During the 2022 legislative session, AWC and other stakeholders worked to secure $100 million in funding for customer utility arrearages accrued as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Both public and private water, sewer, garbage, electric, and natural gas utilities are eligible to apply for customer arrearage assistance funding (final proviso language can be found here on page 136). The program is administered by the Department of Commerce. Information about the program can be found on Commerce’s webpage.

The process for receiving the funds involves three steps.

Step 1: Cities wishing to participate will need to opt into the grant program before May 27 by completing this form, which can also be found on the Commerce website. The form requests the following information:

1. Primary contact for the utility – the person who will manage the funds for the duration of the grant.
2. Residential arrearage totals as of March 31, 2022, (for arrearages accrued during the period of March 1, 2020, through December 31, 2021).
3. Whether or not data is available on the number of residents with arrearages who received assistance from LIHEAP (low-income home energy assistance program), LIHWAP (low-income household water assistance program), or ratepayer funded assistance programs.

Step 2: Sometime in June, Commerce will send city utilities that opted in to the program a request for the utility's service territory map. If your city utility does not have this available, Commerce will work with you to find a solution. Commerce will send each opted-in city an estimate of dollars to be awarded. The estimated amount will be based on the following elements:

1. Total amount of residential arrearages;
2. Whether ratepayer assistance was leveraged by the utility;
3. American Community Poverty Data; and
4. The Health Disparity map of the utility service area.

Step 3: Participating cities must submit a plan for how they will apply dollars to accounts. Commerce will provide a form with a checklist of options to choose from, indicating how you plan to distribute the funds (i.e. longest held arrearages will first be addressed, highest balances first, etc.). This form will require you to report data on customers receiving the three types of assistance that qualify them for the funds, i.e., LIHEAP, LIHWAP, and other ratepayer assistance programs. We do not yet know what will qualify for ratepayer assistance programs but will pass along information as soon as we have it. You will also need to provide a state vendor number on this form. If you’re unsure if your city has a vendor number, you can check here. If your city does not have a vendor number, you can create one here.

All funds must be applied to customer accounts by December 31, 2022. Final reports on how funds were utilized will be due to Commerce by March 1, 2023.

If you have questions, please contact Brandy DeLange.