Following the news that over 60,000 customers enrolled in Pacific Gas and Electric Company’s (PG&E)’s California Alternate Rates for Energy (CARE) Program in April, which is triple the usual monthly enrolment;

Somik Das, Power Analyst at GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company, comments:

“The program provides relief in the form of discounts to those people who have lost their employment in the time of crisis and are failing to pay to the utilities. Millions of Americans lost their jobs due to COVID-19 and Governors in dozens of states temporarily barred utilities from shutting off the supply of gas, water, electricity, and the internet. In some other states, utility companies voluntarily agreed not to shut off the supply.

“However, as the states think of reopening, the billing moratoriums for customers will near its end. Utility bills will become a burden for many households due to reduced income capabilities. The CARE program is designed to help these kinds of customers, which is funded through the rate of surcharges paid by all the California utility customers. The discount offered by the CARE program reduces the burden of utility bills to low-income households.”