With wildfires impacting parts of California, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. shares support programs and tools for impacted customers to help ensure a safe and prompt recovery.
“After a wildfire, disaster assistance is a lifeline. Our priority is the wellbeing of the customers and communities we serve,” said Marlene Santos, PG&E executive vice president and chief customer and enterprise solutions officer. “We understand the uncertainty our customers face when returning home and rebuilding. We offer a range of resources that provide immediate relief during the recovery process.”
To help residential and small business customers experiencing financial hardship after the Park, Borel, Gold Complex and Thompson fires, PG&E’s disaster billing and credit policy offers the following relief:
- Estimated energy usage is stopped for billing attributed to the time period when the home/unit was unoccupied because of the emergency.
- Billing is discontinued for destroyed homes or businesses.
- Any monthly access charges or minimum charges are prorated.
- For residential and small business customers, disconnections for nonpayment are suspended, as are associated fees.
- Flexible payment arrangements are available to wildfire-impacted customers.
- Reconnection fees and return check fees are waived.
- New security deposits are waived for up to one year.
- Requests for move-in and move-out service will be accelerated. Customers can also choose to re-establish service under a prior rate plan.
PG&E has dedicated service support for customers to initiate and track new and temporary electric service installation requests through www.yourprojects-pge.com. Customers can log in anytime to check the status and progress of their request and take followup actions when needed. Additional information can be found online at pge.com/consumer-protections or customers can call 1-800-743-5000.
Income-eligible assistance programs
PG&E announces it has other assistance programs to help income-eligible customers save money on their monthly bills, as follows:
- California Alternate Rates for Energy provides a monthly discount of 20% or more on gas and electricity bills.
- Family Electric Rate Assistance provides a monthly discount of 18% on electricity for households of three or more people.
- Energy Savings Assistance provides energy-savings improvements at no charge.
- Arrearage Management Plan offers a debt forgiveness plan for eligible residential customers.
- Low Income Energy Assistance Program is a federally funded assistance program overseen by the state that offers a one-time payment up to $1,000 on past-due bills to help low-income households pay for heating or cooling in their homes.
- Medical Baseline offers a lower monthly rate for customers with certain medical conditions.
More information is available at pge.com and pge.com/news.
Information provided by Pacific Gas and Electric Co.
