How to help Austinites struggling to pay rising utility bills
AUSTIN (KXAN) — The Tuesday after the Thanksgiving holiday is known as “Giving Tuesday” to encourage people to help others in need in their community, including those struggling to pay their rising utility bills.
The City of Austin Utilities is reminding neighbors about its Gift of Comfort program, which allows anyone to donate to someone they know and make a payment towards that specific customer’s utility bill as a gift. This is happening ahead of Austin Energy customers seeing another rate increase in December — the third time in the last three months.
Austin Energy rate increasing 5% in December
The utility recently shared it’s raising its power supply adjustment rate by 5% starting on Dec. 1. According to Austin Energy, that will translate to less than $2 more per month for the typical residential customer. The utility’s general manager said in a memo the increase is “due to a lack of adequate progress toward making up for the existing PSA under-recovery.”
Matt Mitchell, a public information officer with Austin Energy, said the utility needs to recoup $97 million in power it bought during the sweltering summer months.
“There are just market pressures right now that we’re feeling as a utility that after an incredibly hot summer and those very high demand days led to some really high prices for energy,” Mitchell explained. “We’re trying to recoup those costs so that we can continue to be everything that our customers expect us to be: on time, safe and reliable.”
How does this program work?
People can pay for any amount of a customer’s bill. What they’ll need is the name and address of the recipient. They do not need to know their account number, but it can be helpful if they have it.
They should visit the Gift of Comfort website and download the Gift of Comfort payment form. Fill out all of the form’s required fields and deliver it and the payment to one of the City’s Utility Payment Centers, or mail it to the following address:
City of Austin – Payment Processing
P.O. Box 2267
Austin, TX 78783-2267
The customer will receive a letter from City of Austin Utilities, letting them know they have received a gift payment toward their account. People can give anonymously or print a Gift of Comfort gift card to give to the recipient personally.
Other ways to help
If people do not know someone who specifically needs help, there’s another donation fund called the City of Austin Utilities’ Customer Assistance Program. This program helps customers who are unable to pay their utility bills due to unexpected emergencies.
Customers with City of Austin Utilities can make a one-time or recurring donation by adding it to their paper or online utility bill or by mail. For more information about how to help neighbors in need with their utility bills, visit our Plus 1 website.
Family Eldercare resources
Family Eldercare, which provides resources to older adults and people with disabilities, shared additional information for those who may need help dealing with higher utility bills.
The nonprofit shared the following statement Monday:
“Not being able to pay all their bills is in the top three issues people talk to Family Eldercare about. For people living on a low fixed income, like social security, any expense increase can throw off the entire monthly budget and put folks at risk for eviction and homelessness. Our Benefits Enrollment and Case Management staff is very knowledgeable and can enroll folks into programs designed to prevent this type of instability. For example, we may enroll folks in CEAP, the state’s utility assistance program, or the City of Austin’s Customer Assistance Program which provides financial or utility assistance to qualifying residents. To learn more, our community can call our Intake and Referral line at 512.483.3580 or visit our Resource Page.“
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