Austin Energy Low Income Customer Advocates - March 19, 2014
Austin Energy Low Income Customer Advocates Regular Meeting of the Austin Energy Low Income Customer Advocates - Meeting will be held in the Assemlby Room
Austin Energy Low Income Consumer Advocate Working Group March 19, 2014 9:30 am – 12:30 pm Town Lake Center, Assembly Room 100 Agenda Goal: To understand the current rules and to develop a sustainable set of recommended rules for: • Revising deferred payment plans and service disconnections, • Developing an arrearage management plan, and, • Revising appropriate customer service practices. Meeting Objectives 1. Review existing Payment Arrangement (PA) policies and targeted groups 2. Review Austin Energy’s programs that assist low-income and special needs groups 3. Develop recommended revised PA policies for low-income and targeted groups 9:15 AM Gathering and Sign-In 9:30 AM Welcome, Objectives and Agenda Ground Rules and Updates March 28th, 9:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. Updated PA Data Set Deferred Payment Arrangement Matrix • Purpose of Payment Arrangements • Existing Programs to Assist Targeted Groups 10:00 AM Draft Revised Policies – Deferred Payment Plans Wrap-up and Next Steps 12:30 PM Adjourn Thank you for your participation today.
Austin Energy Low Income Consumer Advocates Resolution 20131107-052 Meeting #3 March 19, 2014 Attendees- Dan Pruett, Kathy Stark, Kathleen Hopkins, Vanessa Sarria, Kerry Overton, Angel Ramirez, Ruby Roa, Carol Biedrzycki, Tonda Owens, Gloria Cueva, Linda Perez, Lanetta Cooper, Pat Macy, Mark Widoff, JJ Gutierrez, Robena Jackson, Lisa Tamez, Ronnie Mendoza, Sandra Castillo, Lori Kirchgatter, Melissa Davis, Irene Nemitsas, Jessica Twining, Shannon Halley, Nan Wang, Dave Cortez, Kaiba White • Goals and Objectives o Facilitator states goals and objectives of working group and reviews meeting agenda. o Recommendation that the group have an additional meeting (suggested date: March 28) to make additional progress on work. • Updated PA Data Set presented by JJ Gutierrez o 1st Chart: Number of Residential DPAs by Month/Year o 2nd Chart: Dollars of Residential DPAs by Month/Year o 3rd Chart: Frequency chart o AE representative informs the group that the graphs provide a year to year comparison for what was put in place for customers as well as raw data for the group to utilize while working on their charged activities. • R. Mendoza provides presentation regarding Customer Assistance Programs o AE representative instructs group to review Payment Arrangement Design Policy Worksheet and to notice that the Customer Assistance Programs corresponding to each target population is on the right side of this worksheet. • Facilitator recommends to the group that they begin to discuss the deferred payment arrangement policy and informs group that a subset of the working group has proposed policy guidelines o A presentation was provided regarding a proposed DEFERRED PAYMENT ARRANGEMENT policy developed by group members (L. Cooper, R. Roa, C. Biedrzycki, B. Batlan, K. Stark, and M. Widoff) o Proposed policy safeguards include: Austin Energy having flexibility in creating payment arrangements Austin Energy and Austin Water have a memorandum to create a follow up plan with a customer for water leaks • A presentation was provided regarding highlights of arrearage report written by Consumer Law Center for Massachusetts o Report showed that 88% of customers who had trouble paying their bill had an event that created the challenge o Focus of program is to get customers to pay their current bill set by levelized billing If the customer receives financial utility assistance, this is taken into consideration when creating their levelized amount The utility company for this program writes off the customers debt o Clarification on the utility …
Customer Assistance Program March 19, 2014 Customer Assistance Programs Who are we? The Customer Assistance Program (CAP) encompasses all of the City of Austin sponsored programs designed to assist moderate to low-income customers in regards to their utility bill. What do we do? The goal of the Customer Assistance Program is to maximize the participation of eligible City of Austin utility customers by better promoting and presenting these programs to utility customers, civic, public, and private organizations. Why? Austin Energy promotes programs designed to provide assistance to customers in the areas of financial support, case management, dispute resolution, energy efficiency improvements and water conservation. 2 Program Components • Discounts • Financial Support Plus 1 • Medically Vulnerable Registry • Education Classes • Weatherization • Community Connections Resource Fair • Case Management Project • Affordable Energy Policy Summit • Pilot Projects 3 Discount Program-The Beginning •Established 1985 •COA Utilities’ first program to assist low income customers •Original Partner Utilities: •Austin Energy •Public Works •Watershed Protection •Austin Water joined in 2009 4 Discount Program-Description Provides significant monthly discounts to City of Austin utility customers for a continuous 12 month period. The average customer is provided about $64 in monthly discounts 5 Discount Program – The Present 6 •Case Management & Evaluation Case Management & Evaluation Case Management & Evaluation Weatherization Discounts Education Discount Program-Description Discounts available •Electric Service Customer Charge waiver •Discount (10%) on total electrical usage •Discount on Community Benefit Charge (CAP) •Water Service Customer Charge waiver •Water Tiered Fixed Charge Waiver •Water Volume Charge discount •Wastewater Service Customer Charge waiver •Drainage Fee 50% discount 7 Discount Program-The Present Discount Program •50% growth – enrollment •75% growth – funding •New qualifiers •All Medicaid types •Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) •Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) •Telephone Lifeline Program •Travis County Comprehensive Energy Assistance Program (CEAP) •Medical Access Program (MAP) •Automatic enrollment 8 Discount Program-The Present Education component •Required pre-requisite for all weatherization program participants •One interactive 4 hour class for the whole family •Flexible class schedules •Spanish classes available Weatherization component •Targets high usage customers •(4mth ≥2,500 kWh or 6mth ≥1,500 kWh) •Home energy audit •Appliance replacement 9 Discount Program-The Present Utility Discount Program (electric only) Customers Served 43,029 Average Household Savings Per Month $23.00 Customer Savings $11,921,603 10 *Numbers from FY06-12 Plus 1-Description The Financial Support Plus 1 program helps customers who are having financial difficulties and are unable to pay …
Austin Energy Low Income Consumer Advocates-Payment Arrangement Design Policy WorksheetTarget PopulationEligibilityLength of TermNumber of PA's AllowedDown Payment$ Amount ThresholdDeposit on PAPA DisqualificationCurrent AE Program ExistsAll ResidentialAll ResidentialUp to 8 months (CSR)Up to 12 months (Supervisors)Up to 36 months (Customer Assistance Team)Unlimited-as long as the account is brought to 0 balance before the account becomes eligible againYes - 50% down exceptions approved by SupervisorsNoneNOMeter TamperingPrevious PA BrokenDisconnection for Non-PaymentField Activity Scheduled for Non-PaymentReturned Payment on Account1-Discount Program2-Emergency AssistanceLow IncomeRegular ResidentialCritically IllElderlyHouseholds w/ young childrenLow IncomeRegular ResidentialCritically IllElderlyHouseholds w/ young children24 months regular residential$48 maximum for discount participants (any length of term possible)3 Payment Arrangements4th Payment Arrangement for any customer identifying a "Bona Fide" Reason *NONoneNot DeterminedNot Determined1-Discount Program2-Emergency AssistanceElderly1-Discount Program2-Emergency Assistance3-Education4-Weatherization5-New Collections Template (in progress)Low Income1-Discount Program2-Emergency Assistance3-Education4-WeatherizationHomelessness1-HACA Agreement2-Travis County 3- Emergency Assistance Young Children in Households1-Discount Program2-Emergency Assistance3-Education4-WeatherizationCritically Ill1-Discount Program2-Medically Vulnerable Program3-Emergency Assistance*Bona Fide Reasons= serious illness or injury by account holder or household member; loss of employment; economic loss due to natural disaster; domestic violence against the customer; a commitment by an independent program to assist customer with paymentAdvocacy Group RecommendsAdvocacy Group RecommendsAustin Energy Regular PolicyCouncil Mandated Current PolicyAdvocacy Group RecommendsAdvocacy Group RecommendsAdvocacy Group RecommendsThe PURPOSE of a Payment Arrangement (PA) is a short term payment option for households that are having a temporary crisis; PAs provide several months to pay off overdue utility bills in equal installments.
1. Before the 2009 rate case how many days were there between the utility’s bill generation and the bill due date? (i.e. how many days did the residential customer have to pay the bill before a late fee could be charged?). Austin Energy adopted industry best practices in receivables management; putting it in line with other utilities in Central Texas which follow the minimum bill duration guidelines allowable by the PUC. Bill duration is defined as the length of time between when a bill is printed and when it is due. PUC guidelines state that 16 days is an acceptable duration between bill print date and due date. If the due date falls on a weekend or holiday, payment will be the first business day following. The top three Texas utilities by customer base in 2009: TXU Energy, Reliant Energy and CPS Energy have each adopted the PUC’s 16 day bill duration guideline. Austin Energy, while ranked fourth in terms of size in the state of Texas was significantly out of line in terms of best practice with its bill due date duration of 23 days. While best practice dictates a 16 day bill duration, Austin Energy allows customers an additional day and shorten its bill duration to 17. Memphis Light, Gas & Water, which have a comparable size customer base, have a bill duration that is even less at 15 days. 2. In the collections process diagram provided by Austin Energy in last week’s meeting, Austin Energy referred to bill generation. What does bill generation mean? Does it mean the day Austin Energy “mails” the bill? Please explain. In your explanation, please identify whether the bill is “mailed” by Austin Energy (or its agent) from Austin or from what other city. Bill generation date is the “Bill Print Date” on the bill and is the date the bill was produced. Bills are mailed by our bill print vendor from Omaha, Nebraska. 3. At the last meeting, Austin Energy commented that it now had payment arrangements with repayment periods of 220-plus(?) months. How many payment arrangements does Austin Energy currently have with residential customers that are: a. Five years or less b. Between five years and ten years c. Ten years d. Ten to fifteen years e. Over fifteen years See attached spreadsheet supplied in PIR 19185 on DPA Stats. 4. Please provide the following information for the group of …
