CPUC Workshop to Address Energy Arrearages for Residential/Small Business - Day 1 (Mar. 25, 2021)

WHAT: CPUC Workshop on Options to Reduce Energy Arrearages for Residential and Small Business Customers

WHEN:
- Thursday, March 25, 2021, 9:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
- Friday, March 26, 2021, 10 a.m. - 3 p.m.

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) held a remote access (virtual) two-day workshop to receive input on stakeholder proposals intended to provide customers struggling to pay their energy bills during the COVID-19 pandemic with an opportunity to become current on their energy utility bills.

Despite efforts by the CPUC to help lower energy bills during the pandemic, many still struggle to pay their bills. Data presented at a CPUC COVID Impacts on Energy Customers Workshop in November 2020 showed a dramatic increase in unpaid residential bills across the four large investor-owned utilities, with total residential arrearages rising from $503 million in February 2020 to approximately $826 million in September 2020. Updated data presented at the February 11, 2021 Voting Meeting showed more than $1 billion in past due residential energy bills among these companies as of the end of 2020, and data presented to a Joint Subcommittee meeting of the Low- Income Oversight Board on March 3, 2021, showed a further increase to over $1.2 billion through the end of January 2021.