WHAT:
The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) and its Board of Commissioners will unveil the most comprehensive effort in the city’s history to help hundreds of thousands of financially strapped customers who’ve been burdened by mounting unpaid utility bills due to the sustained economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
LADWP– with a significant funding assist from the State of California, and working with community based partners who have called for a comprehensive program to provide utility debt assistance– is preparing to issue $280 million to help qualifying customers whose family household budgets were crushed during the pandemic shutdown, leaving their utility bills unpaid. The Board is also expected to extend Shut-Off Moratorium to March 2022 to allow time for assistance funds to be applied to bills and ensure ample time for customers to access financial relief funds from other assistance programs.
WHEN:
10 A.M.
Tuesday, October 26, 2021
WHERE:
Board of Water and Power Commission Meeting
To stream the meeting:
Click here or visit http://www.ladwp.com/Board
By phone:
Call the dedicated public comment line:
(213) 306-3065 and enter access code 1464691530#.
The public comment phone line will be accessible beginning at 9:45 a.m. on Board meeting day.
Online:
To submit an e-comment, click here.
WHO:
Members of the Board of Water and Power Commissioners
Kameron Hurt, Community Organizer, LAANE
Tiffany Wong, Policy Analyst, SCOPE
Agustin Cabrera, Director, RePower LA
BACKGROUND:
LADWP has developed plans to mount a citywide effort to reduce utility customer debt resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, and in some cases eliminate their past due debt, through an economic relief program made possible by a federal, state, and local funding collaboration.
LADWP will distribute more than $265 million dollars in pandemic relief funds expected from the State of California, specifically earmarked for municipal utilities under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA), to financially assist qualifying customers economically harmed by the COVID-19 pandemic pay cuts and job losses.
LADWP plans to complement its state and federal fund appropriations with additional funds specifically allocated to assist low-income customers who continue to need additional utility bill pay assistance.
# # #
