The Low-Income Energy Assistance Surcharge is a result of the PUD’s need to comply with the Washington State Clean Energy Transformation Act (CETA) legislation RCW 19.405, section 120 which requires utilities to provide energy assistance to “low-income households with a priority given to those with a higher energy burden.”
The PUD’s existing low-income programs did not provide this priority, however participants currently enrolled in those programs will be grandfathered in. To ensure compliance, a new low-income energy assistance program was created, and the cost will be recovered through a surcharge to customers which will fluctuate monthly but is estimated to be below $5 per month.
Since the law also requires assurance of equitable distribution of benefits and a reduction of burdens to vulnerable populations and highly impacted communities, qualifying accounts will be exempt from sharing in the cost of the programs (i.e. the surcharge).