Governor Newsom doubled down on utility aid on this 12 months’s price range, allocating a further $1.4 billion for overdue payments that might be distributed by 12 months’s finish
SACRAMENTO – With new figures displaying that California’s nation-leading utility help applications distributed $1.4 billion to help upwards of two.2 million struggling households in the course of the pandemic, Governor Gavin Newsom introduced that one other $1.4 billion is ready to exit earlier than the top of the 12 months to cowl overdue utility payments. The extra $1.4 billion that Governor Newsom and the Legislature allotted on this 12 months’s price range might be distributed by 12 months’s finish to help Californians who’re nonetheless struggling to pay the payments. $1.2 billion will handle residential electrical utility arrearages via the Division of Group Companies and Growth to mitigate the excellent debt resulting in elevated utility charges, and $200 million will handle residential water and wastewater arrearages – complementing $116 million in federal funding for water and wastewater arrearages.
“No different state in America did as a lot for these struggling in the course of the pandemic than California, with tens of billions of {dollars} for stimulus checks, small enterprise aid, and past-due hire and utility payments to assist Californians. We received $1.4 billion out the door to assist 2.2 million households with overdue utility payments and we’re sending one other $1.4 billion to help those that are nonetheless struggling amid rising prices,” stated Governor Newsom. This is a crucial a part of Governor Newsom’s monetary aid package deal to assist help Californians who’re coping with increased prices proper now:
This builds upon final 12 months’s Golden State Stimulus, which distributed $9 billion to tens of millions of California households, and the billions that went to assist Californians pay their hire, cowl overdue utility payments and help small companies. For the utility aid that went out already:
- The Division of Group Companies and Growth offered help for electrical and gasoline utility payments for greater than 1.4 million households and industrial prospects, distributing $989 million all through the pandemic.
- The State Water Sources Management Board lined unpaid water payments for greater than 800,000 residential and industrial prospects, distributing $435 million in simply 10 months for debt accrued in the course of the pandemic.
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