:32:16.020 --> 02:32:18.230
we have the utility restart plans.

02:32:18.230 --> 02:32:21.960
So each company filed
their own a transition plan

02:32:21.960 --> 02:32:24.830
to say what they were
going to do as a part

02:32:24.830 --> 02:32:29.660
of the transition prior
to disconnections.

02:32:29.660 --> 02:32:32.260
So that might be a useful site for you.

02:32:32.260 --> 02:32:34.540
And through the Commission
orders approving utilities'

02:32:34.540 --> 02:32:37.810
transition plans the
Commission did encourage

02:32:37.810 --> 02:32:40.560
each utility company to offer
those flexible payment plans

02:32:40.560 --> 02:32:44.100
and to provide outreach to customers.

02:32:44.100 --> 02:32:48.840
And many of them do, they
have a web page dedicated

02:32:48.840 --> 02:32:52.300
to COVID-19 issues, they
also issued press release

02:32:52.300 --> 02:32:57.300
and they use their social
media as well, next slide please.

02:32:58.980 --> 02:33:01.970
So another question that I was asked

02:33:01.970 --> 02:33:04.270
was what are the
possible impacts of lifting

02:33:04.270 --> 02:33:05.690
the consumer protections

02:33:05.690 --> 02:33:10.440
and what mitigation
measures are in place?

02:33:10.440 --> 02:33:13.670
So the companies do the transition plans

02:33:13.670 --> 02:33:16.780
started a resumption of disconnections,

02:33:16.780 --> 02:33:20.590
and natural gas companies
started in mainly in August

02:33:20.590 --> 02:33:25.283
and electrics resumed in
September for their approved plans.

02:33:26.480 --> 02:33:29.500
So we did expect that there
would be an increase of calls

02:33:29.500 --> 02:33:34.020
to our call center and
to the utilities call center,

02:33:34.020 --> 02:33:36.800
so if a company requested a waiver

02:33:36.800 --> 02:33:40.030
of our call response time
requirements in our roles

02:33:40.960 --> 02:33:44.500
and notification to the Commission,

02:33:44.500 --> 02:33:47.950
if they could not meet those standards,

02:33:47.950 --> 02:33:50.583
the Commission did
waive those requirements,

02:33:51.642 --> 02:33:53.850
and then we just prepared
our call center staff

02:33:53.850 --> 02:33:56.270
and all of our staff with
the knowledge they needed

02:33:56.270 --> 02:33:59.220
to help customer find
assistance out there,

02:33:59.220 --> 02:34:01.583
and know what plans
are available to them.

02:34:02.650 --> 02:34:06.420
Also, we assumed that there
was going to be customers

02:34:06.420 --> 02:34:08.940
who have never needed
assistance before that were going

02:34:08.940 --> 02:34:12.000
to need assistance and
not know where to find it.

02:34:12.000 --> 02:34:17.000
So again, outreach efforts
with different agencies

02:34:17.120 --> 02:34:22.120
and with our utilities
was very key to that,

02:34:23.710 --> 02:34:24.913
next slide, please.

02:34:28.040 --> 02:34:30.320
Also, we thought there would be...

02:34:30.320 --> 02:34:33.540
I will say with the call
center I wanted to say that I,

02:34:33.540 --> 02:34:36.840
we did just check our numbers,
we did not get the increase

02:34:36.840 --> 02:34:38.660
in call volume that we
thought we would get

02:34:38.660 --> 02:34:43.270
in August and September, it
may be because companies

02:34:43.270 --> 02:34:47.060
were exposed to move
back into its disconnections

02:34:47.060 --> 02:34:49.770
or it could be our outreach
that did a wonderful job.

02:34:49.770 --> 02:34:53.135
We're still revealing all of our data.

02:34:53.135 --> 02:34:57.400
So we also expected an
increase in disconnections.

02:34:57.400 --> 02:34:59.520
Again, this is pretty
early since the company

02:34:59.520 --> 02:35:02.000
has just started disconnections,

02:35:02.000 --> 02:35:04.230
just as a quick glance,
it looks like our numbers

02:35:04.230 --> 02:35:06.930
are lower than they were for last year,

02:35:06.930 --> 02:35:10.550
but we will continue to
monitor those activities,

02:35:10.550 --> 02:35:13.460
and any directives that we
get from the Governor's office

02:35:13.460 --> 02:35:18.140
I'm sure the Commission
will take action if needed.

02:35:18.140 --> 02:35:23.060
Also we do have medical
certificates that customers can use

02:35:23.060 --> 02:35:28.060
if there is an illness or a
medical issue in the household,

02:35:28.710 --> 02:35:33.310
it delays disconnection for 30
days, and it could be used up

02:35:33.310 --> 02:35:35.663
to three times in a 12 month period.

02:35:36.580 --> 02:35:41.390
Also, we did fear that there'd
be some increased activity

02:35:41.390 --> 02:35:43.290
at the community action agencies,

02:35:43.290 --> 02:35:48.290
as they process our applications
for PIPP and LIHEAP funds.

02:35:48.820 --> 02:35:53.510
So the Commission did
suspend for a period of time,

02:35:53.510 --> 02:35:57.820
the re-verification requirements
to be on PIPP program

02:35:57.820 --> 02:36:01.190
where you have to rebury
annually your income.

02:36:01.190 --> 02:36:04.100
And also the requirement
at the anniversary date,

02:36:04.100 --> 02:36:06.200
where you have to be current

02:36:06.200 --> 02:36:10.580
on your 12 month installment plan.

02:36:10.580 --> 02:36:14.313
And so that was waived
for a time period as well,

02:36:15.200 --> 02:36:16.603
and next slide please.

02:36:18.180 --> 02:36:19.890
So what are the economic impacts

02:36:21.530 --> 02:36:23.860
regarding these consumer
protection programs?

02:36:23.860 --> 02:36:27.730
So immediately we don't
believe that the rate payers

02:36:27.730 --> 02:36:31.560
will see an impact due
to the regulatory leg,

02:36:31.560 --> 02:36:35.470
but we do expect that there
could possibly be in impacts

02:36:35.470 --> 02:36:38.943
on the uncollectable
riders decoupling riders,

02:36:38.943 --> 02:36:42.870
or a increase in requests
for deferral recovery

02:36:42.870 --> 02:36:47.870
due to COVID expenses, the
immediate part on the utilities

02:36:48.180 --> 02:36:53.130
would be pashed flow
decrease a loss of sales

02:36:54.500 --> 02:36:57.193
and some COVID related expense.

02:36:58.160 --> 02:36:59.290
Next slide, please

02:37:01.720 --> 02:37:03.460
So to help manage these impact.

02:37:03.460 --> 02:37:07.140
Again, outreach was a
key 'cause we do know there

02:37:07.140 --> 02:37:12.140
is available funds through the
CARES Act that governments,

02:37:12.178 --> 02:37:16.910
cities, and counties have
received, we wanna make sure

02:37:16.910 --> 02:37:21.610
that those funds are distributed
to customers that need them

02:37:21.610 --> 02:37:24.280
and customers know where to find them.

02:37:24.280 --> 02:37:26.680
Again, the Commission wants to make sure

02:37:26.680 --> 02:37:30.790
that the utilities are
also tracking cost savings

02:37:30.790 --> 02:37:32.420
along with expenses.

02:37:32.420 --> 02:37:37.420
If they are going to seek
recovery for any deferrals.

02:37:39.720 --> 02:37:44.250
And again, increase with the
flexible payment arrangements

02:37:44.250 --> 02:37:48.920
to help customers maintain
service, to get to this pandemic

02:37:48.920 --> 02:37:53.750
to help decrease any impact
on the uncollectable rider,

02:37:53.750 --> 02:37:57.570
so that's the end of my presentation.

02:37:57.570 --> 02:38:00.830
Hopefully I've answered
the questions for you later.

02:38:00.830 --> 02:38:02.430
Thank you.

02:38:02.430 --> 02:38:03.950
<v ->Wonderful, thank you Barbara.</v>

02:38:03.950 --> 02:38:06.892
And yeah, we'll take
questions for all the panelists

02:38:06.892 --> 02:38:11.892
and to refill your presentation.

02:38:14.020 --> 02:38:16.130
<v ->Thank you, Alison,
and thank you to the staff</v>

02:38:16.130 --> 02:38:18.680
at the California Public
Utilities Commission

02:38:18.680 --> 02:38:20.620
for inviting me to speak today.

02:38:20.620 --> 02:38:22.030
My name is Theresa Washington,

02:38:22.030 --> 02:38:24.260
I'm the manager of
Credit Hardship Programs

02:38:24.260 --> 02:38:27.100
and Protections here
at Eversource Energy.

02:38:27.100 --> 02:38:28.750
And I'm gonna be sharing with everybody

02:38:28.750 --> 02:38:31.540
about our arrears management programs.

02:38:31.540 --> 02:38:33.270
We do have programs that are available

02:38:33.270 --> 02:38:36.670
that help customers reduce
those past due balances,

02:38:36.670 --> 02:38:38.650
it's a real win-win for everyone,

02:38:38.650 --> 02:38:41.730
and because especially
important right now

02:38:41.730 --> 02:38:44.170
is that our customers are
facing these challenges,

02:38:44.170 --> 02:38:47.623
they've never seen before
due to the pandemic, next slide.

02:38:50.630 --> 02:38:52.320
And I know what the interest of time,

02:38:52.320 --> 02:38:54.940
I'll certainly just share quickly.

02:38:54.940 --> 02:38:57.200
Of course with Eversource Energy,

02:38:57.200 --> 02:39:01.010
we are covering three
states between Connecticut,

02:39:01.010 --> 02:39:05.690
Massachusetts and New
Hampshire for gas, electric

02:39:05.690 --> 02:39:09.790
and water utilities with
over 4 million customers.

02:39:09.790 --> 02:39:13.750
Next slide, thank you.

02:39:13.750 --> 02:39:15.310
I'll be discussing the importance

02:39:15.310 --> 02:39:17.170
of our utilities offering programs

02:39:17.170 --> 02:39:19.200
that help low-income customers.

02:39:19.200 --> 02:39:23.150
What tools do we have,
as a utility in our toolbox,

02:39:23.150 --> 02:39:26.860
provide a deeper look into our
arrears management programs

02:39:26.860 --> 02:39:29.630
and then finally share with you
about Eversource's response

02:39:29.630 --> 02:39:31.990
to the pandemic, and how we are,

02:39:31.990 --> 02:39:35.833
or plan on returning to
business as usual, next slide.

02:39:37.810 --> 02:39:40.280
So what should the
utilities offer these programs

02:39:40.280 --> 02:39:42.310
that help low-income customers?

02:39:42.310 --> 02:39:44.810
We know what the
trifecta of benefits that start

02:39:44.810 --> 02:39:47.930
with operational benefits,
the last thing we wanna do

02:39:47.930 --> 02:39:50.190
is disconnect service to customers

02:39:50.190 --> 02:39:53.590
by offering these programs
that help low-income customers

02:39:53.590 --> 02:39:57.020
maintain service and pay
down those past due balances,

02:39:57.020 --> 02:40:00.373
we can avoid field
visits by our technician.

02:40:01.310 --> 02:40:03.460
There's societal benefits, right?

02:40:03.460 --> 02:40:05.200
We keeping the balances low,

02:40:05.200 --> 02:40:08.200
helps customers by reducing any costs

02:40:08.200 --> 02:40:10.163
that are borne by all rate payers.

02:40:11.080 --> 02:40:12.850
And then there's customer benefits,

02:40:12.850 --> 02:40:14.380
but I'll go into the customer benefits

02:40:14.380 --> 02:40:17.283
in just a few slides, next, please.

02:40:19.200 --> 02:40:22.070
So what are the tools
in our toolbox, right?

02:40:22.070 --> 02:40:24.630
Two of our three states currently offer

02:40:24.630 --> 02:40:28.040
in arrears management program,
which are programs offered

02:40:28.040 --> 02:40:30.830
to the low-income
customers that helps reduce

02:40:30.830 --> 02:40:33.970
or even eliminate past due balances.

02:40:33.970 --> 02:40:36.270
We have discount utility rates.

02:40:36.270 --> 02:40:39.220
So customers who are
receiving public assistance

02:40:39.220 --> 02:40:41.490
they're eligible for a
discounted utility rate.

02:40:41.490 --> 02:40:44.110
And we have those
available in Massachusetts

02:40:44.110 --> 02:40:45.163
and in New Hampshire.

02:40:46.210 --> 02:40:47.400
Payment arrangements,

02:40:47.400 --> 02:40:49.670
we've always offered
payment arrangements

02:40:49.670 --> 02:40:52.900
to our customers in which
customers can spread payments

02:40:52.900 --> 02:40:55.810
over maybe a six month period of time,

02:40:55.810 --> 02:41:00.810
due to COVID those have
expanded to 12 months

02:41:00.880 --> 02:41:04.193
for our Massachusetts
New Hampshire area,

02:41:04.193 --> 02:41:06.953
and in Connecticut, up to 24 months.

02:41:08.040 --> 02:41:11.480
We have deposit rules under
normal course of business,

02:41:11.480 --> 02:41:14.750
of course, deposits are
built at the time of connect

02:41:14.750 --> 02:41:17.550
or collected upon reconnect.

02:41:17.550 --> 02:41:19.330
Now that deposits are held usually

02:41:19.330 --> 02:41:22.003
for a specified period of time,

02:41:23.180 --> 02:41:27.190
we have energy efficiency
programs that customers

02:41:27.190 --> 02:41:31.090
who are eligible can receive
home energy assessments

02:41:31.090 --> 02:41:34.600
at no cost to them, we
send an energy specialist

02:41:34.600 --> 02:41:36.120
they can assess the homes needs,

02:41:36.120 --> 02:41:38.720
installed energy savings products.

02:41:38.720 --> 02:41:41.670
The goal is really to
reduce that energy bills

02:41:41.670 --> 02:41:42.893
through these programs.

02:41:44.020 --> 02:41:46.940
We also offer budget
building which customers

02:41:46.940 --> 02:41:51.030
can pay their average
bill over a 12 month period.

02:41:51.030 --> 02:41:53.400
It really levelized his
payments for customers

02:41:53.400 --> 02:41:55.690
and gives customers peace of mind

02:41:55.690 --> 02:41:57.533
with fixed monthly payments.

02:41:58.480 --> 02:42:01.410
But covered some of the
tools that we have in the toolbox

02:42:01.410 --> 02:42:05.240
and now we'll go into our
arrears management program,

02:42:05.240 --> 02:42:06.073
next slide.

02:42:07.790 --> 02:42:10.690
So these are essentially the
financial assistance programs,

02:42:10.690 --> 02:42:12.700
they're really designed to help reduce

02:42:12.700 --> 02:42:15.120
even eliminate those past due balances

02:42:15.120 --> 02:42:17.090
with forgiveness credits,

02:42:17.090 --> 02:42:19.333
given to customers with
consistent payments,

02:42:20.330 --> 02:42:23.010
residential customers
that are receiving benefits

02:42:23.010 --> 02:42:27.000
such as with WIC, food
stamps, their income may fall

02:42:27.000 --> 02:42:30.870
at or below the 60% of
the state medium income

02:42:30.870 --> 02:42:35.340
which is something that
Connecticut and Massachusetts use

02:42:35.340 --> 02:42:37.650
at the state medium income level.

02:42:37.650 --> 02:42:39.820
They're eligible for our programs,

02:42:39.820 --> 02:42:42.950
and by participating customers
are avoiding disconnection

02:42:42.950 --> 02:42:45.530
of service and they gain a fresh start

02:42:45.530 --> 02:42:49.403
as they reduce those past
due balances, next slide.

02:42:52.330 --> 02:42:54.580
So you've actually heard
me already speak to some

02:42:54.580 --> 02:42:57.340
of the benefits of those
programs as it promotes

02:42:57.340 --> 02:43:01.680
and enables consistent payment,
what customers are enrolled

02:43:01.680 --> 02:43:03.480
their services protected
and the customer

02:43:03.480 --> 02:43:07.060
is getting a fresh start, by
reducing their past due balance

02:43:07.060 --> 02:43:09.913
through the forgiveness
credits and monthly payments.

02:43:10.820 --> 02:43:13.320
Our arrears management
program here at Eversource,

02:43:13.320 --> 02:43:17.700
it's called new start, we have
just over 19,000 customers

02:43:17.700 --> 02:43:20.340
in Connecticut and Massachusetts
that are enrolled right now

02:43:20.340 --> 02:43:23.490
in the program, and we're
in the process of expanding

02:43:23.490 --> 02:43:25.373
that to our New Hampshire base.

02:43:26.980 --> 02:43:29.217
Excellent, last topic I'll cover

02:43:32.980 --> 02:43:36.360
is really our company's
response to the pandemic.

02:43:36.360 --> 02:43:38.910
Back in March when we
started learning more and more

02:43:38.910 --> 02:43:40.940
about the pandemic, we took action

02:43:40.940 --> 02:43:43.647
to suspend the termination notices

02:43:43.647 --> 02:43:46.870
and shut off the cross all three states.

02:43:46.870 --> 02:43:50.370
We simplified our enrollment
into our new start program,

02:43:50.370 --> 02:43:52.270
so if customers fell off the program

02:43:52.270 --> 02:43:55.850
because of missed payments,
they could easily re-enroll

02:43:55.850 --> 02:43:57.713
no upfront payment requirements.

02:43:58.790 --> 02:44:01.720
There were years management
programs really have always been

02:44:01.720 --> 02:44:05.220
for residential customers,
but we did introduce

02:44:05.220 --> 02:44:08.410
a small business arrears
management program

02:44:08.410 --> 02:44:11.985
or forgiveness program
where a business customers

02:44:11.985 --> 02:44:15.590
if they participate in the
payment arrangements

02:44:15.590 --> 02:44:18.670
that they have in
upon their first payment,

02:44:18.670 --> 02:44:21.180
into our small business program,

02:44:21.180 --> 02:44:23.943
their April utility bill
would be credited.

02:44:25.030 --> 02:44:26.700
So we really think that's a great tool

02:44:26.700 --> 02:44:30.340
to expand the forgiveness programs

02:44:30.340 --> 02:44:33.160
to not only residential
customers, but giving opportunity

02:44:33.160 --> 02:44:35.403
for our business
customers to participate.

02:44:36.750 --> 02:44:40.260
And lastly, we applied
security deposits up

02:44:40.260 --> 02:44:44.700
to $20 million in security
deposits that we applied back

02:44:44.700 --> 02:44:47.710
to our business and
residential customers

02:44:47.710 --> 02:44:50.003
that had passed you arrears balances.

02:44:50.970 --> 02:44:54.240
So we help to reduce it, so
there were security deposits

02:44:54.240 --> 02:44:57.150
that we already had on
hand and customers in need.

02:44:57.150 --> 02:45:00.393
We were able to apply those
to those arrears balances.

02:45:02.030 --> 02:45:02.863
Next slide.

02:45:06.150 --> 02:45:08.720
So I've touched upon the
work that Eversource has done

02:45:08.720 --> 02:45:11.560
to reduce the balances
through our programs,

02:45:11.560 --> 02:45:13.610
extended payment plans,

02:45:13.610 --> 02:45:17.140
and the security
deposit application back

02:45:17.140 --> 02:45:18.800
to the past due balances.

02:45:18.800 --> 02:45:20.530
But there is a time that's gonna come.

02:45:20.530 --> 02:45:23.260
You know, where the company
is resuming a normal course

02:45:23.260 --> 02:45:25.690
of business to the best of our ability

02:45:25.690 --> 02:45:29.063
and with the most CARE for
how this impacts our customers.

02:45:30.060 --> 02:45:32.840
So New Hampshire was the
first of our service territories

02:45:32.840 --> 02:45:36.380
to resume disconnect
notices and shut off actions.

02:45:36.380 --> 02:45:39.180
But we relied on our
strong relationships

02:45:39.180 --> 02:45:40.970
with the key stakeholders,

02:45:40.970 --> 02:45:43.370
such as the office of consumer council,

02:45:43.370 --> 02:45:47.490
the public utility Commission,
their social agencies

02:45:47.490 --> 02:45:51.440
and community based
organizations to really work together

02:45:51.440 --> 02:45:54.710
to develop a plan of
how to resume collections

02:45:54.710 --> 02:45:56.403
and being in shutoff, if needed.

02:45:57.380 --> 02:45:59.050
We were able to have these discussions

02:45:59.050 --> 02:46:01.560
because we built
awareness around the actions

02:46:01.560 --> 02:46:04.023
that were taken and
the programs offered.

02:46:04.870 --> 02:46:08.080
Customers received
monthly communications

02:46:08.080 --> 02:46:12.150
through various messages,
we did texts, email letters,

02:46:12.150 --> 02:46:15.100
live outbound calling press releases.

02:46:15.100 --> 02:46:19.010
We put information up
front on our IVR system

02:46:19.010 --> 02:46:22.060
to directly tell all customers
about the payment plans

02:46:22.060 --> 02:46:26.230
that we have, so
communicating, communicating,

02:46:26.230 --> 02:46:27.737
and communicating about programs

02:46:27.737 --> 02:46:30.657
and services available, was really key.

02:46:31.590 --> 02:46:34.590
We expanded our
outreach by holding webinars

02:46:34.590 --> 02:46:38.420
for our business customers
and our residential customers,

02:46:38.420 --> 02:46:42.600
we even did webinars for our agencies.

02:46:42.600 --> 02:46:46.440
So we wanted to share
what the utilities were doing

02:46:46.440 --> 02:46:48.223
what programs we had available.

02:46:49.913 --> 02:46:53.000
And Eversource is navigating
really an uncharted waters,

02:46:53.000 --> 02:46:55.220
like many of the other utilities,

02:46:55.220 --> 02:46:57.390
are everything that I'm hearing today.

02:46:57.390 --> 02:46:59.710
We kind of are in the same boat.

02:46:59.710 --> 02:47:02.400
I believe that using
those tools in our tool box

02:47:02.400 --> 02:47:05.150
and providing customers
with programs that can ease

02:47:05.150 --> 02:47:08.790
that financial burden,
customers may feel right now

02:47:08.790 --> 02:47:10.740
it's gonna help us get through, Alison.

02:47:15.051 --> 02:47:16.560
<v ->All right, thank you
so much Theresa.</v>

02:47:16.560 --> 02:47:20.333
And I wanna you thank
again all of our panelists then,

02:47:21.180 --> 02:47:24.020
and then Jim Zolnierek, that's the end.

02:47:24.020 --> 02:47:27.160
Barbara Bossart and Theresa Washington.

02:47:27.160 --> 02:47:29.130
We're gonna turn it over
to the Commissioners

02:47:29.130 --> 02:47:32.080
to ask questions before as I do that,

02:47:32.080 --> 02:47:34.530
just wanna also think Chayla Funk

02:47:34.530 --> 02:47:38.400
who did all the upfront
research in order to understand

02:47:38.400 --> 02:47:42.790
what does variety and diversity
of the tools in the toolbox

02:47:42.790 --> 02:47:45.420
or policies to protect the customers

02:47:45.420 --> 02:47:48.110
are that these different
jurisdictions brings.

02:47:48.110 --> 02:47:50.800
So thanks again Chayla for your efforts,

02:47:50.800 --> 02:47:52.123
getting us to this point.

02:47:53.616 --> 02:47:56.963
So Commissioners, please
feel free to just unmute yourself.

02:47:58.610 --> 02:47:59.757
<v ->This is Commissioner
Rechtschaffen,</v>

02:47:59.757 --> 02:48:03.543
and Barbara I have a question for you.

02:48:05.490 --> 02:48:08.480
You said that since you've
resumed disconnections

02:48:09.360 --> 02:48:12.470
since you resumed
disconnection has been lower

02:48:12.470 --> 02:48:13.623
than last year.

02:48:15.590 --> 02:48:18.980
<v ->Yeah, we're still like
reviewing our data.</v>

02:48:18.980 --> 02:48:22.640
It comes in a little behind,

02:48:22.640 --> 02:48:26.950
so since they just gas just
started in August and September

02:48:26.950 --> 02:48:30.140
started or electric started September,

02:48:30.140 --> 02:48:32.530
it does look like it's
still lower than it was

02:48:32.530 --> 02:48:35.380
in previous years, but you know,

02:48:35.380 --> 02:48:37.929
we're not sure if that's
just the ramping up

02:48:37.929 --> 02:48:42.929
from the utility companies
and or is it, you know

02:48:44.580 --> 02:48:47.910
because they are offering
flexible payment plans, not just

02:48:48.970 --> 02:48:52.490
you know, customers finding
the assistance that they need.

02:48:52.490 --> 02:48:53.810
<v ->Well, that was my question.</v>

02:48:53.810 --> 02:48:55.340
What do you attribute that

02:48:55.340 --> 02:48:57.200
to when do you expect it to last...

02:48:58.919 --> 02:49:01.883
<v ->We're still analyzing,
yep, still looking.</v>

02:49:06.050 --> 02:49:07.517
<v ->Thank you.</v>

02:49:07.517 --> 02:49:09.830
<v ->And Barbara I also
had a question for you,</v>

02:49:09.830 --> 02:49:14.220
and I wonder if maybe
I just misunderstood,

02:49:14.220 --> 02:49:16.580
but on the PIPP program, and by the way,

02:49:16.580 --> 02:49:19.490
every time we've been
looking into PIPP programs

02:49:19.490 --> 02:49:21.880
everyone always references Ohio.

02:49:21.880 --> 02:49:24.850
So sounds like you have
a good reputation there

02:49:24.850 --> 02:49:29.673
but did I understand
correctly that it's a $10 a month

02:49:32.600 --> 02:49:37.063
pretty much set or lower
based on a potential?

02:49:38.079 --> 02:49:43.079
<v ->It's 6% of your income,
monthly income or 10% of $10</v>

02:49:46.900 --> 02:49:49.930
whichever is less, so if you
have zero monthly income,

02:49:49.930 --> 02:49:51.833
you would have to at least pay $10,

02:49:53.870 --> 02:49:57.823
but otherwise it's 6% of your
household monthly income.

02:49:58.810 --> 02:50:02.370
I should note that we did just
have a rulemaking proceeding

02:50:02.370 --> 02:50:07.370
and the Commission did
agree to a 5%, but it's still going

02:50:09.000 --> 02:50:12.613
through the rule making
process, so I just wanna note that.

02:50:13.950 --> 02:50:16.190
<v ->Oh okay, 'cause it
says whichever is less.</v>

02:50:16.190 --> 02:50:18.850
So does that mean
the most it could be $10

02:50:18.850 --> 02:50:21.100
or is it whichever is...

02:50:21.100 --> 02:50:24.220
<v ->Oh, I'm so sorry, it should be.</v>

02:50:24.220 --> 02:50:27.571
Whichever is more I'll hop up.

02:50:27.571 --> 02:50:32.017
<v ->Yeah, I see, I see,
okay, that makes sense.</v>

02:50:34.955 --> 02:50:39.943
Okay, and how many customers
do you have participating?

02:50:44.683 --> 02:50:47.283
<v ->I just looked at those
numbers one moment here.</v>

02:50:52.440 --> 02:50:56.953
I could give you 2019
numbers for the total

02:50:58.240 --> 02:51:03.100
for all of our investor owned
electric electric customers.

02:51:03.100 --> 02:51:06.267
It's about 220,000
and in 2019 it was less,

02:51:20.270 --> 02:51:23.213
it was just 9,466.

02:51:25.680 --> 02:51:26.520
<v ->Thank you.</v>

02:51:26.520 --> 02:51:28.090
<v ->I'm so sorry,
that's not correct.</v>

02:51:28.090 --> 02:51:31.590
That was just one company,
I was like, that's not right.

02:51:31.590 --> 02:51:36.157
Sorry about that, it's
about roughly 120.

02:51:37.230 --> 02:51:38.130
<v ->On the gas side?</v>

02:51:39.050 --> 02:51:43.320
Okay, and in general, is there a certain

02:51:43.320 --> 02:51:46.350
are these customers that
are participating in the PIPP?

02:51:48.180 --> 02:51:51.910
Do they see a certain
demographic in terms of anything

02:51:51.910 --> 02:51:56.780
are they typically older or is it mostly

02:51:56.780 --> 02:51:59.380
just the income driven?

02:51:59.380 --> 02:52:04.380
<v ->I will say I'm not the
PIPP the expert, but it is.</v>

02:52:04.400 --> 02:52:06.980
So I don't know if we
know the demographics

02:52:06.980 --> 02:52:10.987
like I said, we do know it's a hundred

02:52:10.987 --> 02:52:13.930
you know, 150% of the poverty level.

02:52:13.930 --> 02:52:17.660
And I do believe we
do have like such a sixth

02:52:17.660 --> 02:52:22.660
of the population, the
percentage which each bucket,

02:52:24.810 --> 02:52:28.250
the customer falls in, if
they're closer to 150%,

02:52:28.250 --> 02:52:31.200
or if there are 75%
of the poverty level.

02:52:31.200 --> 02:52:33.630
But I'm not sure that we have an age,

02:52:33.630 --> 02:52:36.460
a demographic age range

02:52:36.460 --> 02:52:40.820
but I will ask our PIPP expert on that

02:52:40.820 --> 02:52:42.620
and provide that information to you.

02:52:43.717 --> 02:52:47.300
<v ->Thank you, and I'm
trying to see if anyone else</v>

02:52:47.300 --> 02:52:50.673
has questions that I do have
another question for Theresa.

02:52:52.480 --> 02:52:55.547
And one of the things
Theresa you mentioned

02:52:55.547 --> 02:52:58.450
and I think a few of
your colleagues here

02:52:58.450 --> 02:53:03.450
about just some of the
basic things, having the IOUs

02:53:04.510 --> 02:53:07.420
like yourself, you mentioned
that you are putting things

02:53:07.420 --> 02:53:11.680
on your website having, by the way,

02:53:11.680 --> 02:53:15.040
I think the small business AMP kind

02:53:15.040 --> 02:53:19.070
of it's so two questions for you.

02:53:19.070 --> 02:53:21.560
One is, can you talk a little bit

02:53:21.560 --> 02:53:25.660
about how you got approval for
some of your COVID responses?

02:53:25.660 --> 02:53:28.863
Was there a settlement process?

02:53:29.852 --> 02:53:34.540
I know in a previous
conversation in talking to Jim,

02:53:34.540 --> 02:53:36.570
he discussed this kind
of master settlement

02:53:36.570 --> 02:53:39.740
that came together and
Illinois, was there some process

02:53:39.740 --> 02:53:42.100
that allowed you to move
quickly as an example

02:53:42.100 --> 02:53:45.640
to establish a small business
arrearage forgiveness.

02:53:45.640 --> 02:53:50.520
And maybe I'll just
stop with that question.

02:53:50.520 --> 02:53:54.210
<v ->Thank you so much Commissioner,
that is a great question.</v>

02:53:54.210 --> 02:53:57.430
In Massachusetts that's
where we were able

02:53:57.430 --> 02:54:02.100
to launch a small business
arrear to forgiveness program.

02:54:02.100 --> 02:54:04.910
It did go through an approval process.

02:54:04.910 --> 02:54:09.910
So it went through the
DQC out in Massachusetts

02:54:11.660 --> 02:54:15.650
and we proposed it earlier in the season

02:54:17.130 --> 02:54:18.380
when the shut-off
protections they began,

02:54:18.380 --> 02:54:21.820
and it did take a little
while through discussions

02:54:21.820 --> 02:54:26.610
and we had to wait for
approval to launch that,

02:54:26.610 --> 02:54:30.380
we have proposed it here in Connecticut,

02:54:30.380 --> 02:54:34.300
however we haven't received
approval to move forward yet.

02:54:34.300 --> 02:54:38.580
So right now that is a
program that's available

02:54:38.580 --> 02:54:40.940
to our Massachusetts business customers.

02:54:40.940 --> 02:54:42.560
But absolutely we did have to go

02:54:42.560 --> 02:54:45.010
through the approval
process with the Commission.

02:54:50.910 --> 02:54:55.170
<v ->Thank you, and many
of you it sounds like you</v>

02:54:55.170 --> 02:54:57.840
as a company have put
these concepts together

02:54:57.840 --> 02:55:00.460
and requested them,
have any of them come

02:55:00.460 --> 02:55:02.383
about any sort of different way.

02:55:03.480 --> 02:55:08.330
<v ->So as far as the applying
security deposit back</v>

02:55:08.330 --> 02:55:09.710
to customers, that is something

02:55:09.710 --> 02:55:14.710
that we did proactively propose
and received approval to do

02:55:15.530 --> 02:55:19.360
through the authority.

02:55:19.360 --> 02:55:23.180
When it came to the
24 month payment plan,

02:55:23.180 --> 02:55:25.930
and please know that I'm
not sure if I mentioned it before

02:55:25.930 --> 02:55:28.460
there is no down payment requirements

02:55:28.460 --> 02:55:31.710
for our 24 month extended payment plan.

02:55:31.710 --> 02:55:36.080
It's available to all customers,
residential and commercial

02:55:36.080 --> 02:55:39.573
that did come forth at the
request of the Commission.

02:55:41.280 --> 02:55:45.000
So it wasn't where we
you know, created that idea

02:55:45.000 --> 02:55:48.030
and delivered it, but yeah, absolutely

02:55:48.030 --> 02:55:51.680
that was through the
Commission offering that extension

02:55:51.680 --> 02:55:56.130
of a payment plan, but
we did proactively indicate

02:55:57.090 --> 02:56:00.758
that with our new start or our
arrears management program,

02:56:00.758 --> 02:56:02.740
customers that fell off,

02:56:02.740 --> 02:56:07.130
we were waiving those
reenrollment, you know

02:56:07.130 --> 02:56:10.210
any costs because typically
we would ask customers

02:56:10.210 --> 02:56:12.860
that fell off the program to
make up whatever miss payments

02:56:12.860 --> 02:56:17.350
they had under the
circumstances we are allowing

02:56:17.350 --> 02:56:19.260
certainly if they customers qualify

02:56:19.260 --> 02:56:21.010
they need to get back on the programs

02:56:21.010 --> 02:56:22.893
there's no cost for them to do so.

02:56:25.344 --> 02:56:28.567
<v ->And one short followup is
the 24 month payment plan</v>

02:56:29.660 --> 02:56:32.363
with no down payment,
is that a limited time?

02:56:35.500 --> 02:56:37.040
Yeah, how long has that?

02:56:37.040 --> 02:56:40.930
<v ->So that was originally being
offered here in Connecticut</v>

02:56:40.930 --> 02:56:43.970
through November 1st which was inline

02:56:43.970 --> 02:56:48.390
with the end of the shutoff moratoria

02:56:48.390 --> 02:56:52.100
which was October
31st here in Connecticut.

02:56:52.100 --> 02:56:54.290
And we have a winter moratorium period

02:56:54.290 --> 02:56:59.290
that began November 1st, we
did receive about two weeks ago

02:57:00.320 --> 02:57:04.630
or so approval from the
Commission or a request

02:57:04.630 --> 02:57:09.200
to extend that through
February 9th of 2021

02:57:09.200 --> 02:57:13.563
or until the Governor lifts,
maybe the state of emergency.

02:57:14.570 --> 02:57:17.543
So it has been extended
through that period of time.

02:57:18.940 --> 02:57:19.940
<v ->Thank you.</v>

02:57:19.940 --> 02:57:20.790
<v ->You're welcome.</v>

02:57:28.627 --> 02:57:32.210
<v ->Other questions from
other Commissioners.</v>

02:57:33.590 --> 02:57:35.770
<v ->This is Genevieve no questions,</v>

02:57:35.770 --> 02:57:38.490
just really my appreciation

02:57:38.490 --> 02:57:41.960
and thanks for the workshop today.

02:57:41.960 --> 02:57:46.960
I learned a lot and I think that
communication is really key

02:57:48.940 --> 02:57:53.370
and keeping your customers
informed of what is available

02:57:53.370 --> 02:57:56.730
to them and then what
they need to plan for

02:57:56.730 --> 02:58:01.730
as we head to 2021, and I
know there's work ahead to us

02:58:02.325 --> 02:58:07.325
on evaluating options
in future proceedings,

02:58:07.630 --> 02:58:10.907
the information is very
helpful, so thank you to all.

02:58:21.745 --> 02:58:23.780
<v ->All right, great,
we'll wait to see</v>

02:58:23.780 --> 02:58:25.000
if other Commissioners
have any other questions

02:58:25.000 --> 02:58:28.230
or comments I'm gonna do a quick round

02:58:28.230 --> 02:58:31.333
of the panelists with a question I have.

02:58:32.670 --> 02:58:36.960
You know, you've been hearing
about what our picture here

02:58:36.960 --> 02:58:41.080
in California today, as far
as the options policies already

02:58:41.080 --> 02:58:44.980
in place, and then the
customers and our data

02:58:44.980 --> 02:58:49.980
is showing regarding
customer impact from COVID.

02:58:50.800 --> 02:58:55.013
And I wanted to ask if
you've had representatives

02:58:56.330 --> 02:59:00.133
or, you know, personally
representing your state or not,

02:59:01.260 --> 02:59:04.280
but what you would say the policy

02:59:04.280 --> 02:59:07.600
that California should
potentially or actions

02:59:07.600 --> 02:59:11.120
that we should potentially
consider given what you know,

02:59:11.120 --> 02:59:15.270
as far as your offerings in
your state, and what you've seen

02:59:15.270 --> 02:59:17.713
that we at California
currently are currently offering.

02:59:23.120 --> 02:59:27.860
<v ->So Alison out start
with these questions.</v>

02:59:27.860 --> 02:59:31.970
And, you know, hearing
today, just the messages

02:59:31.970 --> 02:59:35.140
from what California is
doing, even the other utilities

02:59:35.140 --> 02:59:39.810
you know, I think offering
that we all have some sort

02:59:39.810 --> 02:59:43.410
of form of an a management program.

02:59:43.410 --> 02:59:47.220
I do think it did help
where customers were able

02:59:47.220 --> 02:59:50.870
to use that security
deposit, that we were holding

02:59:50.870 --> 02:59:53.440
and under normal circumstances you know,

02:59:53.440 --> 02:59:57.300
we would have applied
those security deposits back

02:59:57.300 --> 02:59:59.413
after some consistent payment behavior,

03:00:00.752 --> 03:00:05.752
just by under the normal
regulations that we have by state

03:00:05.920 --> 03:00:10.240
but helping those
customers to get that relief

03:00:10.240 --> 03:00:12.780
that you know, we were getting
some calls from customers

03:00:12.780 --> 03:00:15.710
to say, "I have a security
deposit that you're holding,

03:00:15.710 --> 03:00:19.750
can you apply that to
my past due balance?"

03:00:19.750 --> 03:00:24.310
and being able to do that
and help those customers who,

03:00:24.310 --> 03:00:25.960
you know they were feeling anxious,

03:00:25.960 --> 03:00:29.290
how am I gonna pay
this bill I don't have,

03:00:29.290 --> 03:00:30.700
the money up front.

03:00:30.700 --> 03:00:34.230
So the ability to use those dollars

03:00:34.230 --> 03:00:38.640
towards the past due
balances I think was beneficial.

03:00:38.640 --> 03:00:42.860
And maybe you can be you
know, adopted, you know,

03:00:42.860 --> 03:00:44.300
by other utilities,

03:00:44.300 --> 03:00:47.597
but I think that would
be one, thank you.

03:00:49.340 --> 03:00:51.170
<v ->This is Jim from Illinois,</v>

03:00:51.170 --> 03:00:53.700
we've run into a few glitches
in terms of implementation

03:00:53.700 --> 03:00:55.810
that you might want to be aware of.

03:00:55.810 --> 03:00:58.400
We have a crisis assistance fund

03:00:58.400 --> 03:01:01.360
which provides little more
than regular LIHEAP customers,

03:01:01.360 --> 03:01:02.430
particularly customers that

03:01:02.430 --> 03:01:05.040
are gonna be imminently disconnected,

03:01:05.040 --> 03:01:07.010
they have a disconnection
notice that, you know,

03:01:07.010 --> 03:01:09.850
within seven days or they
have been disconnected

03:01:09.850 --> 03:01:12.330
that provides them more funding.

03:01:12.330 --> 03:01:15.200
What we found out is that
in some cases customers

03:01:16.250 --> 03:01:18.530
were calling the utilities and utilities

03:01:18.530 --> 03:01:22.090
were putting them all on
for payment arrangement,

03:01:22.090 --> 03:01:23.490
but come to find out,

03:01:23.490 --> 03:01:25.100
you enter a deferred
payment arrangement,

03:01:25.100 --> 03:01:29.300
you considered not subject
to eminent disconnection,

03:01:29.300 --> 03:01:30.930
so they were losing that crisis funding,

03:01:30.930 --> 03:01:33.520
so we're struggling with
those kinds of things.

03:01:33.520 --> 03:01:36.740
And related to that is
when we were discussing

03:01:36.740 --> 03:01:38.270
with stakeholders you know,

03:01:38.270 --> 03:01:40.200
how utilities correspond with customers,

03:01:40.200 --> 03:01:42.240
there was a lot of
desire for having sort

03:01:42.240 --> 03:01:44.530
of scripted language,
you know, make sure

03:01:44.530 --> 03:01:48.527
that you say here, the
deferred payment arrangements,

03:01:48.527 --> 03:01:51.110
and so you say it this
way and that kind of thing,

03:01:51.110 --> 03:01:53.300
and what we're finding
out a little bit anyway

03:01:53.300 --> 03:01:55.990
is that something like
this was not foreseen.

03:01:55.990 --> 03:01:59.070
So the fact that we don't
have an entirely script

03:01:59.070 --> 03:01:59.903
it's probably good,

03:01:59.903 --> 03:02:01.960
because now the consumer
customer service agents

03:02:01.960 --> 03:02:03.950
can kind of discuss this option and say,

03:02:03.950 --> 03:02:07.240
well, you might wanna get
your crisis assistance first

03:02:07.240 --> 03:02:08.603
and then enroll in a DPA.

03:02:09.596 --> 03:02:10.429
You know, that wasn't in the script

03:02:10.429 --> 03:02:12.020
that was originally proposed,

03:02:12.020 --> 03:02:14.650
so just be aware of those
implementation issues

03:02:14.650 --> 03:02:17.561
and be a little bit flexible I think,

03:02:17.561 --> 03:02:20.061
because that can be important.

03:02:22.562 --> 03:02:27.040
<v ->I know we did find out
many of our utilities continue</v>

03:02:27.040 --> 03:02:29.670
to send the disconnection notices,

03:02:29.670 --> 03:02:32.610
even though they weren't disconnected,

03:02:32.610 --> 03:02:37.190
but they put notes on there
just due to the programming,

03:02:37.190 --> 03:02:40.190
but also because many customers needed

03:02:40.190 --> 03:02:43.540
to provide a disconnection
notice to get assistance.

03:02:43.540 --> 03:02:45.450
It was sometimes it was a requirement,

03:02:45.450 --> 03:02:48.610
so it was something
that they would need.

03:02:48.610 --> 03:02:53.370
So I'm not sure if that's the
same in California art or not

03:02:53.370 --> 03:02:57.810
but again, I think trying to
help those customers find out

03:02:57.810 --> 03:03:02.810
where those funds are
available to help them reduce

03:03:03.196 --> 03:03:08.196
their balance down and keep
their service on as well as,

03:03:08.720 --> 03:03:12.130
you know, getting cash flow.

03:03:12.130 --> 03:03:16.390
So it doesn't ultimately
impact all rate payers

03:03:16.390 --> 03:03:18.693
to help limit that impact.

03:03:24.850 --> 03:03:26.423
<v ->Wonderful, thank you.</v>

03:03:30.040 --> 03:03:35.040
And before I'm just
checking the Q&amp;A box here

03:03:35.140 --> 03:03:39.500
but any other questions
from even panelists

03:03:39.500 --> 03:03:40.850
to each other or the Commissioner,

03:03:40.850 --> 03:03:42.253
we have a few minutes left.

03:03:46.500 --> 03:03:51.250
<v ->Sure, I guess a question
for Jim and Barbara</v>

03:03:53.640 --> 03:03:58.220
and Leslie Ann too if you
know but, are your 24 sounds

03:03:58.220 --> 03:04:01.763
like maybe Illinois 24
payment plan option

03:04:01.763 --> 03:04:03.050
with a continuous one?

03:04:03.050 --> 03:04:08.050
It's not a COVID response
limited one, is that correct?

03:04:12.640 --> 03:04:16.210
<v ->No, that actually is
a response to COVID,</v>

03:04:16.210 --> 03:04:19.330
our previous we had
requirement for payment plans

03:04:19.330 --> 03:04:22.820
that would be anywhere
from four to 12 months

03:04:22.820 --> 03:04:26.670
and then the COVID package
extended that to 18 and 24,

03:04:26.670 --> 03:04:29.630
if you were, you know,
a hardship customer.

03:04:29.630 --> 03:04:33.943
So that's a COVID specific
increase in an existing plan.

03:04:38.800 --> 03:04:41.740
<v ->And Barbara, is that
the same for you guys?</v>

03:04:41.740 --> 03:04:44.754
<v ->No, we did not
make a requirement</v>

03:04:44.754 --> 03:04:47.413
to increase what we
already had in our rules,

03:04:47.413 --> 03:04:51.050
which were up to the 1/9th plan.

03:04:51.050 --> 03:04:56.050
But most of the companies
did offer a 1/12th plan

03:04:59.210 --> 03:05:02.300
or they would work with customers

03:05:02.300 --> 03:05:05.940
and depending on the customer's
need and their arrearage,

03:05:05.940 --> 03:05:08.769
they would offer a 1/24th

03:05:08.769 --> 03:05:10.869
but it was not mandated
by the Commission.

03:05:20.052 --> 03:05:20.931
<v Cliff>I was going
to ask the question</v>

03:05:20.931 --> 03:05:25.477
about the small business
program that Theresa was talking

03:05:27.340 --> 03:05:32.340
about that had started
on that kind of program.

03:05:38.413 --> 03:05:39.246
<v ->This is Jim from Illinois part</v>

03:05:39.246 --> 03:05:44.240
of our negotiated agreement
was plan for small businesses,

03:05:44.240 --> 03:05:46.520
commercial and industrial customers.

03:05:46.520 --> 03:05:49.570
It was not as generous as
for residential customers,

03:05:49.570 --> 03:05:51.760
For example, I think you could get

03:05:51.760 --> 03:05:54.210
a deferred payment
arrangement for up to three months

03:05:54.210 --> 03:05:59.210
with 33% down or up to
six months with 50% down.

03:06:00.370 --> 03:06:04.670
And that was extended
through August 26, 2020

03:06:04.670 --> 03:06:07.950
to business customers,
and I should note in response

03:06:07.950 --> 03:06:10.910
to Commissioner says previous question

03:06:10.910 --> 03:06:14.770
that that DPA's deferred
payment arrangements

03:06:14.770 --> 03:06:17.400
for up to 18-24 months
are going to be offered only

03:06:17.400 --> 03:06:20.330
through December 26 right
now, although there's discussion

03:06:20.330 --> 03:06:23.060
of you know, if the
continuing crisis extending all

03:06:23.060 --> 03:06:25.360
of this things, those
are ongoing discussions.

03:06:32.730 --> 03:06:34.880
<v ->Again, the Commission
did not mandate it.</v>

03:06:34.880 --> 03:06:37.670
It would have to be if
the company offered it

03:06:37.670 --> 03:06:42.670
into their transition plans,
and also top of my head,

03:06:43.260 --> 03:06:45.260
I think there was only one company,

03:06:45.260 --> 03:06:46.870
that I know that they were
going to work with them,

03:06:46.870 --> 03:06:49.650
but I'm not aware of
any arrearage crediting

03:06:49.650 --> 03:06:53.490
for small commercial I
would have to review that

03:06:53.490 --> 03:06:55.733
all their transition
plans again, I'm sorry.

03:07:00.339 --> 03:07:01.339
<v ->Thank you.</v>

03:07:06.020 --> 03:07:11.020
<v ->Okay, well, I think we
can move to wrapping up.</v>

03:07:11.525 --> 03:07:15.707
I'll pass the Commissioners
if you have any statements

03:07:17.062 --> 03:07:18.920
before I close out the meeting.

03:07:18.920 --> 03:07:20.490
<v ->Oh sure, thank you very much.</v>

03:07:20.490 --> 03:07:23.250
I just again, very appreciative,

03:07:23.250 --> 03:07:25.330
particularly from the other states.

03:07:25.330 --> 03:07:29.410
So taking the time to
share your creativity

03:07:29.410 --> 03:07:33.300
and your partnership with
your customers and your utilities.

03:07:33.300 --> 03:07:36.170
And of course from all the
local groups that we heard

03:07:36.170 --> 03:07:41.090
from in California, including
our sister agency, SSD

03:07:42.610 --> 03:07:46.350
I found a lot of your comments
extremely helpful, even just

03:07:46.350 --> 03:07:50.190
as a Commissioner Cheryl
mentioned the importance

03:07:50.190 --> 03:07:53.593
of communication and
clarity and transparency.

03:07:54.790 --> 03:07:57.920
I think we all heard the
call for an ad hoc committee,

03:07:57.920 --> 03:08:02.170
we'll take that back
to think through as well

03:08:02.170 --> 03:08:06.370
as many other recommendations
here, so thank you.

03:08:06.370 --> 03:08:10.080
And again, I wanna thank
the staff and energy division

03:08:10.080 --> 03:08:12.523
and Pao for helping put this together.

03:08:14.800 --> 03:08:16.190
<v ->And this is
Commissioner Randolph,</v>

03:08:16.190 --> 03:08:18.790
I just wanna thank
everyone for their participation

03:08:18.790 --> 03:08:22.720
and also just highlight the importance

03:08:22.720 --> 03:08:25.660
of community based organizations

03:08:25.660 --> 03:08:29.690
in helping customers
understand what's going on

03:08:29.690 --> 03:08:33.060
and what their options are,
so I really wanna encourage

03:08:33.060 --> 03:08:35.940
that continued
coordination and the extent

03:08:35.940 --> 03:08:37.910
an ad hoc committee can help improve

03:08:38.800 --> 03:08:40.800
I think that would be really beneficial.

03:08:47.074 --> 03:08:48.325
<v ->This is Commissioner
Rechtschaffen,</v>

03:08:48.325 --> 03:08:50.340
and I wanna echo
what my colleagues said.

03:08:50.340 --> 03:08:53.190
I think this was gonna be
a very very important time

03:08:53.190 --> 03:08:58.190
in the next few months and
when some of the protections

03:08:59.190 --> 03:09:02.460
we put in place go away.

03:09:02.460 --> 03:09:06.517
So we really need to
get to continue to input

03:09:06.517 --> 03:09:10.210
of the advocacy groups,
I wanna thank the folks

03:09:10.210 --> 03:09:11.810
from our colleagues from Ohio

03:09:12.699 --> 03:09:14.667
and not just for participating today,

03:09:14.667 --> 03:09:17.770
but for helping to pioneer
some of these programs

03:09:17.770 --> 03:09:18.970
that we're now relying on,

03:09:18.970 --> 03:09:21.517
it's nice to not just not to
be the leader in everything,

03:09:21.517 --> 03:09:23.419
and to be able to borrow from some

03:09:23.419 --> 03:09:26.419
of the great consumer protection
work that others have done.

03:09:33.870 --> 03:09:35.430
<v ->Wonderful, thank you.</v>

03:09:35.430 --> 03:09:40.430
And just to final wrap up, I
wanna remind our audience.

03:09:40.750 --> 03:09:45.750
We have been monitoring
the Q&amp;A often responding

03:09:46.210 --> 03:09:48.460
to questions there.

03:09:48.460 --> 03:09:51.620
Most of the questions that
we didn't have a chance

03:09:51.620 --> 03:09:55.940
to respond to the notice
that your question I you can,

03:09:55.940 --> 03:09:58.730
the audience can continue
to submit any comments

03:09:58.730 --> 03:10:01.030
to the email address shown

03:10:01.030 --> 03:10:06.030
on the slide covidresponse@cpc.ca.gov
by December 4.

03:10:08.520 --> 03:10:10.980
It may be that some of
your comments or questions,

03:10:10.980 --> 03:10:13.240
or actually you know, parts of what

03:10:13.240 --> 03:10:15.330
we're considering here today,

03:10:15.330 --> 03:10:18.847
so we may not have a direct
answer, but rather ingest that.

03:10:18.847 --> 03:10:22.240
It's a question as far
as what options action

03:10:22.240 --> 03:10:25.770
could we consider as
a Commission to take

03:10:25.770 --> 03:10:30.270
to address the impacts that customers

03:10:30.270 --> 03:10:35.270
are facing an energy customers
in particular from COVID.

03:10:35.510 --> 03:10:40.510
So thank you everybody,
and I hope you enjoy getting

03:10:41.170 --> 03:10:42.743
off nine minutes earlier.

03:10:44.070 --> 03:10:45.403
You're expected to a lunch break.

03:10:48.370 --> 03:10:49.203
<v ->Thank you.</v>

03:10:51.414 --> 03:10:53.112
<v Woman>Thank you
so much for having us.</v>