OPPD is expanding assistance offerings for those in need of help with their utility bills. The announcement of a new program came during the utility’s board of directors meeting on Aug. 18.
Utility officials have been doing a “deep dive,” looking for ways to help ease the energy burden for customers who see a higher percentage of their income going toward their household’s energy bills. That work is ongoing.
The Customer Assistance Program (CAP) aims to reduce the electric burden of participating customers by offering long-term help in the form of a monthly bill credit. Past efforts only addressed problems on a short-term basis.
There are several reasons a customer’s electric burden may be high, said Britton Gabel, manager of Advocacy Solutions at OPPD. Those include economic factors and hardships, inefficient equipment, and poor insulation, among others.
“With the Energy Burden Solutions Project, we really started looking at the causes of these energy burdens,” Gabel said. “CAP is one of the solutions that we are working on to really help our customers and make a change in those lives – long lasting change. CAP is designed to work alongside other programs currently available at OPPD and other programs in the community.”
To learn more about this assistance program
There are stipulations to enrolling in this new assistance program, including being current on your OPPD bill. And, due to funding, there is a cap limiting enrollment to 3,000 customers at a time.
To be eligible, the household income must be at or below 100% of the federal income poverty level. OPPD’s assistance programs page has more information on CAP and other assistance programs, and you can apply for assistance on that page, as well.