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Mandated changes means a Lewis County Public Utility District (PUD) low-income program will be more accessible, but staff and PUD commissioners say the programs will likely run out of money sooner.
The Lewis County PUD Board of Commissioners approved a resolution during its Tuesday meeting to make two of its three low-income assistance programs comply with Washington state rules under the Clean Energy Transition Act (CETA). While the title seems unrelated to the rules, CETA requires both public and private utilities in the state to provide at least two programs accessible to all low-income households in their service areas.
Lewis County PUD currently has three programs meant to help low-income energy customers to better afford their energy bills. However, only one of those programs meets the requirements laid out under CETA. In order to meet those requirements, Lewis County PUD Power Resources Manager Luke Canfield presented a simple fix. PUD staff recommended the commissioners simply change income requirements for one of the PUD’s non-compliant programs to qualify.
“What we really need to do is make two programs eligible,” Canfield said. "The fastest way to do that is to make the Project Share program eligible under CETA income requirements. That is the staff recommendation at this time.”
The Lewis County PUD Project Share program covers 100% of energy bill costs to households with a yearly income below a certain amount. But, the program receives just $25,000 to $30,000 a year in funding from the PUD and otherwise is funded by voluntary donations from PUD customers. The project is first come, first served and is awarded from Nov. 15 through May 31.
“We anticipate that those funds will go fast,” Canfield said.
The motion approved by the commissioners Tuesday will raise the maximum income to qualify for the assistance, meaning more people will be able to apply for rate assistance. According to slides presented by PUD staff, the change raises the qualifying threshold for a single-person household from $23,475 a year to $53,100. For an eight-person household, the threshold was raised from $81,225 to $108,300.
More details on the changes to the assistance program are available on the Lewis County PUD website. To view the presentation on the changes from the PUD staff, visit https://tinyurl.com/bdhhyjm2. Information on the changes begins on page 33.
The simple change to an already existing program was presented as the simplest solution without requiring the county to develop new programs or make changes to its low-income senior assistance program.
Canfield and Lewis County PUD General Manager David Plotz added that the utility will likely have to make more changes in the future but that the current update will keep the utility in compliance for the time being.
Plotz added that he expects the state will eventually mandate how much money the utility needs to put into the assistance program and that sum will likely be more than the current $25,000 to $30,000 a year contribution.
“As we move toward 2030, I'm sure the state will come down and start telling us how much we need to put into this,” Plotz said. “The problem that underlies this is that no money is coming in from anywhere else. We have to fund it ourselves.”
The local utility’s low-income energy efficiency program is already compliant with CETA. The program offers incentives for low-income locals to install energy improvements for their homes. Depending on the home and the household income, the program provides a discount to install energy efficiency improvements in their homes. Improvements include energy-efficient windows, attic insulation or a new electric heat pump, depending on the home.
For more information on how to qualify for the energy efficiency program, visit https://tinyurl.com/23xcvfmd.
The Lewis County PUD also has a third low-income program that does not meet CETA requirements and will remain unchanged for the time being. The low-income senior program offers 50% or 100% discounts to Lewis County PUD daily energy charges to those who qualify. The program provides the same benefits as the utility’s Project Share program. However, it benefits from more reliable funding.
The PUD commissioners approved putting an additional $300,000 into the low-income senior program in early September. At the time, Plotz said the PUD had, before the additional funding, put $600,000 into the program during its two-year pilot period, which started in 2023.
