5 ms·

“Extra charges based on income” - does this mean that if you earn more, you pay more for electricity?

m463 2y ago
https://www.canarymedia.com/articles/energy-equity/income-based-electric-bills-the-newest-utility-fight-in-california https://www.canarymedia.com/articles/energy-equity/income-ba...
- leereeves 2y ago
  So you're now required to share your tax documents with the local utility company, and they will charge you a monthly fee just for earning more money?
  - jerlam 2y ago
    No, the plan was changed to have a fixed monthly fee in addition to the cost per kWh for all, but lower income households will have a lower fixed monthly fee.
    - deleted 2y ago
      [deleted]
    - alwa 2y ago
      How do they distinguish those lower-income households without referring to tax documents?
      - dataflow 2y ago
        I have no idea about this particular program, but similar programs already exist for other utilities, you can look at how they do it (open the "What information do I need to provide..." section): https://www.att.com/internet/access/ https://www.att.com/internet/access/
      - rnrn 2y ago
        Previous proposals would have required everyone to provide income data to their utility which the utility would verify “somehow” (never fully articulated AFAIK) The latest proposal (which has been accepted by the CPUC) has fixed charges applied for everyone (much lower than previously proposed fixed charges) with discounts available based on existing low-income programs ( https://www.pge.com/en/account/billing-and-assistance/financial-assistance/california-alternate-rates-for-energy-program.html https://www.pge.com/en/account/billing-and-assistance/financ... ) So yes in order to get the discount low-income customers need to declare income and may need to verify that income with tax documents (depending on how much fraud these program plan to tolerate) but other customers do not need to provide income information.
twiceaday 2y ago
Yes. But put differently "if you earn less you pay less." It depends one what you call the "normal" price.

m463 2y ago

https://www.canarymedia.com/articles/energy-equity/income-based-electric-bills-the-newest-utility-fight-in-california https://www.canarymedia.com/articles/energy-equity/income-ba...

leereeves 2y ago
So you're now required to share your tax documents with the local utility company, and they will charge you a monthly fee just for earning more money?
- jerlam 2y ago
  No, the plan was changed to have a fixed monthly fee in addition to the cost per kWh for all, but lower income households will have a lower fixed monthly fee.
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
  - alwa 2y ago
    How do they distinguish those lower-income households without referring to tax documents?
    - dataflow 2y ago
      I have no idea about this particular program, but similar programs already exist for other utilities, you can look at how they do it (open the "What information do I need to provide..." section): https://www.att.com/internet/access/ https://www.att.com/internet/access/
    - rnrn 2y ago
      Previous proposals would have required everyone to provide income data to their utility which the utility would verify “somehow” (never fully articulated AFAIK) The latest proposal (which has been accepted by the CPUC) has fixed charges applied for everyone (much lower than previously proposed fixed charges) with discounts available based on existing low-income programs ( https://www.pge.com/en/account/billing-and-assistance/financial-assistance/california-alternate-rates-for-energy-program.html https://www.pge.com/en/account/billing-and-assistance/financ... ) So yes in order to get the discount low-income customers need to declare income and may need to verify that income with tax documents (depending on how much fraud these program plan to tolerate) but other customers do not need to provide income information.

twiceaday 2y ago

Yes. But put differently "if you earn less you pay less." It depends one what you call the "normal" price.