Though the end of the year, the city of Healdsburg will be offering a temporary electric utility rate discount of 75%, instead of the regular 25%, for low-income qualified.
After the new year, the 75% discount will change to 50% and will be offered from January to March and then return to the usual 25% discount in spring 2021.
As the COVID-19 pandemic set in, the city first temporarily upped the discount to 100% — the low-income discount is typically 25% — for the months of April, May and June and a number of households participated in the program. The usual discount program is funded through the public benefits fund.
The city also changed the qualifying income threshold to 80% Area Median Income (AMI) in order to make the program available to more families.
“During this time the number of households benefiting from the discount increased from 420 to 530. That increase wasn’t entirely because of the 80% AMI, that increase was from some community groups reaching out to the community and making sure they were aware of the discount and helping to get them signing up and it was also partially due to lost wages during this time,” said Healdsburg’s utility director Terry Crowley.
“The proposed increased discount is expected to require $230,000 of the current fiscal year. It should be noted that the existing 25% discount just as is, is estimated to require about $120,000 … so we are only looking at a $110,000 increase,” Crowley said.
He said staff is proposing funding the discount by shifting some of the energy efficiency programs. With this shift, an additional appropriation of city funds would not be required for the program.
“Energy efficiency programs can be funded by carbon allowances so we’d move those towards the carbon allowances which would free up public benefit funds for the discount. We also are recommending using commercial energy efficiency incentives to help facilitate programs that would provide us with significant rebates” he said.
Councilmember Joe Naujokas asked if the 80% AMI qualification will remain in place and Crowely said it will.
During public comment Marcy Flores, a Corazón Healdsburg programs manager, thanked the city for their work to offer electric rate discounts and said the discount is extremely helpful for families who are struggling to make ends meet during the pandemic.
“When the pandemic hit there were a lot of families all over Sonoma County who looked to Corazón Healdsburg for support and resources specifically with rent and utilities and the only city that acted quickly (to provide utility aid) was the city of Healdsburg, so we thank you so much and at Corazón we were able to complete and provide applications for the city program to over 50 families and it made a huge impact in the community that we serve,” Flores said.
Flores also shared a discount participant’s comments about the program.
“It (the discount) helped us tremendously, especially with everything that is happening where our jobs are still not secure,” the participant program said. “We would be grateful if you could temporarily increase the electric discount and continue to support my family and the community.”
In a motion on the item, council voted unanimously to approve the discount increase. To register or learn more about the city’s utility discount CARE program, visit: https://www.ci.healdsburg.ca.us/173/Utility-Programs.
Implementing more energy efficiency programs
The city council also unanimously approved the implementation of two new energy efficiency programs for income-qualified groups. The two programs include a program to enhance attic insulation installation work and a plan to provide incremental appliance rebates to affordable housing properties.
In addition to these programs, the city electric department will also bring old residential and commercial energy efficiency rebates up to date.
“The first is attic insulation. It’s an important measure and it yields energy savings at a fairly low cost. The program is really designed for any housing dwellings or income qualified care customers and the way that it will work is we will identify the properties and housing units and work through the homeowners and contractors in order to get that attic insulation installed,” said Healdsburg Utility Conservation Analyst Felicia Smith.
She said they are looking to implement this in housing that has less than six inches of attic insulation and to increase it to 16 inches. The city utility department will cover 100% of the project costs and it’s estimated to be around $1.50 per square foot of insulation.
“We also wanted to figure out how to reduce the bill burdens for our (electric discount) CARE customers,” Smith said. “And in looking at their energy usage a lot of the bulk of their usage is in appliances.”
With that in mind, the utility department will provide an incremental rebate to incentivize the use and installation of high energy efficiency appliances
“We are trying to create an incentive that will cover the cost of a high efficiency appliance,” Smith said.
There will be a $300 rebate for building owners for a high efficiency refrigerator and clothes washer, an $800 rebate for a heat pump dryer and a $1,500 rebate for a heat pump water heater. This would be available to income qualified and deed restricted single-family units.
Updates to the city’s current rebate programs were also approved. Smith said the residential rebates really need a refresh and revamp. To do so, some of the residential rebates will sunset.
Notable changes to these rebates include $250 to $500 per ton for heat pump heating, ventilation, air conditioning systems, $50 for a WiFi enabled smart thermostat, elimination of Energy Star appliance rebates and elimination of central air conditioning rebates in order to promote high efficiency heat pumps.
