WEBVTT
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Welcome back, everybody.
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I see folks coming on in.
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We'll wait another minute to reestablish a quorum.
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For folks from the Class A and B water utilities,
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just a note, we're still finishing up Item Five,
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but it should be to Item Six shortly.
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Okay, looks like we have a quorum again.
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All right, so where we left it was for questions, Q&A.
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So, I guess the question is, are there any more questions
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or comments from Board members for the small
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jurisdictional utilities before moving on to public comment?
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Jessica, did you have your hand up?
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No sorry, just fidgeting ground.
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Okay, no problem.
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Very good, all right.
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Well, Gillian, would you to,
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I know there were a couple of questions
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that were submitted through chat, but,
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sorry, would you mind reading those,
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and then bring forward any other
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public comments for Item Five?
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Yes, definitely.
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So, as I read the two comments that I received
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a note for other members of the public,
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please use the Raise Hand feature to request to speak,
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and then the host will call on you and unmute you.
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But I received one question for all the IOUs.
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As regards A and P, how about having
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LIHEAP enrolled customers be listed as eligible?
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This would greatly enhanced the outreach
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and participation in this program.
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I can read the next question,
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or go ahead and wait for utilities to respond.
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I think it's a little unusual to have questions
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on specific items, so it might be good to just continue
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and you could perhaps address them at the end.
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Okay, sounds good, yeah, I'll treat these as comments.
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And then, the next one stated, when CARE re-certification
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has taken place in the past, what was
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the approximate breakdown on reasons for removal from CARE
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between actual non-eligible, and those
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who do not provide the needed verification data?
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So, similar, another question, and I do see that there's
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one member of the public with their hand raised.
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So, if I could ask the host to please unmute Celia,
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that would be much appreciated.
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Hi, good afternoon, everyone.
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My name is Celia Andrada.
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I'm with Pacific Asian consortium in employment,
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community-based service organization
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that implements LIHEAP and ESA.
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I was just wondering when the presentation was about
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the AMP, and other programs, that are available
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to customers of the IOUs, but they did not identify
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LIHEAP-enrolled customers eligible for their programs,
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because we do reach out to thousands of customers
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who are enrolled in LIHEAP, and we do have
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assist their customers with pledges
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and utility bill payment assistance.
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So, it would be an easy transition for us
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to also inform their customers that, hey there is
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this AMP program you might like to apply or enroll in yet.
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So, it's just nothing for us to do this,
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and it would be beneficial to the customers,
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and it would solve, solve their problems,
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like they were telling us earlier that the enrollment
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is not very high, as far as AMP is concerned.
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So, we could do a lot to help them promote this program.
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Thank you very much.
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Gillian, additional public comment?
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A reminder to please raise your hand
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if you'd like to speak.
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Right now, I do not see, oh, yes.
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The host could unmute Casey McFall.
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Thank you.
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Hi, everybody, it's Casey McFall
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from the Changes program.
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I just wanted to just give you a quick update
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that in Changes, as far as the AMP program goes,
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we were able to do two two-hour-long
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trainings with all of our CBOs.
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That's about 80 people who have now, since February 1st,
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enrolled, just over 50 people into AMP, and to let you know
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that what we're tracking are not just enrollment
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in the program, but we'll be tracking the average amount
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of balances and, hopefully, how people
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are able to operate within the AMP program.
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So for example, I'm trying to set up a separate category
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for an AMP follow-up, so that our CBO's, once they enroll,
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someone will check back in at three months,
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six months, and 12 month points to see if they've been able
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to keep up with those current payments.
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So, we're hoping to be able to provide that kind of data
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to you, in terms of the non-English speaking communities
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and how they're able to navigate within this new program.
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And the other point I just wanted to make was to echo
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what other people have been saying about the types
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of language and how public policy information
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is delivered in terms of messaging.
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So, when Commissioner Ricks often talks about
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simpler language, that's correct.
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We strive for like a third grade reading level.
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Some people who can't read
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in English can read in their own languages.
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Many of them can't, particularly newer refugees.
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So, we look for very low-level, simple language,
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simple bullet points that people can remember.
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And we're hoping to be able to work with everybody
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to provide you information about how this is working out
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with these particularly vulnerable communities.
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Thanks.
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Thank you.
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Other public comments, Gillian?
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One moment, I'm just checking the list.
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I don't see anyone else with their hand raised at this time.
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So, I don't think there's any more public comment.
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Okay, understood.
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One thing I will know, just on the question,
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or recommendation for LIHEAP, I do think that that kind
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of coordination was part the initial
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committee discussion and recommendations.
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And as far as the specifics,
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Jason, I lean on you a little bit.
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It seems to me that the LIHEAP network
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has existing tools in its toolbox
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that can address arrearages.
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It also sees the water arrearage dollars, as well.
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And I know that there was a large investment,
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in the recent stimulus approved by the Congress
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that's going to the president's desk.
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Can you speak to how that type of coordination might work?
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Yes, I think that type of coordination is instrumental,
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and I think there's been precedent established with that.
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The fact that the CARE eligibility
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identifies LIHEAP as a categorical program.
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So, knowing that the LIHEAP program is considered
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a critical resource to many of the low-income customers
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in reference and many of the transition plans,
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I think we should explore and try to leverage
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any opportunity for streamlined enrollment,
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especially as it pertains to LIHEAP.
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Commissioner Guzman Aceves.
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Thank you, Benito.
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I don't know how you keep track of all of us here.
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So, thank you for recognizing.
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I just wanted to also recognize,
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and maybe Commissioner Shiroma and I can follow up
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on a way to have a follow-up discussion with the LIOB
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in response to, or in coordination with,
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the COVID rulemaking, because this is a great question.
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And in the disconnections proceeding,
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we were very much in good dialogue with CSD
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and all the LSPs and their perspective on how
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to leverage LIHEAP with the AMP.
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And at that point, we decided it was better to not include
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any sort of LIHEAP contribution as part of the AMP,
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in part because we all know the LIHEAP funds
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are insufficient to meet the universe of the need
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and really to try to optimize both.
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But I think it's a good question.
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I know Jason has already started that dialogue with us,
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in terms of how we should re-look at that question,
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and that there may be a potential for adjusting,
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at least for this COVID-response period,
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and potentially allowing for some LIHEAP contribution
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as a part of paying your bill if you're on an AMP,
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or any sort of scenario there.
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So, I think the venue for that is the COVID OIR rule-making.
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And as I mentioned earlier, there will be a workshop
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later this month, the 25th and the 26th,
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which we'll be putting out a ruling on very soon.
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I know it's coming up quick,
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so it's not that early of a notice.
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But anyhow, just to recognize that
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that is a really important issue.
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And yes, fortunately, the federal package does include
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some additional funding here, but even with that,
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we know that the need is still greater.
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So, thank you.
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Thank you, Commissioner.
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And Jason, I guess just one follow up I would have.
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And I don't know if you know, because it just was
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voted on yesterday, but I did see that,
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I think it was four or 4.5 billion for LIHEAP,
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but I'm not sure what that's translating to,
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in terms of resources for California.
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Has there been any kind of direction on that yet?
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I know it hasn't even been signed yet, so-
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No, the total appropriation's 4.5 billion, and then,
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there's an additional 500 million for water assistance.
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Okay, all right, understood.
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Other questions or comments from members of the Board?
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Yeah hi, this is Lisa Castilone.
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I have a question, I guess it's about CBOs.
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We're talking a lot about CBOs
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and referrals, and partnering with CBOs.
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I'm wondering if the utilities, ,in general, I guess,
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are doing direct referrals to the utilities to the CBOs,
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or the CBOs are just sharing information out
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with the community, or if the utilities
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are providing direct, like here's a list of folks
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that you can reach out to, having that reach-back.
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I'm just wondering how that is, how that goes.
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Would any of the utilities to respond?
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Hi, so this is Daisy from SoCalGas.
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We don't particularly give them a list.
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We work with about 34 community partners
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on our customer assistance programs alone.
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We also work with our public affairs department
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and our community relations department
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to provide information out through those avenues, as well.
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So it just really depends on what information
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we're giving, and how we do it.
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But we don't necessarily give them a list
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and tell them to go after a certain audience,
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because usually, it's the audiences that they already serve
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that they're providing that information to.
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And it is in our, obviously, lowest-hit,
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hard-to-reach communities.
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So, recently we've started working,
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in the San Joaquin Valley, with the Promotores program,
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which is very much in the streets and giving information
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to the community where they're at and where they're located.
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So, we're hoping that as we progress into some
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of these things that we also start working with other
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Promotores programs throughout our service territory.
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Okay.
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Any other questions or comments from the Board?
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All right, very good.
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So we're going to move on to Item Six, which are the
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presentations from the Class A and Class B water utilities.
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Before we do, just thank you again to the IOUs
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for all of their preparation and hard work and slide decks,
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and putting together advice letters on a short timeline.
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I think we said the committee meeting,
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it took a lot longer to write them
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than it did to read them, and it took a while to read them.
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So, that's a lot of time.
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Just a reminder, in terms of recommendations which is what
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we're tasked with you here today, I've been keeping track
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and adding notes from feedback from members.
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The plan is, since some of these overlap, is to itemize them
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at the end of the Water Q&A and Public Comment period.
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And then, we can all vote on them
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and talk about next steps thereafter.
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And so, with that, Gillian, I'll pass it to you
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for introductions for the class A water utilities.
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All right, thank you so much.
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If the host could bring up the beginning
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of this slide deck, of the water utilities.
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All right, thank you.
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And just want to make sure that we have
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water utility staff, I believe, the first presenter
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will be Ed Jackson from Liberty Utilities.
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I think Gillian, I wanted
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to make a couple statements.
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Oh, perfect, please go ahead,
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Board Member Linam.
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And Jeff, apologies for that.
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No problem at all.
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I was just kind of following the lead of the energy sites.
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So, good afternoon, everybody.
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As I mentioned before, I'm Jeff Linam.
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I work for California American Water,
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but I'm representing the water utilities on the LIOB.
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So, this afternoon, we have a presentation,
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and it's similar, in many ways,
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to the energy utilities, but different in some
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important respects that I wanted to clarify.
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So, obviously the transition plans are an important step
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in addressing this post-moratorium impact
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to our customers and how we manage through
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the arrearages, as well as addressing and minimizing
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the potential for disconnections.
00:17:30.030 --> 00:17:33.014
So, similar to the energy utilities, we did do
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an integrated approach to our presentation,
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as well as the transition plans.
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So, we're going to have Ed Jackson who works
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for Liberty Utilities to do a presentation
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and overview of the companies, the water industry.
00:17:53.490 --> 00:17:56.510
We will then have John Tang, who works
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for San Jose Water Company, to present the information
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on the eight Class A water utility plans.
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And then, Janice Hannah from Del Oro Water
00:18:13.770 --> 00:18:16.530
will present the information for the Class B.
00:18:16.530 --> 00:18:19.480
So, we kind of organized it around the Class A
00:18:19.480 --> 00:18:22.910
and B companies, and there are some key differences
00:18:22.910 --> 00:18:25.410
between both, in terms of resources.
00:18:25.410 --> 00:18:30.410
So, that's the reason that that's presented the way it is.
00:18:33.230 --> 00:18:36.570
We wanted some differences, I think, in the presentation.
00:18:36.570 --> 00:18:39.590
We wanted to take the opportunity to talk
00:18:39.590 --> 00:18:44.040
and make sure that the Board, and the interested parties
00:18:44.040 --> 00:18:45.617
listening today, understand some of
00:18:45.617 --> 00:18:50.060
the key differences of the water and energy.
00:18:50.060 --> 00:18:52.490
There are some differences in terms of the regulation.
00:18:52.490 --> 00:18:57.490
I think Ed will go through and talk about Senate Bill 998,
00:18:57.540 --> 00:19:02.410
which was a legislative solution to the issue
00:19:03.349 --> 00:19:08.349
of disconnections that was signed by Governor Brown
00:19:08.750 --> 00:19:13.040
and the utilities implemented new tariffs.
00:19:13.040 --> 00:19:16.450
So, there are some distinctions there on the water side.
00:19:16.450 --> 00:19:21.450
Certainly, I think the disconnection rulemaking emanated
00:19:23.130 --> 00:19:26.530
from some unique issues on the energy side
00:19:26.530 --> 00:19:31.530
that I think was a lesser issue on the water side.
00:19:32.690 --> 00:19:36.683
I think water bills, and we'll provide some statistics,
00:19:37.820 --> 00:19:41.580
Ed will, and we'll talk about the relative size
00:19:42.890 --> 00:19:46.163
of the outstanding balances.
00:19:48.800 --> 00:19:51.690
And then, certainly, I think we mentioned this before
00:19:51.690 --> 00:19:55.970
that the water utilities, for their low income programs,
00:19:55.970 --> 00:20:00.023
we really do leverage off the energy utilities'
00:20:01.420 --> 00:20:05.530
programs and budgets through the data-sharing process.
00:20:05.530 --> 00:20:09.100
And so, there's a key difference there,
00:20:09.100 --> 00:20:11.220
which we'll go into, as well.
00:20:11.220 --> 00:20:14.110
And then, certainly, the water utilities,
00:20:14.110 --> 00:20:17.980
we're jointly regulated by the CPUC,
00:20:17.980 --> 00:20:19.570
as well as the State Water Board.
00:20:19.570 --> 00:20:22.880
So again, we'll talk a little bit about that, as well.
00:20:22.880 --> 00:20:27.143
So with that, I'll hand it over to Ed.
00:20:29.310 --> 00:20:30.460
Thank you, Jeff.
00:20:31.340 --> 00:20:34.020
Good afternoon, Board members and Commissioners.
00:20:34.020 --> 00:20:35.736
My name is Ed Jackson, I am the Director
00:20:35.736 --> 00:20:38.860
of Regulatory Affairs for Liberty Utilities.
00:20:38.860 --> 00:20:42.010
I want apologize in advance, I just developed some issues
00:20:42.010 --> 00:20:45.530
with my video, so you will not be able to see me,
00:20:45.530 --> 00:20:47.553
and I apologize again, but I want to thank you
00:20:47.553 --> 00:20:50.840
for this opportunity to present the COVID-19
00:20:52.580 --> 00:20:54.990
Emergency Customer Protection Transition plans
00:20:55.930 --> 00:20:58.350
for the regulated water utilities.
00:20:58.350 --> 00:20:59.233
Next slide.
00:21:01.980 --> 00:21:05.490
So, we have representatives from each company available
00:21:05.490 --> 00:21:07.120
to answer questions at the conclusion
00:21:07.120 --> 00:21:10.160
of the presentation, and they're listed here.
00:21:10.160 --> 00:21:10.993
Next slide.
00:21:14.430 --> 00:21:17.760
So just an overview of the presentation
00:21:17.760 --> 00:21:19.010
we're gonna go over here.
00:21:19.880 --> 00:21:21.410
We would like to provide an overview
00:21:21.410 --> 00:21:23.363
of the California Water Association,
00:21:24.200 --> 00:21:26.573
background on water utility industry,
00:21:27.520 --> 00:21:30.623
Senate Bill 998 and the Governor's executive order.
00:21:31.520 --> 00:21:35.980
John Tang will be going over the Class A transition plan,
00:21:35.980 --> 00:21:39.920
including the MEO, the marketing educational
00:21:39.920 --> 00:21:42.770
and outreach plan, and Janice Hannah
00:21:42.770 --> 00:21:44.920
will be doing so for the Class B utilities.
00:21:45.770 --> 00:21:48.130
And then, we'll have a question and answer session.
00:21:48.130 --> 00:21:51.390
And again, we'd like to answer questions at the end
00:21:51.390 --> 00:21:53.604
of the presentation so that all of the company
00:21:53.604 --> 00:21:57.600
representatives have the opportunity to participate.
00:21:57.600 --> 00:21:58.433
Next slide.
00:22:02.330 --> 00:22:05.770
The California Water Association is a Statewide association
00:22:05.770 --> 00:22:09.289
of water utilities regulated by the CPUC.
00:22:09.289 --> 00:22:12.530
It represents water utilities before the CPUC,
00:22:12.530 --> 00:22:15.210
the legislature, the Governor's office,
00:22:15.210 --> 00:22:17.630
the State Water Resource Control Board,
00:22:17.630 --> 00:22:20.340
other state agencies, and with multiple
00:22:20.340 --> 00:22:23.000
industry groups, including ACWA and AWWA.
00:22:24.650 --> 00:22:26.780
It serves as a spokesperson on behalf
00:22:26.780 --> 00:22:29.760
of regulated water utilities and provides
00:22:29.760 --> 00:22:31.810
regulatory assistance to small companies.
00:22:32.750 --> 00:22:33.583
Next slide.
00:22:39.340 --> 00:22:44.340
So, this is an overview of the regulated water utilities.
00:22:45.210 --> 00:22:50.210
There are 91 total regulated public water utilities.
00:22:50.810 --> 00:22:52.930
There are nine Class A water utilities,
00:22:52.930 --> 00:22:55.700
which are defined by the CPUC as having greater
00:22:55.700 --> 00:22:58.470
than 10,000 service connections.
00:22:58.470 --> 00:23:00.500
There are four Class B utilities,
00:23:00.500 --> 00:23:03.580
which are defined as having greater
00:23:03.580 --> 00:23:07.530
than 2000 service connections, but less than 10,000.
00:23:07.530 --> 00:23:11.380
And finally, there are 78 Class C and Class D utilities,
00:23:11.380 --> 00:23:16.380
and those range from 13 to 2,000 service connections.
00:23:18.560 --> 00:23:21.300
In total, there are 1.5 million connections
00:23:22.390 --> 00:23:26.510
serving six million customers, and we are regulated
00:23:26.510 --> 00:23:29.213
by both the CPUC and the State Water Board.
00:23:32.000 --> 00:23:34.730
There are approximately 7,700
00:23:34.730 --> 00:23:37.500
public drinking system Statewide.
00:23:37.500 --> 00:23:39.450
The State Water Resource Control Board
00:23:39.450 --> 00:23:42.670
regulates around 4,000 of those systems.
00:23:42.670 --> 00:23:46.680
And again, the CPUC regulates only 91 systems.
00:23:46.680 --> 00:23:51.283
The CPUC-regulated water utilities serve 16% of California.
00:23:52.520 --> 00:23:53.393
Next slide.
00:23:59.700 --> 00:24:01.710
So, here are some maps.
00:24:01.710 --> 00:24:03.300
You can see on the left side,
00:24:03.300 --> 00:24:05.320
you've got Northern California.
00:24:05.320 --> 00:24:07.733
On the right side, you have Southern California.
00:24:09.021 --> 00:24:11.460
So, the CPUC-regulated water utilities serve
00:24:11.460 --> 00:24:13.593
in both Northern and Southern California.
00:24:15.300 --> 00:24:18.460
And you see the utilities represented
00:24:18.460 --> 00:24:23.170
in the brightly-colored portions of the map.
00:24:23.170 --> 00:24:26.690
So, while many of the energy utilities have service areas
00:24:26.690 --> 00:24:29.750
that extend over large portions of the state,
00:24:29.750 --> 00:24:32.840
water utilities are considerably smaller
00:24:32.840 --> 00:24:35.763
and serve diverse customer bases.
00:24:37.720 --> 00:24:38.553
Next slide.
00:24:42.260 --> 00:24:44.440
So, on these slides, you can see
00:24:44.440 --> 00:24:47.023
the contrast with the energy utilities.
00:24:48.090 --> 00:24:49.960
The CPUC-regulated water utilities
00:24:49.960 --> 00:24:52.760
are considerably smaller than the four energy utilities.
00:24:54.460 --> 00:24:59.460
The map on the left, you can see the tan, represents PG&E,
00:24:59.530 --> 00:25:01.950
and the brightly colored areas, once again,
00:25:01.950 --> 00:25:04.713
represent the CPUC water utilities.
00:25:07.580 --> 00:25:09.510
On the right, you can see the gray
00:25:09.510 --> 00:25:13.660
is the service territory of Southern California Edison,
00:25:13.660 --> 00:25:17.230
the dark tan is San Diego Gas & Electric,
00:25:17.230 --> 00:25:19.160
and the gray line is SoCalGas.
00:25:19.160 --> 00:25:20.820
And again, the water utilities are shown
00:25:20.820 --> 00:25:22.570
with the brightly-colored areas.
00:25:22.570 --> 00:25:25.050
So, you can see the strong contrast
00:25:25.050 --> 00:25:27.017
between the regulated water utilities
00:25:27.017 --> 00:25:29.073
and the regulated energy utilities.
00:25:30.530 --> 00:25:31.363
Next slide.
00:25:38.460 --> 00:25:41.640
So, we have programs for low income customers.
00:25:41.640 --> 00:25:43.720
All of the large Class A water utilities
00:25:43.720 --> 00:25:47.310
offer customer assistance programs, or CAP,
00:25:47.310 --> 00:25:50.420
to assist their low-income customers.
00:25:50.420 --> 00:25:53.710
More than 294,000 residential water customers
00:25:53.710 --> 00:25:56.630
served by CPUC-regulated water utilities
00:25:56.630 --> 00:25:59.560
are participating in the CAP program, and this represents
00:25:59.560 --> 00:26:03.433
a 13.9% increase since March of last year.
00:26:05.120 --> 00:26:07.520
Water utilities implement ongoing programs
00:26:07.520 --> 00:26:09.400
to educate customers about CAP
00:26:09.400 --> 00:26:12.050
and other programs that support low income customers.
00:26:13.300 --> 00:26:16.120
Utility customers in the CARE program
00:26:16.120 --> 00:26:19.820
are enrolled automatically in water utility CAP programs
00:26:19.820 --> 00:26:21.560
through a bi-yearly data exchange
00:26:21.560 --> 00:26:23.750
program with the energy utilities.
00:26:23.750 --> 00:26:26.380
That's been a very successful program
00:26:26.380 --> 00:26:29.623
for enrollment in the CAP programs.
00:26:30.720 --> 00:26:33.310
Water utilities also partner with local businesses
00:26:33.310 --> 00:26:36.440
to offer community-based third-party payment sites.
00:26:36.440 --> 00:26:39.700
An example of that for my particular utility, Liberty,
00:26:39.700 --> 00:26:43.830
is that even though during the pandemic, our walk-in centers
00:26:43.830 --> 00:26:46.550
have been closed for payment, our customers can go
00:26:46.550 --> 00:26:50.213
to 7-Eleven or Walmart to pay their bills.
00:26:51.620 --> 00:26:53.610
Other community-based programs include
00:26:53.610 --> 00:26:56.840
Operation Gobble, charitable contributions,
00:26:56.840 --> 00:27:00.150
scholarship programs, employee volunteer events,
00:27:00.150 --> 00:27:02.223
conservation outreach and education.
00:27:03.800 --> 00:27:08.320
There was a question posed by a member of a LIOB prior to
00:27:08.320 --> 00:27:12.270
this meeting regarding CAP enrollment and water utilities.
00:27:12.270 --> 00:27:16.400
In a recent CPUC report, the CPUC reported
00:27:16.400 --> 00:27:21.160
CAP enrollment by water utilities of 21%.
00:27:21.160 --> 00:27:24.870
Breaking that down, the CPU's regulated water utilities
00:27:24.870 --> 00:27:29.850
serve drinking water to 1.5 million connections.
00:27:29.850 --> 00:27:33.820
And as you can see on this slide, 294,000
00:27:33.820 --> 00:27:36.020
of those connections are on the CAP program.
00:27:37.220 --> 00:27:38.053
Next slide.
00:27:42.330 --> 00:27:47.147
So, this is a chart detailing residential customer water
00:27:47.147 --> 00:27:51.370
utility arrearage, and it's broken down by those customers
00:27:51.370 --> 00:27:53.970
enrolled in the Customer Assistance Program, or CAP,
00:27:54.940 --> 00:27:58.223
and those that are not in the Customer Assistance Program.
00:28:01.040 --> 00:28:05.103
And so, these numbers reflect 90 days past due.
00:28:06.690 --> 00:28:08.700
And to summarize the information shown here
00:28:08.700 --> 00:28:13.050
for the Class A water customers, the total number
00:28:13.050 --> 00:28:17.933
of CAP customers in a arrearage is 21,264,
00:28:19.150 --> 00:28:23.777
and the total amount owed by CAP customers is $6,966,000.
00:28:27.710 --> 00:28:29.630
So, it's important to note that this information
00:28:29.630 --> 00:28:33.113
does not include non-residential customers.
00:28:34.813 --> 00:28:38.180
And I also want to underscore the fact
00:28:38.180 --> 00:28:42.863
that outdoor usage causes large bills.
00:28:44.320 --> 00:28:47.100
So, water utilities have designed their rates
00:28:47.100 --> 00:28:50.750
based on the water necessary for indoor water use,
00:28:50.750 --> 00:28:52.890
for drinking cooking, bathing,
00:28:52.890 --> 00:28:54.733
cleaning, and personal hygiene.
00:28:56.450 --> 00:28:59.600
Unusually high water bills are generally the results
00:28:59.600 --> 00:29:01.753
of excessive outdoor water usage.
00:29:05.270 --> 00:29:06.103
Next slide.
00:29:10.450 --> 00:29:14.963
So, this is a discussion on resolution M-4849.
00:29:16.050 --> 00:29:18.806
CWA helped facilitate coordinated approach
00:29:18.806 --> 00:29:21.310
across the water utility industry
00:29:21.310 --> 00:29:24.540
in developing the transition plans.
00:29:24.540 --> 00:29:27.380
CWA engaged a consultant to assist the Class A
00:29:27.380 --> 00:29:29.963
and Class B companies in developing a robust,
00:29:31.120 --> 00:29:34.863
cost-effective, and meaningful ME&O plan.
00:29:35.970 --> 00:29:38.790
There are many factors to consider for water utilities,
00:29:38.790 --> 00:29:42.500
including SB 998, the Governor's executive order,
00:29:42.500 --> 00:29:45.320
the State Water Board, and pending state legislation
00:29:45.320 --> 00:29:47.570
and federal funding for ratepayer assistance.
00:29:49.710 --> 00:29:53.060
So, there are backstops in place even when the Commission's
00:29:53.060 --> 00:29:56.063
emergency customer protection measures end.
00:29:59.340 --> 00:30:01.810
Other mandates applicable to water providers
00:30:01.810 --> 00:30:04.730
across California, and that includes both the investor-owned
00:30:04.730 --> 00:30:07.500
and municipal companies, will be left in place
00:30:07.500 --> 00:30:11.690
after the Commission's emergency customer protections
00:30:11.690 --> 00:30:16.650
expire, including SB 998 and the disconnection moratorium
00:30:16.650 --> 00:30:19.453
under executive order N-42-20.
00:30:20.920 --> 00:30:21.753
Next slide.
00:30:26.466 --> 00:30:31.049
So, SB 998 is the Water Shutoff Protection Act of 2018.
00:30:32.150 --> 00:30:35.930
In 2018, the Governor signed Senate Bill 998
00:30:35.930 --> 00:30:39.510
to establish a set of customer protections aimed to limit
00:30:39.510 --> 00:30:41.960
disconnections for non-payment for water service.
00:30:42.910 --> 00:30:46.210
The act applies consistently to water agencies regulated
00:30:46.210 --> 00:30:49.120
by the CPUC, as well as public agencies,
00:30:49.120 --> 00:30:52.280
special districts, and mutual water companies.
00:30:52.280 --> 00:30:55.060
CPUC-regulated water utilities work proactively
00:30:55.060 --> 00:30:58.370
with the CPUC's water division to develop tariffs
00:30:58.370 --> 00:31:01.080
to incorporate the act's customer protections,
00:31:01.080 --> 00:31:05.133
and those tariffs went into effect in March of last year.
00:31:06.430 --> 00:31:09.520
The act establishes minimum waiting periods and stringent
00:31:09.520 --> 00:31:12.470
notice requirements before residential customers
00:31:12.470 --> 00:31:14.843
may be disconnected for nonpayment.
00:31:16.660 --> 00:31:17.493
Next slide.
00:31:21.580 --> 00:31:24.860
Governor Newsom's Executive Order N-42-20
00:31:27.360 --> 00:31:30.540
and Commission Resolution M-4842
00:31:30.540 --> 00:31:34.080
independently prohibit urban and community water systems
00:31:34.080 --> 00:31:36.420
from disconnecting certain residential
00:31:36.420 --> 00:31:38.703
and small business customers for nonpayment.
00:31:40.200 --> 00:31:41.840
The executive order and the Commission's
00:31:41.840 --> 00:31:44.380
resolutions differ in a number of ways.
00:31:44.380 --> 00:31:46.830
Notably, the executive order does not include
00:31:46.830 --> 00:31:50.550
an express end date, but is instead intended to be in place
00:31:50.550 --> 00:31:53.523
until lifted in a subsequent executive order.
00:31:54.880 --> 00:31:58.430
Accordingly, water utilities will not be authorized
00:31:58.430 --> 00:32:01.820
to discontinue service due to nonpayment
00:32:01.820 --> 00:32:04.530
while the executive order is in place,
00:32:04.530 --> 00:32:06.643
regardless of the Commission's actions.
00:32:08.940 --> 00:32:09.773
Next slide.
00:32:14.110 --> 00:32:18.707
On January 19, 2021 the State Water Resources Control Board
00:32:18.707 --> 00:32:21.520
announced results of surveys that it has been conducting
00:32:21.520 --> 00:32:23.710
on COVID-19's financial impact
00:32:23.710 --> 00:32:26.720
on water systems and their customers.
00:32:26.720 --> 00:32:29.547
The survey found California residents owe an estimated
00:32:29.547 --> 00:32:32.433
$600 million in unpaid drinking water bills.
00:32:33.380 --> 00:32:35.870
The State Water Board indicated that it will be exploring
00:32:35.870 --> 00:32:39.350
all avenues to help systems and households
00:32:39.350 --> 00:32:41.663
recover from the impacts of the pandemic.
00:32:42.600 --> 00:32:43.433
Next slide.
00:32:47.990 --> 00:32:50.437
Senate Bill 222 and Senate Bill 223.
00:32:51.870 --> 00:32:54.480
These are bills being considered in the current
00:32:54.480 --> 00:32:59.480
legislative session, and they are specifically aimed
00:32:59.520 --> 00:33:04.520
to address the financial impacts of COVID-19 on customers.
00:33:05.000 --> 00:33:08.260
Senate Bill 222 would establish a water affordability
00:33:08.260 --> 00:33:10.780
assistance fund to help provide water
00:33:10.780 --> 00:33:13.010
affordability assistance for both drinking water
00:33:13.010 --> 00:33:16.460
and wastewater services to low-income ratepayers
00:33:16.460 --> 00:33:21.170
and ratepayers experiencing economic hardship in California.
00:33:21.170 --> 00:33:24.990
Senate Bill 223 would expand and refine customer protections
00:33:24.990 --> 00:33:28.410
previously mandated incentive Senate Bill 998,
00:33:28.410 --> 00:33:31.810
including requiring water utilities to offer prescribed
00:33:31.810 --> 00:33:35.563
arrearage management programs for water utility customers.
00:33:37.510 --> 00:33:38.343
Next slide.
00:33:43.040 --> 00:33:45.620
So, in December of 2020, the federal government
00:33:45.620 --> 00:33:50.310
included 638 million for low income household drinking water
00:33:50.310 --> 00:33:52.803
and wastewater emergency assistance programs.
00:33:53.792 --> 00:33:55.210
The latest stimulus bill includes
00:33:55.210 --> 00:33:57.393
another 500 million for this program.
00:33:59.580 --> 00:34:02.330
To access federal aid, the state must develop
00:34:02.330 --> 00:34:05.000
a mechanism for distributing funding.
00:34:05.000 --> 00:34:08.540
CWA is engaged with policy makers to ensure quick
00:34:08.540 --> 00:34:11.090
and efficient distribution of these funds
00:34:11.090 --> 00:34:13.750
to California's low income residents,
00:34:13.750 --> 00:34:16.990
whether their water providers be public agencies,
00:34:16.990 --> 00:34:21.690
mutual water companies, or CPUC-regulated utilities.
00:34:21.690 --> 00:34:25.343
So, as I just mentioned, at the end of 2020,
00:34:25.343 --> 00:34:28.200
the federal government enacted legislation
00:34:28.200 --> 00:34:31.370
to provide emergency funding for the payment of funds
00:34:31.370 --> 00:34:33.970
to owners or operators of public water systems
00:34:33.970 --> 00:34:37.173
or treatment works to reduce arrearages.
00:34:38.100 --> 00:34:40.790
Today, President Biden has signed the COVID Relief Bill
00:34:40.790 --> 00:34:43.730
into law, which provides AIDS for renters
00:34:43.730 --> 00:34:46.290
and homeowners, part of which may be used
00:34:46.290 --> 00:34:48.670
to pay utility bills and arrearages.
00:34:49.710 --> 00:34:52.620
The federal relief bills are written in a broad manner
00:34:52.620 --> 00:34:54.830
to assist customers financially impacted
00:34:54.830 --> 00:34:58.720
by the COVID-19 pandemic, irrespective
00:34:58.720 --> 00:35:00.973
of who their public water provider is.
00:35:01.970 --> 00:35:05.420
Accessing this funding is a key component
00:35:05.420 --> 00:35:07.627
of the regulated water utilities' transition plans,
00:35:07.627 --> 00:35:09.203
and I want to emphasize that.
00:35:10.928 --> 00:35:13.830
And CWA is understanding that the state is currently
00:35:13.830 --> 00:35:17.460
determining how to administer and prioritize funding
00:35:17.460 --> 00:35:19.460
made available through this legislation.
00:35:20.540 --> 00:35:23.140
I think you all can agree that the state must ensure
00:35:23.140 --> 00:35:27.330
that CPUC-regulated water utility customers are included
00:35:27.330 --> 00:35:30.653
in the disposition of federal COVID-19 relief dollars.
00:35:33.670 --> 00:35:36.380
The financial impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic
00:35:36.380 --> 00:35:39.253
are not limited to one set of residents,
00:35:40.170 --> 00:35:43.960
but instead have been felt by customers of all types
00:35:43.960 --> 00:35:46.963
of public water services providers, alike.
00:35:48.060 --> 00:35:51.280
Customers of CPUC-regulated water utilities
00:35:51.280 --> 00:35:53.890
are taxpayers, too, and their taxes
00:35:53.890 --> 00:35:57.870
have helped fund these federal relief measures.
00:35:57.870 --> 00:36:00.025
They deserve an equal opportunity
00:36:00.025 --> 00:36:02.779
to receive much-needed assistance
00:36:02.779 --> 00:36:05.633
as their neighbors served by governmental water agencies.
00:36:08.180 --> 00:36:09.013
Next slide.
00:36:12.140 --> 00:36:14.663
So, I'd like to turn it over to Mr. John Tang.
00:36:15.810 --> 00:36:18.400
Great, thank you, Ed.
00:36:18.400 --> 00:36:20.430
Good afternoon, Board members, Commissioners
00:36:20.430 --> 00:36:22.410
utility and community representatives.
00:36:22.410 --> 00:36:23.620
I'm John Tang, Vice President
00:36:23.620 --> 00:36:27.160
of Regulatory Affairs for San Jose Water.
00:36:27.160 --> 00:36:28.520
On behalf of the Class A Utilities,
00:36:28.520 --> 00:36:30.640
I want to recognize the important work
00:36:30.640 --> 00:36:32.510
of the LIOB and the Commission,
00:36:32.510 --> 00:36:35.170
which has certainly been magnified by the pandemic.
00:36:35.170 --> 00:36:37.820
All of the Class A water utilities have had,
00:36:37.820 --> 00:36:40.060
for over a decade, a customer assistance program
00:36:40.060 --> 00:36:42.690
to assist our most vulnerable customers.
00:36:42.690 --> 00:36:44.890
We also offer other programs that can help them
00:36:44.890 --> 00:36:48.060
manage consumption and, ultimately, their water bills.
00:36:48.060 --> 00:36:50.220
I also want to recognize the work of the Commission
00:36:50.220 --> 00:36:51.900
who have authorized important investments
00:36:51.900 --> 00:36:54.050
in our water systems so that we can continue
00:36:54.050 --> 00:36:56.040
to provide safe and reliable water service
00:36:56.040 --> 00:36:58.310
and deliver on our public health mission.
00:36:58.310 --> 00:37:00.570
At no time as this more particularly true
00:37:00.570 --> 00:37:03.610
than during this once-in-a-generation pandemic.
00:37:03.610 --> 00:37:05.590
The Commission regulated water utilities continue
00:37:05.590 --> 00:37:08.290
to provide safe and reliable service through the pandemic.
00:37:08.290 --> 00:37:10.510
Some have also weathered natural disasters,
00:37:10.510 --> 00:37:13.430
such as wildfires and floods, as well as PSPS events
00:37:13.430 --> 00:37:15.540
and brownouts over the last few years.
00:37:15.540 --> 00:37:18.560
These investments are critical to ensuring our ability
00:37:18.560 --> 00:37:21.620
to deliver on our public health protection mission.
00:37:21.620 --> 00:37:25.130
So, on this slide, what you can see is that we are going
00:37:25.130 --> 00:37:27.800
to talk about our draft transition plan
00:37:27.800 --> 00:37:29.520
and we absolutely recognize that this is
00:37:29.520 --> 00:37:31.580
a difficult time for our customers.
00:37:31.580 --> 00:37:34.760
Our plans were carefully considered to serve customers
00:37:34.760 --> 00:37:36.810
and provide opportunities to address
00:37:36.810 --> 00:37:39.840
their past-due balances once the protections end.
00:37:39.840 --> 00:37:42.490
We will also comply with the provisions in SB 998,
00:37:42.490 --> 00:37:45.040
which Ed talked about just previously here,
00:37:45.040 --> 00:37:48.205
which provides further protections to our customers.
00:37:48.205 --> 00:37:50.540
Our goal is really to minimize the number
00:37:50.540 --> 00:37:52.358
of disconnections, and to only use it
00:37:52.358 --> 00:37:57.358
as a last resort once the moratorium is over.
00:37:57.652 --> 00:38:02.652
With that said, I think there is some question right now
00:38:04.010 --> 00:38:06.414
as to when an official end date
00:38:06.414 --> 00:38:10.030
for the Executive Order will come from the Governor.
00:38:10.030 --> 00:38:15.030
And so with that, I think our plan reflects, somewhat,
00:38:15.240 --> 00:38:18.990
that unknown ending date, and so we are looking
00:38:18.990 --> 00:38:22.153
to undertake several ME&O strategies
00:38:22.153 --> 00:38:25.370
to reach out to our customers and offer them all kinds
00:38:25.370 --> 00:38:27.680
of different options, depending on their needs,
00:38:27.680 --> 00:38:30.370
including enrolling them in customer CAP programs,
00:38:30.370 --> 00:38:31.990
as well as offering and encouraging them
00:38:31.990 --> 00:38:35.070
to enroll in our payment plan.
00:38:35.070 --> 00:38:40.050
I think the timing of the executive order
00:38:40.050 --> 00:38:43.867
will be very telling, in terms of how we will implement
00:38:43.867 --> 00:38:48.050
our very robust ME&O program, and if there is
00:38:48.050 --> 00:38:51.087
sufficient time, I think we can do more
00:38:51.087 --> 00:38:54.320
than less, as described in our plan.
00:38:54.320 --> 00:38:55.270
Next slide, please.
00:38:59.469 --> 00:39:04.130
So, the Class A utilities' plans are outlined here.
00:39:04.130 --> 00:39:05.300
There are two pages of this,
00:39:05.300 --> 00:39:09.210
and I'm sure you have in your packet.
00:39:09.210 --> 00:39:11.540
And really, we gave very careful consideration
00:39:11.540 --> 00:39:14.780
to the activities that will allow us to reach all customers.
00:39:14.780 --> 00:39:18.030
The traditional methods remain tried and true,
00:39:18.030 --> 00:39:20.570
and we will continue to use them, such as inbound
00:39:20.570 --> 00:39:23.590
and outbound calls, bill inserts, and direct mail.
00:39:23.590 --> 00:39:25.900
Obviously, there are newer methods, as well,
00:39:25.900 --> 00:39:28.960
that take advantage of technology, including our website,
00:39:28.960 --> 00:39:31.375
social media, and something that we've had
00:39:31.375 --> 00:39:33.330
some great success with recently
00:39:33.330 --> 00:39:37.020
is virtual community meetings to get our message out.
00:39:37.020 --> 00:39:39.020
The combination of these methods, I think,
00:39:39.020 --> 00:39:42.070
gives us the best chance to reach all of our customers
00:39:42.070 --> 00:39:45.190
in the manner that they prefer.
00:39:45.190 --> 00:39:47.830
And so, as you can see here, really all of us
00:39:47.830 --> 00:39:51.150
are pretty much doing very much the same thing.
00:39:51.150 --> 00:39:54.733
All of us are also translating
00:39:54.733 --> 00:39:57.860
the materials into multiple languages.
00:39:57.860 --> 00:39:59.530
If you can go to the next slide, please,
00:39:59.530 --> 00:40:00.830
so we can show the others.
00:40:03.410 --> 00:40:05.560
I think one of the things that is going to present
00:40:05.560 --> 00:40:07.390
an opportunity for us is actually work
00:40:07.390 --> 00:40:10.950
with the local community based organizations
00:40:10.950 --> 00:40:12.520
to spread the word about the programs
00:40:12.520 --> 00:40:13.860
available to assist customers.
00:40:13.860 --> 00:40:17.030
We've always had a great relationships, I think,
00:40:17.030 --> 00:40:19.420
for the most part with our community-based organizations.
00:40:19.420 --> 00:40:21.520
We haven't tapped them in this manner.
00:40:21.520 --> 00:40:25.445
We have supported them through non-profit organizations
00:40:25.445 --> 00:40:28.710
and doing work and human health and services
00:40:28.710 --> 00:40:30.560
and education and youth enrichment.
00:40:30.560 --> 00:40:33.030
But I think this is really an opportunity,
00:40:33.030 --> 00:40:34.689
the pandemic has created an opportunity,
00:40:34.689 --> 00:40:38.010
to maybe further develop that partnership,
00:40:38.010 --> 00:40:41.562
in terms of providing this low-income assistance
00:40:41.562 --> 00:40:46.170
to the customers that need it the most.
00:40:46.170 --> 00:40:47.520
I think there are also opportunities
00:40:47.520 --> 00:40:49.306
to improve the enrollment rate,
00:40:49.306 --> 00:40:51.730
not only through the ME&O strategies,
00:40:51.730 --> 00:40:54.160
but also through the continued data-sharing program
00:40:54.160 --> 00:40:58.430
currently in place with our electric utility peers.
00:40:58.430 --> 00:41:00.470
We also support the efforts underway
00:41:00.470 --> 00:41:03.250
to develop a coordinated Statewide response
00:41:03.250 --> 00:41:06.357
covering both water utilities, investor water utilities,
00:41:06.357 --> 00:41:09.050
and municipal water service providers
00:41:09.050 --> 00:41:11.050
in order to reduce customer confusion
00:41:11.050 --> 00:41:14.953
through consistent treatment and communications.
00:41:15.990 --> 00:41:18.475
I think in closing, I'd just like to say that
00:41:18.475 --> 00:41:21.080
the Commission-regulated water utilities
00:41:21.080 --> 00:41:23.453
will absolutely continue to support our customers
00:41:23.453 --> 00:41:27.490
and the communities where we live, work, and serve.
00:41:27.490 --> 00:41:29.420
From low income to customer assistance
00:41:29.420 --> 00:41:31.430
to conservation programs, we will assist
00:41:31.430 --> 00:41:33.630
our customers and support our communities
00:41:33.630 --> 00:41:35.750
through this pandemic and beyond,
00:41:35.750 --> 00:41:38.540
and we also remain, obviously, committed to delivering
00:41:38.540 --> 00:41:40.670
on our public health mission to deliver
00:41:40.670 --> 00:41:42.160
safe and reliable water service.
00:41:42.160 --> 00:41:42.993
Thank you.
00:41:47.510 --> 00:41:48.460
Next slide, please.
00:41:51.190 --> 00:41:53.440
And with that, I will hand it over to Janice.
00:41:59.180 --> 00:42:01.230
You're on mute, sorry about that.
00:42:18.030 --> 00:42:21.063
Janice, you should be able to unmute yourself.
00:42:24.113 --> 00:42:26.053
I'm not sure if you can hear us.
00:42:31.417 --> 00:42:32.660
(computer beeping)
00:42:32.660 --> 00:42:35.200
Janice Hanna, you are unmuted.
00:42:35.200 --> 00:42:38.290
Oh, thank you very much, I appreciate that.
00:42:38.290 --> 00:42:39.758
I am Janice Hannah, Director
00:42:39.758 --> 00:42:43.560
of Corporate Accounting for Del Oro Water Company.
00:42:43.560 --> 00:42:45.390
I've been asked to be the presenter
00:42:45.390 --> 00:42:49.510
for the Class B water utilities and their transition plans.
00:42:49.510 --> 00:42:53.070
And thank you all for the opportunity to do so.
00:42:53.070 --> 00:42:55.780
There are four Class B water utilities
00:42:55.780 --> 00:43:00.780
representing approximately 20,500 connections.
00:43:01.870 --> 00:43:06.030
As the Class A utilities, we are committed to work with
00:43:06.030 --> 00:43:09.820
and protect all of our customers through this transition,
00:43:09.820 --> 00:43:14.298
encouraging payment plans without disconnections.
00:43:14.298 --> 00:43:19.298
We will also comply with SB 988, that gives added protection
00:43:20.130 --> 00:43:23.023
to our customers against disconnection.
00:43:24.160 --> 00:43:27.410
Because we are smaller, throughout the past year,
00:43:27.410 --> 00:43:31.280
our customer service representatives have already been able
00:43:31.280 --> 00:43:35.150
to reach out and discuss options with our customers
00:43:35.150 --> 00:43:37.773
and encourage payments that can be afforded.
00:43:38.720 --> 00:43:42.962
With this, our current arrearage summary over the 90 days
00:43:42.962 --> 00:43:47.850
has approximately 650 connections
00:43:47.850 --> 00:43:51.403
with a total amount of 143,000.
00:43:52.820 --> 00:43:57.040
At this time, we do not have customer assistant programs
00:43:57.040 --> 00:43:58.950
and look forward to participate
00:43:58.950 --> 00:44:02.677
with the Statewide program proposed in SB 222.
00:44:04.200 --> 00:44:06.950
The percentage of customers that need assistance
00:44:06.950 --> 00:44:09.790
for all four Class B utilities
00:44:09.790 --> 00:44:12.920
is much higher than those who do not.
00:44:12.920 --> 00:44:16.310
With a Statewide program, the assistance can be spread
00:44:16.310 --> 00:44:20.843
over a larger number along with a higher amount of relief.
00:44:22.480 --> 00:44:23.990
Next slide, please.
00:44:26.690 --> 00:44:29.380
Our Marketing, Education and Outreach Program
00:44:29.380 --> 00:44:32.930
is directed to personal contact with our customers,
00:44:32.930 --> 00:44:37.010
and CWA has assisted with inserts that are included
00:44:37.010 --> 00:44:40.010
in the slides and tools that we can utilize
00:44:40.010 --> 00:44:42.860
for the websites and social media.
00:44:42.860 --> 00:44:46.560
Materials will be translated into multiple languages,
00:44:46.560 --> 00:44:49.823
depending on the location of the utility.
00:44:51.810 --> 00:44:54.960
Gillian, if you would go back to the introduction slide,
00:44:54.960 --> 00:44:57.480
along with Ed, John, and myself,
00:44:57.480 --> 00:44:59.900
representatives from water utilities
00:44:59.900 --> 00:45:03.113
are available for your questions at this time.
00:45:17.390 --> 00:45:21.000
Thank you very much for the thoughtful presentations.
00:45:21.000 --> 00:45:26.000
We began with the IOUs and municipals, earlier.
00:45:26.020 --> 00:45:28.370
Commissioner, I know some of your colleagues
00:45:28.370 --> 00:45:30.560
had hard conflicts this afternoon,
00:45:30.560 --> 00:45:32.470
but just wanting to do a courtesy check
00:45:32.470 --> 00:45:36.280
to see if the one Commissioners came back on,
00:45:36.280 --> 00:45:39.403
if any of them had questions they'd like to ask first.
00:45:40.980 --> 00:45:43.927
Okay, let's go with Commissioner Guzman Aceves.
00:45:45.180 --> 00:45:47.883
Thank you, Commissioner Shiroma and Benito.
00:45:48.830 --> 00:45:52.060
I just thank you very much for the presentations.
00:45:52.060 --> 00:45:56.100
And there is so much activity in both of these sectors,
00:45:56.100 --> 00:45:58.870
and I thank you for really highlighting
00:45:58.870 --> 00:46:02.313
some of the legislative interest on these topics, as well.
00:46:05.960 --> 00:46:08.250
I'm not sure if I missed it, but I did also want
00:46:08.250 --> 00:46:10.560
to make sure everyone was aware
00:46:10.560 --> 00:46:14.565
that there is also a water rulemaking on COVID,
00:46:14.565 --> 00:46:18.804
and we are also in the midst of finalizing
00:46:18.804 --> 00:46:22.420
a proposed decision to put out to the public.
00:46:22.420 --> 00:46:24.990
But just in general, many of these same topics
00:46:24.990 --> 00:46:27.850
are in the scope of that proceeding,
00:46:27.850 --> 00:46:31.420
like arrearage management plans, arrearage forgiveness,
00:46:31.420 --> 00:46:34.520
and payment plans, and things like that.
00:46:34.520 --> 00:46:38.050
So, once that is published, it would be good to come back
00:46:38.050 --> 00:46:41.500
to the LIOB, as well, to make sure
00:46:41.500 --> 00:46:44.020
we get the input from all of you.
00:46:44.020 --> 00:46:46.330
But that's just a major component here
00:46:46.330 --> 00:46:49.250
that will be forthcoming that will,
00:46:49.250 --> 00:46:54.250
of course, obviously, be a part of this response
00:46:54.370 --> 00:46:56.633
that the water utilities are are leading.
00:46:57.760 --> 00:46:59.140
So, that's something I wanted to
00:46:59.140 --> 00:47:01.490
make sure folks were aware of.
00:47:01.490 --> 00:47:05.999
And also, just a reflection on one of the comments
00:47:05.999 --> 00:47:09.383
that was made on the federal funding.
00:47:10.610 --> 00:47:15.090
And I think Jason might've gave the numbers again,
00:47:15.090 --> 00:47:20.090
but the scale is a tenfold difference from energy to water.
00:47:22.370 --> 00:47:24.410
And I just kinda want to maybe do more
00:47:24.410 --> 00:47:29.410
of a reality check here, 'cause I can't remember who it was
00:47:30.140 --> 00:47:33.903
that was presenting that put an emphasis
00:47:33.903 --> 00:47:38.130
on the importance of this federal funding as the, maybe,
00:47:38.130 --> 00:47:41.610
key strategy that the water utilities are using.
00:47:41.610 --> 00:47:45.250
And I want to caution against that, just based on
00:47:50.144 --> 00:47:53.280
the amount of funding that's going to come to the state.
00:47:53.280 --> 00:47:55.460
Of course, right now, we don't know.
00:47:55.460 --> 00:47:59.173
But 500 million for the nation,
00:48:00.190 --> 00:48:02.670
we're gonna be lucky if we get 10% of that.
00:48:02.670 --> 00:48:06.850
And so, let's call it 50 million,
00:48:06.850 --> 00:48:09.060
although that's totally speculative at this point,
00:48:09.060 --> 00:48:12.520
that is not enough to deal with the nearly billion dollars
00:48:12.520 --> 00:48:15.340
of water utility debt that was mentioned.
00:48:15.340 --> 00:48:17.700
So I would hope that's not our major strategy,
00:48:17.700 --> 00:48:21.800
is just what what I'm reflecting on what was raised.
00:48:21.800 --> 00:48:24.210
Now that's not to say that we shouldn't, of course,
00:48:24.210 --> 00:48:28.930
advocate for everyone who is eligible, including customers
00:48:28.930 --> 00:48:32.610
from our private utilities, to be eligible.
00:48:32.610 --> 00:48:36.445
But the reality is that very few Californians,
00:48:36.445 --> 00:48:39.480
hopefully the most neediest of Californians, and some of
00:48:39.480 --> 00:48:44.480
which may be private utility customers, should receive it.
00:48:44.770 --> 00:48:48.353
But I don't think that that should be our main strategy.
00:48:49.700 --> 00:48:51.960
And so, just wanted to reflect on that
00:48:51.960 --> 00:48:55.203
and give everyone a little bit of perspective on the
00:49:00.190 --> 00:49:03.623
scale of of what will likely come to California.
00:49:04.560 --> 00:49:05.393
Thank you.
00:49:07.210 --> 00:49:08.330
Thank you, Commissioner.
00:49:08.330 --> 00:49:10.043
Yes, Commissioner Houck.
00:49:12.496 --> 00:49:13.450
I just wanted to thank everyone
00:49:13.450 --> 00:49:15.870
for the really informative presentations.
00:49:15.870 --> 00:49:18.020
These are really critical issues, and as I'm coming
00:49:18.020 --> 00:49:21.597
up to speed, this information is just really important.
00:49:21.597 --> 00:49:24.830
And I just want to re-emphasize what, I think,
00:49:24.830 --> 00:49:27.000
has been said throughout the day, just how important
00:49:27.000 --> 00:49:30.140
it is to get this information out to the most
00:49:30.140 --> 00:49:33.700
vulnerable customers, especially given so much
00:49:33.700 --> 00:49:37.810
uncertainty right now over different timeframes,
00:49:37.810 --> 00:49:40.380
and what aid is coming from the federal government,
00:49:40.380 --> 00:49:43.430
and when these programs are gonna expire or not.
00:49:43.430 --> 00:49:46.840
So, again, thank you, and continue
00:49:46.840 --> 00:49:49.090
to get that information out to the customers.
00:49:51.510 --> 00:49:52.343
Thank you, Commissioner Houck.
00:49:52.343 --> 00:49:57.030
I would just add on that, I think we appreciate,
00:50:00.646 --> 00:50:04.200
for lack of a better way to put it, the predicament
00:50:04.200 --> 00:50:09.200
that the regulated water utilities are in.
00:50:10.670 --> 00:50:14.430
And I'm hoping that what we can do is take that predicament
00:50:14.430 --> 00:50:19.220
and turn it into almost a model for ourselves
00:50:19.220 --> 00:50:21.420
and the nation, in terms of problem-solving.
00:50:23.120 --> 00:50:28.120
You've got the constraints of, there is no expiration
00:50:29.320 --> 00:50:32.780
of the moratorium on disconnections.
00:50:32.780 --> 00:50:37.780
There are laws in place to prevent disconnections,
00:50:39.670 --> 00:50:43.770
of course, all geared towards the notion that,
00:50:43.770 --> 00:50:46.080
for life itself, you've got to have
00:50:46.080 --> 00:50:49.710
access to clean drinking water.
00:50:49.710 --> 00:50:54.533
Now, in the meantime, we will leave no stone unturned.
00:50:59.702 --> 00:51:03.090
In the grand arena of the federal stimulus,
00:51:03.090 --> 00:51:06.930
or what have you, everyone needs to continue to advocate
00:51:06.930 --> 00:51:11.670
for California and for all of our constituencies.
00:51:11.670 --> 00:51:15.980
And in CPUC's case, it is you all,
00:51:15.980 --> 00:51:18.413
the regulated water utilities.
00:51:19.330 --> 00:51:24.330
So, I think that, as much as each of you are developing
00:51:26.270 --> 00:51:30.843
your marketing education outreach plans,
00:51:33.010 --> 00:51:38.010
looking for partnerships, any additional funding
00:51:40.290 --> 00:51:45.290
and for means to get customers onto your payment plans
00:51:47.470 --> 00:51:50.376
and to be able to pay their bills,
00:51:50.376 --> 00:51:53.060
as we come out of the pandemic,
00:51:53.060 --> 00:51:57.823
hopefully lower unemployment, money is going to families
00:52:01.290 --> 00:52:05.050
and people for rental assistance,
00:52:05.050 --> 00:52:08.500
taking some of the pressures off of some of the other bills
00:52:08.500 --> 00:52:10.680
that folks are having to pay,
00:52:10.680 --> 00:52:13.890
it will provide an opportunity for customers
00:52:13.890 --> 00:52:17.340
to catch up on their water arrearages.
00:52:19.340 --> 00:52:23.260
Appreciate the presentation, the slides were very clear,
00:52:23.260 --> 00:52:25.820
in terms of what the arrearages are,
00:52:25.820 --> 00:52:30.820
how many customers you've got who are in this situation,
00:52:31.370 --> 00:52:35.293
and for the size or you have your utilities,
00:52:37.065 --> 00:52:41.770
it's a sizable amount of folks who need help.
00:52:41.770 --> 00:52:45.963
So I'll just stop there and turn this back over to Benito
00:52:47.010 --> 00:52:50.160
for questions, comments from the Board members.
00:52:50.160 --> 00:52:50.993
Thank you.
00:52:53.270 --> 00:52:55.080
Thank you, Commissioner.
00:52:55.080 --> 00:52:56.890
Happy to open it up to questions
00:52:56.890 --> 00:52:59.107
and comments from members of the Board.
00:53:00.892 --> 00:53:02.343
Board Member Medina.
00:53:06.370 --> 00:53:11.110
Thank you for this very eloquent presentation,
00:53:11.110 --> 00:53:12.675
especially cause here in the Central Valley,
00:53:12.675 --> 00:53:16.100
we're dealing with water systems that,
00:53:16.100 --> 00:53:19.160
sometimes, are not regulated anywhere,
00:53:19.160 --> 00:53:20.983
unfortunately even in small cities.
00:53:22.041 --> 00:53:23.870
I don't know who regulates or what,
00:53:23.870 --> 00:53:27.010
but they do affect our communities a lot.
00:53:27.010 --> 00:53:30.700
And just to note that in the year 2020
00:53:30.700 --> 00:53:35.130
during COVID pandemia, stay-at-home, work-at-home period,
00:53:35.130 --> 00:53:38.060
we did have a lot of heat wave weather.
00:53:41.380 --> 00:53:45.960
And you noted on the residential customer water utility
00:53:45.960 --> 00:53:50.740
arrearage summary, in your comment, you noted
00:53:50.740 --> 00:53:54.860
that you don't make the outdoor usage
00:53:54.860 --> 00:53:59.250
part of the of the arrearage, or did I misunderstand that?
00:53:59.250 --> 00:54:02.060
Because if anything, we do know that last year was not
00:54:02.060 --> 00:54:05.430
presented for whole fields, and I think that if families
00:54:05.430 --> 00:54:07.500
were thinking, how am I gonna use my PG&E
00:54:07.500 --> 00:54:09.370
or my electric bill with the AC,
00:54:09.370 --> 00:54:11.950
I'm going to go outside with the hose and the kids, right?
00:54:11.950 --> 00:54:14.830
So, I don't know if that had an impact,
00:54:14.830 --> 00:54:19.570
if there's some way to compare pre-COVID time
00:54:19.570 --> 00:54:24.570
or outdoor water usage overcharge, or I don't know
00:54:25.880 --> 00:54:28.773
how to put it, but that kind of just came to my head.
00:54:29.610 --> 00:54:30.520
Last year was hot.
00:54:30.520 --> 00:54:35.070
I remember, I, myself, only with a fan outside, and I used
00:54:35.070 --> 00:54:38.320
the water hose for the first time ever outside in the yard.
00:54:38.320 --> 00:54:40.840
So, I didn't even think about it,
00:54:40.840 --> 00:54:42.680
but last year was different.
00:54:42.680 --> 00:54:47.680
And then two, on the page, how you call your customers
00:54:47.966 --> 00:54:51.650
to stay in contact with them, I like that
00:54:51.650 --> 00:54:53.310
the first thing is a phone call.
00:54:53.310 --> 00:54:55.640
A lot of customers, you probably
00:54:55.640 --> 00:54:59.010
already have frequency with your customers,
00:54:59.010 --> 00:55:01.200
but I'm just also wondering, and this goes
00:55:01.200 --> 00:55:05.124
to Commissioner Shiroma, too as far as
00:55:05.124 --> 00:55:09.930
when we regulate, I don't know what the phone companies
00:55:09.930 --> 00:55:12.680
are called, what do we call those, the phone companies?
00:55:13.633 --> 00:55:15.850
I don't know what they're called, but those people,
00:55:15.850 --> 00:55:19.540
do we ask, because this is possible now,
00:55:19.540 --> 00:55:23.166
for them to identify that company, like if it's PG&E,
00:55:23.166 --> 00:55:25.870
or if it's the water system, for them, when it comes
00:55:25.870 --> 00:55:29.221
on the phone that it comes out, instead of coming out like,
00:55:29.221 --> 00:55:33.460
probably a scam, or number unidentified,
00:55:33.460 --> 00:55:37.410
or a computer number, that it is identifiable,
00:55:37.410 --> 00:55:41.700
that it is like an IOU, or a company
00:55:41.700 --> 00:55:44.730
that is established lik these companies.
00:55:44.730 --> 00:55:46.887
So, that's my comments, thank you.
00:55:51.302 --> 00:55:53.710
Hello, Mr. Chair.
00:55:53.710 --> 00:55:55.260
Hi, it's Bob Castaneda.
00:55:56.660 --> 00:55:59.260
I guess one of the benefits from being around a long time,
00:55:59.260 --> 00:56:02.610
you kind of draw from historical reference.
00:56:02.610 --> 00:56:04.680
It wasn't too long ago we were in the throes
00:56:04.680 --> 00:56:08.620
of a major drought, and having said that,
00:56:08.620 --> 00:56:11.183
it was another call for all hands on Board.
00:56:11.183 --> 00:56:13.820
And one of the things that I think about,
00:56:13.820 --> 00:56:16.880
in terms of a common denominator with both
00:56:16.880 --> 00:56:18.380
what we're dealing with with energy
00:56:18.380 --> 00:56:20.590
and what we're dealing with water today,
00:56:20.590 --> 00:56:23.273
is the whole concept of enhanced conservation.
00:56:24.340 --> 00:56:27.930
In other words, given the proceeding that was decided
00:56:27.930 --> 00:56:32.930
on in 2017, we had water efficiency measures
00:56:33.416 --> 00:56:35.940
that, to some degree, were administered,
00:56:35.940 --> 00:56:40.612
or instituted, by ESA contractors.
00:56:40.612 --> 00:56:43.580
The other program that I'm thinking of that was
00:56:43.580 --> 00:56:48.070
very prevalent at that time was the CST program
00:56:48.070 --> 00:56:49.920
through the Department of Water Resources
00:56:49.920 --> 00:56:52.840
in connection with toilet replacing.
00:56:52.840 --> 00:56:56.170
So, I think that one of the things that we think about
00:56:56.170 --> 00:56:58.590
is, yes we have debts that we need to pay,
00:56:58.590 --> 00:57:02.100
we need to manage, how we do that effectively,
00:57:02.100 --> 00:57:07.100
so all rent payers are dealt with responsibly.
00:57:07.270 --> 00:57:11.394
But at the same time, as we move forward past this crisis,
00:57:11.394 --> 00:57:16.394
can we use this opportunity to perhaps install water
00:57:16.653 --> 00:57:20.870
efficiency measures and water education with consumers?
00:57:20.870 --> 00:57:23.560
And the most obvious course of action that we took
00:57:23.560 --> 00:57:28.230
way back in 2016 was the identification of leaks,
00:57:28.230 --> 00:57:32.120
in terms of creating a bill that's unmanageable.
00:57:32.120 --> 00:57:34.670
So, having said that, I'm just wondering because I know
00:57:34.670 --> 00:57:37.990
the water companies are very familiar with what we did
00:57:37.990 --> 00:57:40.530
during the drought, with innovation with customers
00:57:40.530 --> 00:57:45.530
and water conservation and water-saving measures,
00:57:45.720 --> 00:57:48.650
including toilets and aerators and things of that nature,
00:57:48.650 --> 00:57:51.920
whether or not that that could also be put into this effort.
00:57:51.920 --> 00:57:52.753
Thank you.
00:57:59.710 --> 00:58:02.513
Would any of the water representatives to respond?
00:58:06.220 --> 00:58:08.120
Hi, this is Ed Jackson with Liberty Utilities.
00:58:08.120 --> 00:58:12.110
So, what was just described is something
00:58:12.110 --> 00:58:14.090
that is routinely done by Liberty,
00:58:14.090 --> 00:58:16.460
and I'm sure the other water utilities.
00:58:16.460 --> 00:58:20.930
We have a program basically involving water audits.
00:58:20.930 --> 00:58:24.150
So, that's one of the first thing that occurs
00:58:24.150 --> 00:58:26.783
when someone has a very high water bill.
00:58:28.300 --> 00:58:32.460
They deal with our customer staff,
00:58:32.460 --> 00:58:35.990
and we ask them, you know, about their irrigation practices,
00:58:35.990 --> 00:58:40.270
and we go out to the household and we do
00:58:40.270 --> 00:58:45.270
a water audit and identify ways that can help
00:58:45.496 --> 00:58:48.433
the customer lower their water usage.
00:58:50.050 --> 00:58:52.903
To Board Member Medina's comment,
00:58:54.140 --> 00:58:57.360
when we say outdoor usage is a cause
00:58:57.360 --> 00:59:00.300
of high bills, we're really talking about irrigation,
00:59:00.300 --> 00:59:05.210
landscaping, watering of lawns, etc.
00:59:05.210 --> 00:59:06.257
So, thank you.
00:59:08.210 --> 00:59:10.731
Thank you, and Greg, I saw you had your hand up, too.
00:59:10.731 --> 00:59:12.560
Is there anything that you'd like to add?
00:59:12.560 --> 00:59:15.880
Yeah, well, Ed hit on the watering lawns,
00:59:15.880 --> 00:59:17.260
landscape, I was gonna comment
00:59:17.260 --> 00:59:20.330
on Board Member Media's comment.
00:59:20.330 --> 00:59:24.540
But in regards to the water use efficiency,
00:59:24.540 --> 00:59:28.250
in addition to what Ed's done, at Cal Water,
00:59:28.250 --> 00:59:32.878
we undertook a program during 2020 to,
00:59:32.878 --> 00:59:34.470
with COVID present, we didn't want to go
00:59:34.470 --> 00:59:37.030
into customers' homes, but we would go to
00:59:37.030 --> 00:59:39.850
and do landscape irrigation audits.
00:59:39.850 --> 00:59:43.740
But not only would we identify where the leaks were
00:59:43.740 --> 00:59:46.350
and what needed to be fixed, we would fix it
00:59:46.350 --> 00:59:50.980
for the customer, because most times, those programs
00:59:50.980 --> 00:59:53.830
are set up as rebate programs.
00:59:53.830 --> 00:59:56.720
But if the customer doesn't have the money to pay their
00:59:56.720 --> 01:00:00.390
water bill, they don't have the money to make the fixes.
01:00:00.390 --> 01:00:02.820
So, it was a win-win solution.
01:00:02.820 --> 01:00:07.820
We would fix the problem for them, their water usage would
01:00:08.240 --> 01:00:11.570
go down, and their water usage would go down accordingly.
01:00:11.570 --> 01:00:14.600
So, that's a really good program that we're very proud of,
01:00:14.600 --> 01:00:16.713
and when we plan to continue doing that.
01:00:21.252 --> 01:00:22.585
Thank you, Greg.
01:00:22.585 --> 01:00:24.335
Commissioner Shiroma.
01:00:28.225 --> 01:00:30.580
To Board Member Media's question about
01:00:30.580 --> 01:00:34.563
the communication providers, Verizon, AT&T,
01:00:36.287 --> 01:00:40.760
and many others, towards providing
01:00:40.760 --> 01:00:45.760
for ID and prevention of spam and scam.
01:00:46.530 --> 01:00:47.870
That's a good question.
01:00:47.870 --> 01:00:51.143
I don't have an answer for you.
01:00:52.040 --> 01:00:57.040
Our regulatory authority over the communications companies
01:00:59.480 --> 01:01:04.480
is different than over the energy and water.
01:01:04.930 --> 01:01:08.470
But having said that, I think the seam I'm hearing
01:01:08.470 --> 01:01:13.470
throughout the day is about resources to prevent scams
01:01:15.020 --> 01:01:18.880
in this COVID environment and in this environment
01:01:18.880 --> 01:01:22.820
of repayments, or arrearages, and so forth.
01:01:22.820 --> 01:01:25.293
We do also want to have consumer protections.
01:01:26.782 --> 01:01:30.643
So, this is an arena for us to consider,
01:01:34.025 --> 01:01:38.023
to learn what is being done now already.
01:01:38.023 --> 01:01:42.770
Because I know everyone has programs to prevent scams,
01:01:42.770 --> 01:01:47.770
but whether something else needs to be done going forward.
01:01:49.250 --> 01:01:52.080
So, I'm just taking note of the interest
01:01:52.080 --> 01:01:55.373
and the importance in consumer protection.
01:01:56.740 --> 01:01:57.573
All right, thank you.
01:01:57.573 --> 01:01:58.410
Back to you, Benito.
01:02:00.060 --> 01:02:01.250
Thank you, Commissioner.
01:02:01.250 --> 01:02:05.210
One question I had the same question that we asked
01:02:07.141 --> 01:02:11.750
the utilities earlier on energy was with respect
01:02:11.750 --> 01:02:15.900
to coordination with, not just social service
01:02:15.900 --> 01:02:19.930
and other public agencies, but also
01:02:19.930 --> 01:02:22.793
community service action agencies, particularly,
01:02:23.920 --> 01:02:26.570
given them my understanding the arrearage money
01:02:26.570 --> 01:02:30.483
that is available for water going to the LIHEAP network.
01:02:31.755 --> 01:02:34.710
Is there any type of referral process
01:02:34.710 --> 01:02:39.660
for anything like that in place or being looked at,
01:02:39.660 --> 01:02:44.060
given that the state is part of the plan?
01:02:44.060 --> 01:02:46.940
I acknowledge what Commissioner Guzman Aceves said,
01:02:46.940 --> 01:02:50.290
in terms of limitations, but at least what is there,
01:02:50.290 --> 01:02:52.490
to make sure that the customers know
01:02:52.490 --> 01:02:54.593
that that could be a potential option.
01:02:56.282 --> 01:02:57.830
I can take that one, actually.
01:02:57.830 --> 01:02:58.663
I'm Yvonne Kingman.
01:02:58.663 --> 01:03:01.990
I'm with Cal Water, and we work together
01:03:01.990 --> 01:03:06.210
with the other regulated water utilities
01:03:06.210 --> 01:03:09.120
on our public information committee.
01:03:09.120 --> 01:03:13.840
And we've been working through CWA to get access
01:03:13.840 --> 01:03:17.610
to more information on community-based organizations
01:03:17.610 --> 01:03:20.550
for which we can, then, find resources
01:03:20.550 --> 01:03:22.830
for our customers who are in need.
01:03:22.830 --> 01:03:26.840
I think each individual company, as well, has contacts
01:03:26.840 --> 01:03:31.090
with their local cities and counties, and are able to look
01:03:31.090 --> 01:03:36.090
at any other resources that could come locally or federally,
01:03:38.030 --> 01:03:41.270
or through state programs, in which we would be able
01:03:41.270 --> 01:03:46.270
to offer to customers in our local areas.
01:03:46.570 --> 01:03:49.500
For example, with renters, with assistance
01:03:49.500 --> 01:03:52.680
that may be coming to renters, we would be able
01:03:52.680 --> 01:03:55.990
to reach out, and then also let them know that the funds
01:03:55.990 --> 01:03:59.320
are available to assist with utility bills, as well.
01:03:59.320 --> 01:04:04.020
So, we look through a number of avenues to
01:04:05.270 --> 01:04:08.930
build these partnerships with these community organizations
01:04:08.930 --> 01:04:13.670
and our local governments to find and promote
01:04:13.670 --> 01:04:15.770
and offer these programs to our customers.
01:04:23.710 --> 01:04:24.543
Thank you.
01:04:24.543 --> 01:04:26.640
Did any of the other utilities to comment?
01:04:31.560 --> 01:04:34.880
Yes, I'll do so, Chair.
01:04:34.880 --> 01:04:38.030
So, I think all of us, as mentioned before,
01:04:38.030 --> 01:04:41.630
I think we're all kind of waiting to see how the money
01:04:41.630 --> 01:04:43.610
is gonna be appropriated and how it's going
01:04:43.610 --> 01:04:47.050
to be actually delivered to California
01:04:47.050 --> 01:04:49.720
and, ultimately, to you know, to the cities
01:04:49.720 --> 01:04:53.523
or municipalities, or the residents directly.
01:04:54.422 --> 01:04:57.340
I do agree that there's a great opportunity here, though,
01:04:57.340 --> 01:05:00.830
for us to be able to point our customers to that.
01:05:00.830 --> 01:05:05.830
Ultimately, however, that delivery mechanism
01:05:05.850 --> 01:05:09.290
is going to be is going to be decided.
01:05:09.290 --> 01:05:12.990
And, I think doing that through the community action
01:05:14.640 --> 01:05:16.840
organizations, community-based organizations,
01:05:16.840 --> 01:05:19.020
is gonna be a great way to do that.
01:05:19.020 --> 01:05:21.530
As I mentioned in my comments I think most of us,
01:05:21.530 --> 01:05:23.620
if not all of us, have very good relationships
01:05:23.620 --> 01:05:27.850
with those organizations already through our
01:05:27.850 --> 01:05:30.850
historical support and continue to support of them.
01:05:30.850 --> 01:05:33.560
And I think the pandemic has certainly provided
01:05:33.560 --> 01:05:35.990
another opportunity for us to engage with them
01:05:35.990 --> 01:05:37.583
in a way that we hadn't before.
01:05:43.570 --> 01:05:44.770
Thank you.
01:05:44.770 --> 01:05:47.713
Other questions or comments from members of the Board?
01:05:49.300 --> 01:05:50.133
Jeff?
01:05:53.380 --> 01:05:55.280
Yeah, I have a couple of questions
01:05:56.760 --> 01:05:59.870
related to the schedule that Ed provided,
01:05:59.870 --> 01:06:02.603
in terms of the arrearage summary.
01:06:03.550 --> 01:06:04.823
I think it's slide nine.
01:06:06.224 --> 01:06:09.280
And I think this relates to Lourdes' question
01:06:09.280 --> 01:06:11.330
about the water bills, 'cause I think
01:06:11.330 --> 01:06:13.563
that maybe needs a little clarification.
01:06:17.170 --> 01:06:19.030
So on this, there there's a big
01:06:19.030 --> 01:06:22.459
difference between median and average.
01:06:22.459 --> 01:06:23.760
(computers beeping)
01:06:23.760 --> 01:06:26.280
The median numbers are fairly modest.
01:06:26.280 --> 01:06:31.280
Can somebody explain why that is, or what's driving that?
01:06:34.750 --> 01:06:35.650
I would love to.
01:06:38.210 --> 01:06:40.063
If I can, I'd love to.
01:06:41.560 --> 01:06:44.163
'Cause it's something that's, I think,
01:06:45.680 --> 01:06:49.300
frustrating for all the water companies.
01:06:49.300 --> 01:06:54.300
And really what it boils down to is, the medium
01:06:54.320 --> 01:06:58.850
is your mid point, where 50% of your customers
01:06:58.850 --> 01:07:01.290
are above or below that number,
01:07:01.290 --> 01:07:06.290
and your average is what it is, it's the average.
01:07:07.010 --> 01:07:09.820
And on the high end of the average,
01:07:09.820 --> 01:07:13.240
we have individual customers that are using astronomical
01:07:13.240 --> 01:07:18.240
amounts of water, and they are really skewing this average.
01:07:18.430 --> 01:07:21.450
And, there will be some customers
01:07:21.450 --> 01:07:25.450
that do need to have more water.
01:07:25.450 --> 01:07:30.450
But for instance, for Cal Water's arrearages, 40% of our
01:07:30.893 --> 01:07:35.893
arrearage amounts is made up by just 10% of those customers.
01:07:36.570 --> 01:07:41.570
And if you look at the medium and the average for that
01:07:42.710 --> 01:07:47.710
customer group, the mid point, or the median, is $882.
01:07:51.104 --> 01:07:56.104
I would contrast that to the $201 you see on the chart.
01:07:56.780 --> 01:08:01.463
And the average is $1,022.
01:08:02.430 --> 01:08:06.760
In that pile, in that grouping, we have a customer,
01:08:06.760 --> 01:08:09.740
and Lourdes, this is to you with your using
01:08:09.740 --> 01:08:11.993
your hose to cool off when it's hot.
01:08:12.921 --> 01:08:15.050
There's no way you would be doing this.
01:08:15.050 --> 01:08:19.043
We have a customer that is using 130 gallons,
01:08:20.750 --> 01:08:25.750
I believe this is an hour, every hour, 130 gallons, 24/7.
01:08:26.900 --> 01:08:30.460
And that's just an astronomical use of water.
01:08:30.460 --> 01:08:33.640
If you took a family of five and use the state's
01:08:33.640 --> 01:08:38.640
55 gallons per day and just work the math,
01:08:39.600 --> 01:08:43.730
that would be 0.2 gallons per hour.
01:08:43.730 --> 01:08:48.560
And this one customer is using 130 gallons per hour.
01:08:48.560 --> 01:08:50.860
We have a couple of other examples.
01:08:50.860 --> 01:08:55.860
The home itself is 5,500 square feet, that's 3.2 million.
01:08:56.120 --> 01:08:59.520
We need to make sure that whatever programs we do
01:08:59.520 --> 01:09:04.520
are designed so parties like that are not included in it.
01:09:04.960 --> 01:09:08.280
And then also, when you are looking at the numbers,
01:09:08.280 --> 01:09:11.030
you're looking at the medium and the average,
01:09:11.030 --> 01:09:13.790
and that's good, but sometimes you see a view
01:09:13.790 --> 01:09:17.160
of the high and low on those, and if you look at the high
01:09:17.160 --> 01:09:20.410
and you see a residential water bill, or arrearages
01:09:20.410 --> 01:09:24.140
like $13,000, and you're thinking, oh my God,
01:09:24.140 --> 01:09:28.760
that customer is in such a bad way, I'd ask you
01:09:28.760 --> 01:09:33.660
to step back and pause and say, really are they?
01:09:33.660 --> 01:09:35.770
Do they really need that much water?
01:09:35.770 --> 01:09:39.363
Because water is about a one cent per gallon.
01:09:40.290 --> 01:09:42.900
Pretty much across the state, across the nation
01:09:42.900 --> 01:09:44.833
it's about one cents per gallon.
01:09:47.070 --> 01:09:49.718
So, we just need to make, to focus our programs
01:09:49.718 --> 01:09:52.480
to help those people that truly need it,
01:09:52.480 --> 01:09:55.350
and not those that that are taking advantage
01:09:55.350 --> 01:09:59.643
of the Governor's and the Commission's moratorium.
01:10:00.800 --> 01:10:03.743
So, really, just that's, that's the reason Jeff,
01:10:05.077 --> 01:10:08.560
and I would have that the council, and the Commission, also,
01:10:08.560 --> 01:10:11.550
just recognize that there are some of those problems.
01:10:11.550 --> 01:10:14.410
There clearly are customers that do need it
01:10:14.410 --> 01:10:17.940
and are using the appropriate amount of water.
01:10:17.940 --> 01:10:21.570
But again, as a perspective, 55 gallons
01:10:21.570 --> 01:10:24.120
a day for five people in a home,
01:10:24.120 --> 01:10:27.970
that's about 8,000 gallons of water,
01:10:27.970 --> 01:10:31.743
and that's roughly about 8,000 gallons of water a month.
01:10:33.372 --> 01:10:34.205
So that's why.
01:10:34.205 --> 01:10:36.538
Sorry, I was on my soap box.
01:10:37.861 --> 01:10:39.478
Thanks, Greg.
01:10:39.478 --> 01:10:44.478
But Greg, so with your example as an outlier,
01:10:50.578 --> 01:10:55.578
the average is $287, the median is $186.
01:10:58.952 --> 01:11:02.202
So, when you're designating the median,
01:11:04.860 --> 01:11:08.770
which I thought was the very center,
01:11:08.770 --> 01:11:10.993
are you taking off some of these outliers?
01:11:12.260 --> 01:11:17.260
Because the median is lower, or is my math mixed up here?
01:11:19.780 --> 01:11:23.443
Sorry, the median is based on the customer count.
01:11:24.860 --> 01:11:29.860
So, we will have half the customers using 186 or less,
01:11:32.550 --> 01:11:36.175
and the other half using 186 or more.
01:11:36.175 --> 01:11:38.760
Oh, okay.
01:11:38.760 --> 01:11:41.346
It would be dollars.
01:11:41.346 --> 01:11:42.807
Okay, okay.
01:11:42.807 --> 01:11:46.460
And for Cal Water, those arrearages
01:11:46.460 --> 01:11:49.340
represent roughly about two or three months worth
01:11:49.340 --> 01:11:53.450
of bills, that are over 90 days.
01:11:59.326 --> 01:12:01.970
So in other words, Greg, a majority of what we would
01:12:01.970 --> 01:12:06.260
expect in looking at bills would be about $186.
01:12:06.260 --> 01:12:09.010
It would be the most common occurrence that would be likely.
01:12:09.010 --> 01:12:13.560
Yes, for Cal Water, right around 186,
01:12:13.560 --> 01:12:16.225
a little bit about a little bit below.
01:12:16.225 --> 01:12:17.293
Okay, very good.
01:12:18.870 --> 01:12:22.940
Other questions or comments from members of the Board?
01:12:22.940 --> 01:12:25.682
Yes, I have, oh, go ahead.
01:12:25.682 --> 01:12:26.880
This is Jason, I have a quick question
01:12:26.880 --> 01:12:29.420
for Greg as part of a follow-up.
01:12:29.420 --> 01:12:32.070
So, when you're looking at the average and the median
01:12:33.280 --> 01:12:37.383
bill amounts there, you had mentioned that,
01:12:39.800 --> 01:12:42.860
in some cases, the average where it can be skewed
01:12:42.860 --> 01:12:45.683
by customers that use large amounts of water.
01:12:46.970 --> 01:12:50.123
How do rates figure into the equation?
01:12:52.090 --> 01:12:55.870
Well, so we all have tiered rates,
01:12:55.870 --> 01:12:59.580
and so, for those customers that are have been
01:12:59.580 --> 01:13:03.560
very high dollar bills, our rate there,
01:13:03.560 --> 01:13:06.990
they will be in our third or fourth or fifth tier,
01:13:06.990 --> 01:13:08.760
depending on the company, and they
01:13:08.760 --> 01:13:13.760
will be paying a very high rate in addition
01:13:16.180 --> 01:13:19.930
to what the other customers would pay.
01:13:19.930 --> 01:13:22.300
To give you an example, our first tier
01:13:22.300 --> 01:13:26.090
would be considered 100% rate tier.
01:13:26.090 --> 01:13:28.466
The next level up, which is generally
01:13:28.466 --> 01:13:30.860
after eight units, eight to 10 units,
01:13:30.860 --> 01:13:34.984
depending on the district, it goes to 125%
01:13:34.984 --> 01:13:37.400
of the price for tier one.
01:13:37.400 --> 01:13:39.860
And then, in tier three, it goes
01:13:39.860 --> 01:13:44.860
to 187 times the price of tier one.
01:13:46.810 --> 01:13:50.030
And the tier one is what we use
01:13:51.790 --> 01:13:54.453
as a proxy for indoor water use.
01:13:54.453 --> 01:13:59.453
And then, tier two is some type of average outdoor use.
01:13:59.610 --> 01:14:02.470
And then, above tier two is really
01:14:02.470 --> 01:14:05.880
when you start to have people that are,
01:14:05.880 --> 01:14:09.720
more likely than not, using water inefficiently.
01:14:09.720 --> 01:14:11.387
Okay, thank you.
01:14:16.243 --> 01:14:21.160
And John, did you have something to add to that question?
01:14:22.870 --> 01:14:25.190
If you're talking to me, Chair, no, I do not.
01:14:25.190 --> 01:14:26.980
Oh, okay, sorry about that.
01:14:26.980 --> 01:14:27.943
Jeff, go ahead.
01:14:36.150 --> 01:14:38.070
Sorry, Benito was that directed to me?
01:14:38.070 --> 01:14:43.070
Oh, there was a comment about the water utilities relying
01:14:44.340 --> 01:14:49.340
on the federal funds as the primary support for customers.
01:14:52.860 --> 01:14:56.333
And I did notice the low-income
01:14:56.333 --> 01:14:59.713
enrollment's gone up roughly 14%.
01:15:00.800 --> 01:15:04.640
I just wanted to see what the companies have been doing,
01:15:04.640 --> 01:15:06.330
or is that a true statement?
01:15:06.330 --> 01:15:11.330
I mean, is the primary benefit to the water companies
01:15:11.750 --> 01:15:15.133
from the promise of federal funds?
01:15:15.133 --> 01:15:17.683
Maybe somebody could talk about what they're doing,
01:15:19.470 --> 01:15:24.470
to address the needs of the customers most in need.
01:15:34.450 --> 01:15:36.514
I'll go again, but I want to
01:15:36.514 --> 01:15:38.614
give other people an opportunity to speak.
01:15:41.360 --> 01:15:43.680
Hey Greg, this is Wes Owens
01:15:43.680 --> 01:15:45.960
with California American Water here.
01:15:45.960 --> 01:15:50.080
I think we have a good example of additional outreach
01:15:50.080 --> 01:15:53.650
for the customer assistance program, like above and beyond
01:15:55.817 --> 01:15:57.780
rolling it out, either through the data sharing
01:15:57.780 --> 01:16:01.930
with the energy companies or the the outrage
01:16:01.930 --> 01:16:04.180
that, I think, all the companies are doing,
01:16:04.180 --> 01:16:08.623
which has really expanded the program recently, last year.
01:16:09.900 --> 01:16:12.150
California American Water, over the last several years,
01:16:12.150 --> 01:16:15.900
has been authorized to acquire and integrate
01:16:15.900 --> 01:16:19.850
some smaller water utilities, mostly serving,
01:16:19.850 --> 01:16:22.570
I think all of them, actually, the three specific ones
01:16:22.570 --> 01:16:25.800
I'm going to speak to, serving disadvantaged communities.
01:16:25.800 --> 01:16:28.120
One, Blue Ridge Vista Water Company
01:16:28.120 --> 01:16:29.713
here in the Sacramento region.
01:16:30.550 --> 01:16:34.100
LV Water Company, which is in Oakhurst on the way up
01:16:34.100 --> 01:16:38.623
to Yosemite and Rio Plaza Water Company in Ventura County.
01:16:39.785 --> 01:16:42.980
And in the original Commission orders,
01:16:42.980 --> 01:16:44.973
it authorized these acquisitions.
01:16:46.290 --> 01:16:47.990
There wasn't authority to expand
01:16:47.990 --> 01:16:50.607
our low-income programs to these utilities.
01:16:50.607 --> 01:16:53.957
And we're talking about, about 7,000 customers,
01:16:53.957 --> 01:16:58.957
in, like I said, disadvantaged lower-income communities.
01:16:59.440 --> 01:17:03.660
And so, seeing the impacts of COVID in the fall
01:17:03.660 --> 01:17:06.850
of last year, we made a filing with the CPUC
01:17:06.850 --> 01:17:09.320
and advice letter filing requesting authority
01:17:10.203 --> 01:17:12.308
to expand the Customer Assistance Program
01:17:12.308 --> 01:17:14.670
to these customers, and the water division
01:17:14.670 --> 01:17:16.060
would quickly turned that around,
01:17:16.060 --> 01:17:17.370
gave us the authority to do that.
01:17:17.370 --> 01:17:20.827
So with that, we were able to expand our program
01:17:20.827 --> 01:17:25.827
to, like I said, the data sharing wit energy companies
01:17:27.280 --> 01:17:29.110
and our outreach to our existing customers.
01:17:29.110 --> 01:17:31.560
So, I think that's one example
01:17:31.560 --> 01:17:35.060
of what our utilities of capable of doing.
01:17:39.830 --> 01:17:41.990
Thank you, Wes, and Greg, did you
01:17:41.990 --> 01:17:43.880
have something to add to that?
01:17:43.880 --> 01:17:44.950
Or were you fine?
01:17:46.439 --> 01:17:47.272
Yeah.
01:17:48.783 --> 01:17:53.783
Over to Cal Water, actually, we're planning,
01:17:55.280 --> 01:18:00.280
in the process of developing, a debt-forgiveness program
01:18:00.550 --> 01:18:05.440
that is going to be offered to our CAP customers
01:18:06.940 --> 01:18:10.890
as a pilot program to help with transitioning
01:18:11.890 --> 01:18:15.510
out of the balances that they have,
01:18:15.510 --> 01:18:18.940
and as another mechanism to help achieve,
01:18:18.940 --> 01:18:22.753
those pay it off, or pay off their past-due bills,
01:18:22.753 --> 01:18:25.830
and/or have part of that forgiven.
01:18:25.830 --> 01:18:28.810
We're modeling it after the current program
01:18:28.810 --> 01:18:31.790
that the energies have, where if you stay current,
01:18:31.790 --> 01:18:34.537
we write off one 12th of the program
01:18:34.537 --> 01:18:38.250
for your past due balance over a year.
01:18:38.250 --> 01:18:41.510
We are currently analyzing what the right numbers are,
01:18:41.510 --> 01:18:44.148
because the energies are much larger than us.
01:18:44.148 --> 01:18:46.650
and their balance, they use a threshold
01:18:46.650 --> 01:18:51.650
of $500 past-due, forgiving up to $8,000.
01:18:52.710 --> 01:18:57.423
We need to set what's appropriate for our customers.
01:18:58.550 --> 01:19:00.920
We have customers in the Central Valley,
01:19:00.920 --> 01:19:04.970
where their bills are wouldn't to be as large
01:19:04.970 --> 01:19:07.710
as maybe, for instance, where some of our urban areas,
01:19:07.710 --> 01:19:11.020
where the monthly water bills are rather significant.
01:19:11.020 --> 01:19:12.660
So, we need to figure that out,
01:19:12.660 --> 01:19:14.853
and we're running the analysis to do that.
01:19:15.760 --> 01:19:19.280
Also, we need to balance it.
01:19:19.280 --> 01:19:21.820
Our plan would be for the debt forgiveness
01:19:21.820 --> 01:19:26.320
to go into our current CAP balancing account, and then
01:19:26.320 --> 01:19:29.480
have that funded by all our customers through the
01:19:29.480 --> 01:19:32.990
surcharge process that we already have in place and set up.
01:19:32.990 --> 01:19:35.743
But we need to balance it, because right now,
01:19:35.743 --> 01:19:38.873
through our CAP and other programs,
01:19:39.931 --> 01:19:44.880
our non-CAP customers are funding about $18 million a year,
01:19:44.880 --> 01:19:49.003
and that equates to roughly $3 per customer per month.
01:19:52.224 --> 01:19:53.640
So we need to balance it.
01:19:53.640 --> 01:19:56.390
While on the one hand, we'd love to forgive everything,
01:19:57.860 --> 01:20:01.400
it could put too much of a burden on our other customers.
01:20:01.400 --> 01:20:04.420
We feel we're in a unique position to be able to do this,
01:20:04.420 --> 01:20:09.420
because 79% of our customers are not CAP customers.
01:20:11.889 --> 01:20:15.053
Those 79 would help fund these programs.
01:20:19.137 --> 01:20:20.870
And you can see the customer count that we have,
01:20:20.870 --> 01:20:24.170
we have a large customer base to spread these costs over.
01:20:24.170 --> 01:20:29.170
And we actually have some areas, affluent areas,
01:20:29.250 --> 01:20:34.140
of our service territory, which we call CAP subsidizers.
01:20:34.140 --> 01:20:38.550
And then, we have other other communities that are not
01:20:38.550 --> 01:20:41.690
as well off, and they are cap subsidizees.
01:20:41.690 --> 01:20:46.690
But because of our notable geographic footprints
01:20:47.930 --> 01:20:50.450
throughout the state, that puts us
01:20:50.450 --> 01:20:53.540
in a unique position to be able to do that.
01:20:53.540 --> 01:20:58.540
And then, on top of that, our current billing system
01:20:58.970 --> 01:21:03.970
has the capabilities to do a debt-forgiveness program.
01:21:04.730 --> 01:21:07.060
So, that's one of the things that Cal Water
01:21:07.060 --> 01:21:11.580
is planning on doing as part of our transition plan
01:21:11.580 --> 01:21:15.210
that we'll ultimately be filing, I guess it's April 1st.
01:21:15.210 --> 01:21:16.043
Okay.
01:21:17.840 --> 01:21:19.840
I saw there were a couple of public comments,
01:21:19.840 --> 01:21:23.050
but before we move on to that, are there other questions
01:21:23.050 --> 01:21:25.873
or comments from members of the Board?
01:21:30.010 --> 01:21:31.410
Okay.
01:21:31.410 --> 01:21:35.390
Gillian, would you to help facilitate public comment?
01:21:38.370 --> 01:21:39.720
Happy to do so.
01:21:39.720 --> 01:21:44.560
So now, if anyone would like to provide a public comment,
01:21:44.560 --> 01:21:47.123
please use the Raise Hand feature.
01:21:48.350 --> 01:21:53.350
There was a comment in the chat that I received.
01:21:56.130 --> 01:21:59.610
When Class A water utilities receive the CARE data
01:21:59.610 --> 01:22:02.730
from the energy utilities, do you use those
01:22:02.730 --> 01:22:05.950
to automatically transfer people on to CAP,
01:22:05.950 --> 01:22:07.670
or do you use the list to reach out
01:22:07.670 --> 01:22:10.383
to those to see if they're interested in CAP?
01:22:12.430 --> 01:22:16.313
So, that's more of a question than a comment.
01:22:17.800 --> 01:22:21.320
but I wanted to read it out loud, and then remind everyone
01:22:21.320 --> 01:22:24.030
if they'd like to speak to please raise their hand
01:22:25.010 --> 01:22:27.873
so we can call on you, but right now I don't see anyone.
01:22:29.450 --> 01:22:31.100
So, this is Ed Jackson with Liberty.
01:22:31.100 --> 01:22:32.860
I can answer that.
01:22:32.860 --> 01:22:35.640
The simple answer is, it's automatic.
01:22:35.640 --> 01:22:40.262
If we receive the information that a customer
01:22:40.262 --> 01:22:43.290
is enrolled in the CARE program,
01:22:43.290 --> 01:22:47.353
then we automatically enroll them in our CAP program.
01:22:50.930 --> 01:22:53.820
Thank you for that, and I see John nodding his head.
01:22:53.820 --> 01:22:55.840
Greg, is that true for you, as well?
01:22:55.840 --> 01:22:59.063
Okay, so is that universal?
01:23:01.387 --> 01:23:02.743
Can you guys hear me?
01:23:02.743 --> 01:23:04.770
(distortion blaring)
01:23:04.770 --> 01:23:05.990
I think so
01:23:07.890 --> 01:23:11.000
Hi, this is John Pierotti from Golden State Water.
01:23:11.000 --> 01:23:13.050
I just wanted to touch on that quickly,
01:23:13.050 --> 01:23:16.000
and also mention something that Jeff brought up.
01:23:16.000 --> 01:23:21.000
So, we've historically had two data shares with the energy
01:23:21.440 --> 01:23:25.250
utilities on an annual basis prior to last year.
01:23:25.250 --> 01:23:28.970
And then last year, the Commission advised us
01:23:28.970 --> 01:23:32.630
to perform the data sharing more frequently.
01:23:32.630 --> 01:23:37.630
And so, we added one additional data share in 2020.
01:23:38.120 --> 01:23:40.950
And as part of, I know, Golden State's transition plan,
01:23:40.950 --> 01:23:43.830
and some other transition plans, as well,
01:23:43.830 --> 01:23:46.320
we are recommending to continue that data share,
01:23:46.320 --> 01:23:50.860
because it is kind of the number one source of allowing
01:23:50.860 --> 01:23:53.900
low-income customers to be enrolled in our programs.
01:23:53.900 --> 01:23:58.100
And so, just to kind of elaborate, that is
01:23:58.100 --> 01:24:01.813
an automatic process that occurs once the data is shared.
01:24:02.710 --> 01:24:03.773
I also had my hand up.
01:24:03.773 --> 01:24:08.570
I just wanted to also mention after Greg had spoke
01:24:08.570 --> 01:24:11.000
about the arrearage management plan
01:24:11.000 --> 01:24:13.530
that Cal Water is looking at, I just wanted to mention,
01:24:13.530 --> 01:24:16.130
Golden State is also looking internally
01:24:16.130 --> 01:24:18.730
at the Energy Arrearage Management plan,
01:24:18.730 --> 01:24:22.410
and we are similarly situated structurally,
01:24:22.410 --> 01:24:27.160
as Cal Water, entails as that plan would be able
01:24:27.160 --> 01:24:30.130
to benefit Golden State Water customers, as well,
01:24:30.130 --> 01:24:33.297
as it's currently structured for the energy utilities.
01:24:37.290 --> 01:24:38.190
Thank you, John.
01:24:39.950 --> 01:24:42.950
I guess that would be one follow-up question I would have.
01:24:42.950 --> 01:24:46.843
I know we talked a little bit about the committee meeting.
01:24:48.974 --> 01:24:52.180
And I believe there's a proceeding that impacts this, also.
01:24:52.180 --> 01:24:56.380
But what would be the ultimate number of times
01:24:56.380 --> 01:24:58.770
for that type of data sharing to happen
01:24:58.770 --> 01:25:02.100
for it to be most effective, both as we're going
01:25:02.100 --> 01:25:04.170
through this conditional period,
01:25:04.170 --> 01:25:08.840
but then also long term, after that period?
01:25:08.840 --> 01:25:12.400
Is it something that can easily happen quarterly,
01:25:12.400 --> 01:25:14.730
or more frequently, so that those opportunities
01:25:14.730 --> 01:25:16.850
that are available the water customers
01:25:16.850 --> 01:25:19.083
more often than once or twice a year?
01:25:25.888 --> 01:25:27.660
I can take that, and if any
01:25:27.660 --> 01:25:29.820
other utilities have any thoughts.
01:25:29.820 --> 01:25:33.000
As part of the low-income proceeding, we actually met
01:25:33.000 --> 01:25:35.790
and conferred with the energy utilities to collaborate
01:25:35.790 --> 01:25:37.957
on what that exact question is,
01:25:37.957 --> 01:25:40.681
so, what would be the appropriate frequency.
01:25:40.681 --> 01:25:44.640
Obviously we want to try to increase the amount
01:25:44.640 --> 01:25:48.520
of enrollment, but there's a lot of system limitations,
01:25:48.520 --> 01:25:51.470
administrative limitations things that prevent us
01:25:51.470 --> 01:25:56.470
from doing it on a daily basis, as frequent as that.
01:25:56.520 --> 01:25:59.840
So, I think what we had determined was that
01:25:59.840 --> 01:26:01.810
we definitely could accommodate something
01:26:01.810 --> 01:26:04.715
more frequently than twice a year,
01:26:04.715 --> 01:26:09.715
and even up to probably quarterly, but it seemed as though
01:26:10.090 --> 01:26:13.040
anything beyond that would be limited
01:26:13.040 --> 01:26:18.040
by time and system restrictions and other factors.
01:26:22.390 --> 01:26:23.680
All right, sure.
01:26:23.680 --> 01:26:25.297
Greg, I see your hand up.
01:26:27.354 --> 01:26:29.610
On John's comment, the one thing
01:26:29.610 --> 01:26:32.300
that's more challenging is when we get what's called
01:26:32.300 --> 01:26:34.990
a soft match, to where we have to research.
01:26:34.990 --> 01:26:37.450
If it's a hard match on the data,
01:26:37.450 --> 01:26:41.250
then it's easy, it just rolls over right into the process.
01:26:41.250 --> 01:26:45.640
It's the soft matches that require the research and time,
01:26:45.640 --> 01:26:49.700
and thus trying to balance how many times we do it at a year
01:26:49.700 --> 01:26:53.293
with the benefit it provides to those CAP customers.
01:26:54.479 --> 01:26:58.720
But another thing that is very intriguing,
01:26:58.720 --> 01:27:01.870
or we'd really like to see happen at some point
01:27:01.870 --> 01:27:04.880
in the future, and that is to have
01:27:04.880 --> 01:27:09.880
a third-party contractor keep track of CAP customers,
01:27:10.194 --> 01:27:14.010
CAP, CARE, whatever you're gonna call them,
01:27:14.010 --> 01:27:18.110
for the state, and have one clearing house that does this.
01:27:18.110 --> 01:27:21.783
It could be funded by a fee assessed to the utilities,
01:27:22.750 --> 01:27:25.950
to keep track of everybody that qualifies,
01:27:25.950 --> 01:27:29.210
and that, Benito, if you go and you apply
01:27:29.210 --> 01:27:34.030
to this contractor, then they send your information
01:27:34.030 --> 01:27:36.190
to John as your water provider,
01:27:36.190 --> 01:27:41.133
to me as your electric provider, to Jeff as the telco.
01:27:43.150 --> 01:27:46.820
And so, as the customer that needs help,
01:27:46.820 --> 01:27:50.620
you're getting sent to everybody that can help you,
01:27:50.620 --> 01:27:54.090
as opposed to trying to have to wait for us to do
01:27:54.090 --> 01:27:58.503
our data sharing with the energies and what have you.
01:28:00.000 --> 01:28:05.000
And I would see it as having self-help groups know
01:28:06.060 --> 01:28:09.180
that when they're working with their clients
01:28:09.180 --> 01:28:11.380
that, hey, you know what, let me sign you up
01:28:11.380 --> 01:28:16.380
on this Statewide exchange, and then,
01:28:16.850 --> 01:28:19.420
you'll get all the benefits that you need to.
01:28:19.420 --> 01:28:22.940
And good example is the Commission's diversity program,
01:28:22.940 --> 01:28:27.100
diversity supplier program, it's already set up like that.
01:28:27.100 --> 01:28:31.330
And so, utilities, they can ask about,
01:28:31.330 --> 01:28:34.410
they can reach out to that contracting agency,
01:28:34.410 --> 01:28:37.785
or contractor, for the supplier diversity,
01:28:37.785 --> 01:28:42.785
and say, hey, is John a diverse supplier?
01:28:42.850 --> 01:28:44.600
Or could you just download me all
01:28:44.600 --> 01:28:49.600
your diverse suppliers in zip code, X, 91321?
01:28:51.560 --> 01:28:55.140
So really, that's, that's Cal Water's vision
01:28:55.140 --> 01:28:57.830
to see our state move to that direction,
01:28:57.830 --> 01:29:00.820
so that the customers that need help can get it
01:29:00.820 --> 01:29:05.130
much quicker and it can be done much more efficiently.
01:29:05.130 --> 01:29:05.963
And, yeah.
01:29:07.707 --> 01:29:09.590
Do you mind if I add one thing onto that too,
01:29:09.590 --> 01:29:11.850
I'd like to just expand on what Greg mentioned
01:29:11.850 --> 01:29:14.900
with the soft-match customers, and those are the ones
01:29:14.900 --> 01:29:18.860
for whom their customer information doesn't exactly line up
01:29:18.860 --> 01:29:22.120
between water utility and energy utility,
01:29:22.120 --> 01:29:23.330
and where we have to research,
01:29:23.330 --> 01:29:26.670
might this person be eligible?
01:29:26.670 --> 01:29:29.970
There's another opportunity for the water utilities
01:29:29.970 --> 01:29:31.690
to reach out to those customers,
01:29:31.690 --> 01:29:34.710
because they might potentially be eligible.
01:29:34.710 --> 01:29:37.970
And so, at Cal Water, we do send letters
01:29:37.970 --> 01:29:42.970
to those folks, where the address might have been enrolled
01:29:43.270 --> 01:29:45.950
in CARE and fall into our service territory,
01:29:45.950 --> 01:29:47.653
but it might be a different name.
01:29:48.540 --> 01:29:52.680
And certainly, the other utilities likely do that, as well.
01:29:52.680 --> 01:29:54.828
But I know at Cal Water, we do reach out to those
01:29:54.828 --> 01:29:58.360
for whom we have soft matches, as we call them,
01:29:58.360 --> 01:30:00.950
to, if we don't know that we can go ahead
01:30:00.950 --> 01:30:03.230
and automatically enroll them, we give them
01:30:03.230 --> 01:30:06.310
an opportunity to get enrolled, and we send them
01:30:06.310 --> 01:30:09.113
application forms, and things like that.
01:30:10.100 --> 01:30:13.110
So, certainly, with all of these different strategies,
01:30:13.110 --> 01:30:17.330
and including the one about the federal funding
01:30:17.330 --> 01:30:20.250
that we were talking about before, there's not one
01:30:20.250 --> 01:30:23.653
that is it, like the strategy we rely on.
01:30:24.930 --> 01:30:29.460
They're each a strategy, and we use them all comprehensively
01:30:29.460 --> 01:30:31.266
to try to support our customers,
01:30:31.266 --> 01:30:33.643
whichever way works best for them.
01:30:37.022 --> 01:30:37.855
Thank you.
01:30:37.855 --> 01:30:38.688
Yeah, I agree.
01:30:38.688 --> 01:30:40.003
I see some comments.
01:30:41.420 --> 01:30:44.340
Data-sharing and a one-stop-shop leads the way
01:30:44.340 --> 01:30:48.040
public assistance should work moving forward, within all
01:30:48.040 --> 01:30:51.730
the offerings in the PUC toolbox, and others, too.
01:30:51.730 --> 01:30:55.280
I think that's the goal that we all want to get to.
01:30:55.280 --> 01:30:58.080
Always a question of how, because all these systems
01:30:58.080 --> 01:30:59.840
are complex and have different
01:30:59.840 --> 01:31:02.470
software systems backing them up.
01:31:02.470 --> 01:31:06.730
And so, moving in that direction, step by step, though,
01:31:06.730 --> 01:31:09.773
I think is something we all want to see happen.
01:31:11.610 --> 01:31:16.560
I want to see, I'm doing a time check.
01:31:16.560 --> 01:31:18.660
I know we were still doing public comment.
01:31:20.500 --> 01:31:22.830
Gillian, are there other questions,
01:31:22.830 --> 01:31:25.050
or excuse me, are there other members
01:31:25.050 --> 01:31:27.100
of the public wishing to make a comment?
01:31:28.660 --> 01:31:30.540
I saw one hand raised,
01:31:30.540 --> 01:31:32.623
but it looks like it got put down.
01:31:33.870 --> 01:31:36.433
But I don't have anyone else right now.
01:31:37.540 --> 01:31:38.753
Okay, understood.
01:31:40.580 --> 01:31:42.300
Benito, this is Ed Jackson Jackson.
01:31:42.300 --> 01:31:45.440
Can I just follow up on one point that Yvonne just made,
01:31:45.440 --> 01:31:47.470
which was basically in response
01:31:47.470 --> 01:31:50.223
to Commissioner Guzman Aceves' comment that she made
01:31:50.223 --> 01:31:55.223
about warning us of over-reliance on the use
01:31:55.500 --> 01:31:57.203
of federal funds as a strategy?
01:31:58.810 --> 01:32:01.410
Sure, concisely if possible.
01:32:01.410 --> 01:32:03.090
Yes, very concise.
01:32:03.090 --> 01:32:06.530
Just wanted to reiterate what Yvonne just said,
01:32:06.530 --> 01:32:09.460
which is, the use of the federal funds,
01:32:09.460 --> 01:32:11.913
it's just a single tool in the toolbox, right?
01:32:13.600 --> 01:32:16.130
We don't view this as the strategy.
01:32:16.130 --> 01:32:20.280
It is a strategy, and not the same strategy.
01:32:20.280 --> 01:32:23.300
I just wanted to make sure that we responded
01:32:23.300 --> 01:32:25.533
to the concerns raised by the Commissioner.
01:32:27.300 --> 01:32:29.094
Okay, that's good.
01:32:29.094 --> 01:32:30.427
Thank you.
01:32:30.427 --> 01:32:31.427
Thank you.
01:32:32.550 --> 01:32:35.480
So, I see right now, the agenda calls for a break.
01:32:35.480 --> 01:32:39.220
The next step in this process is to go through
01:32:39.220 --> 01:32:42.740
the documented recommendations we have here
01:32:42.740 --> 01:32:44.803
to make sure we have a consensus,
01:32:45.770 --> 01:32:47.890
and to, then, vote on them.
01:32:47.890 --> 01:32:51.541
Assuming we're in agreement with enough members
01:32:51.541 --> 01:32:54.440
voting in the affirmative, the next step would
01:32:54.440 --> 01:32:59.263
be for a subset of the Board to put them into written form,
01:33:00.207 --> 01:33:04.910
and to complete that task while sharing the final draft
01:33:04.910 --> 01:33:07.690
with members of the Board before the stated deadline
01:33:07.690 --> 01:33:11.340
of March 19th so it can be submitted by March 19th.
01:33:11.340 --> 01:33:14.670
So with that, I think that'll take more
01:33:14.670 --> 01:33:16.410
than a couple of minutes, so I think it'd be good
01:33:16.410 --> 01:33:19.490
to take a 10 minute break, if that's possible.
01:33:19.490 --> 01:33:23.553
But before we do, I see Commissioner Shiroma's hand raised.
01:33:25.520 --> 01:33:26.890
That all sounds fine.
01:33:26.890 --> 01:33:30.860
I wanted to let everyone know that I have only to step away
01:33:30.860 --> 01:33:35.610
between 3:00 and 3:30, so I'll miss that discussion.
01:33:37.640 --> 01:33:42.050
But I do feel that the recommendations coming
01:33:42.050 --> 01:33:45.903
from the Board belongs to you.
01:33:48.200 --> 01:33:49.287
Yes, I'm a member, of the Board,
01:33:49.287 --> 01:33:52.273
but I also am voting on the Commission.
01:33:53.460 --> 01:33:57.310
So, I am just deferring to this group
01:33:57.310 --> 01:33:58.520
on whatever recommendations you want
01:33:58.520 --> 01:34:02.250
to send forward to the IOUs and to us.
01:34:02.250 --> 01:34:05.770
And then, also, should I miss any of the questions
01:34:05.770 --> 01:34:10.770
on the CARE, FERA, ESA, PSPS, I'm sorry, lots of acronyms,
01:34:11.240 --> 01:34:15.860
but all these programs that the utilities recorded on,
01:34:15.860 --> 01:34:18.280
thank you for the excellent reports,
01:34:18.280 --> 01:34:23.280
and I still have some questions about why a county,
01:34:24.530 --> 01:34:28.600
a semblance of this vote, seems to lag so much
01:34:28.600 --> 01:34:32.780
on CARE signups, but we'll save that for another day.
01:34:32.780 --> 01:34:35.420
Anyways, I will be gone for a bit of time,
01:34:35.420 --> 01:34:38.980
and then hopefully, I will rejoin at the end.
01:34:38.980 --> 01:34:41.520
Okay, We'll look forward to seeing you at 3:30.
01:34:41.520 --> 01:34:42.880
Thank you, Commissioner.
01:34:42.880 --> 01:34:46.430
And colleagues, we'll take a break till 2:55.
01:34:46.430 --> 01:34:48.980
So, we will see you all back then.
01:45:31.053 --> 01:45:34.600
Five, or 2:56 now, by my clock.
01:45:34.600 --> 01:45:35.750
So, we're gonna resume.
01:45:55.638 --> 01:45:59.933
Okay, it looks like we have a quorum back.
01:46:02.410 --> 01:46:07.410
So, looking at both Items Five and Six
01:46:08.160 --> 01:46:13.160
through the IOU jurisdictional Class A and Class B
01:46:14.110 --> 01:46:16.223
presentations and transition plans,
01:46:18.326 --> 01:46:23.326
the plan is to read the short summary of the recommendations
01:46:23.870 --> 01:46:27.130
we have from the last committee meeting,
01:46:27.130 --> 01:46:30.010
as well as additional ones from this meeting
01:46:30.010 --> 01:46:32.183
and clarifications therein.
01:46:34.070 --> 01:46:37.580
I'll go through them very quickly, and then perhaps,
01:46:37.580 --> 01:46:41.790
we can go through them one-by-one, and then add anything
01:46:41.790 --> 01:46:46.790
that may be missing and discuss them as a Board.
01:46:48.020 --> 01:46:53.020
So with that, I'll just start from the top.
01:46:53.230 --> 01:46:56.849
The first one was extreme climate protections.
01:46:56.849 --> 01:46:58.970
The IOUs clarified that it includes heat
01:46:58.970 --> 01:47:02.885
and cold from 32 to 100 degrees.
01:47:02.885 --> 01:47:07.810
The transition plans show the existing
01:47:07.810 --> 01:47:12.630
72 hours into the future, a moratorium on disconnections
01:47:12.630 --> 01:47:14.830
for folks who have not already had
01:47:14.830 --> 01:47:16.633
their power disconnected, of course.
01:47:17.980 --> 01:47:21.920
The recommendation, tentative, is to extend the forecast
01:47:21.920 --> 01:47:26.160
to even days, citing the accuracy of those forecasts
01:47:26.160 --> 01:47:29.470
from the national oceanic and atmospheric agency,
01:47:29.470 --> 01:47:34.470
as well as add an emergency restoration plan,
01:47:34.900 --> 01:47:37.270
if it's possible, for extreme climate events
01:47:37.270 --> 01:47:41.000
that are predicted in the 48 hour future
01:47:41.000 --> 01:47:44.653
for households where service has already been disconnected.
01:47:45.530 --> 01:47:48.280
The second is to increase CARE subsidies
01:47:48.280 --> 01:47:50.833
for the most vulnerable, by up to 50%.
01:47:52.210 --> 01:47:53.850
Other percentages were thrown out.
01:47:53.850 --> 01:47:56.023
that seems to be sort of the middle ground.
01:47:57.210 --> 01:48:00.030
Data sharing which we just discussed a bit of,
01:48:00.030 --> 01:48:03.400
of sharing CARE data on a more regular
01:48:03.400 --> 01:48:06.033
and predictable basis with water utilities.
01:48:06.880 --> 01:48:10.110
There is a proceeding, I think, speaking to this,
01:48:10.110 --> 01:48:13.140
but something else that's been mentioned.
01:48:13.140 --> 01:48:17.900
On marketing and outreach, increasing the investment
01:48:17.900 --> 01:48:20.570
for capitation fee agencies, tribal communities
01:48:20.570 --> 01:48:25.570
and high-risk connection, as well as other allied agencies,
01:48:27.100 --> 01:48:28.420
such as Community Service Action agency
01:48:28.420 --> 01:48:31.980
and the LIHEAP network, and county agencies themselves,
01:48:31.980 --> 01:48:36.070
for spreading information through their existing
01:48:36.070 --> 01:48:38.890
and trusted channels in the community.
01:48:38.890 --> 01:48:43.890
For measuring success, really just an evaluation piece
01:48:43.910 --> 01:48:45.930
of how well all these tools are working.
01:48:45.930 --> 01:48:50.930
So, in other words, if we come back in the fall
01:48:50.940 --> 01:48:54.000
and thereafter, looking at disconnection report,
01:48:54.000 --> 01:48:56.010
measuring how many of them were enrolled
01:48:56.010 --> 01:48:58.100
in these different programs and had access
01:48:58.100 --> 01:49:01.257
to these different opportunities so that we can evaluate
01:49:01.257 --> 01:49:03.783
how well the plans are working.
01:49:05.300 --> 01:49:07.490
Aliso Canyon best practices.
01:49:07.490 --> 01:49:10.110
So, during the Aliso Canyon, there was
01:49:10.110 --> 01:49:11.790
a lot more flexibility for things,
01:49:11.790 --> 01:49:14.390
such as added new measures and go back rules.
01:49:14.390 --> 01:49:18.221
So, that was one suggestion that came up.
01:49:18.221 --> 01:49:20.240
For LIHEAP, understanding there are
01:49:20.240 --> 01:49:23.920
some limitations because the need is so great.
01:49:23.920 --> 01:49:27.280
Still looking at additional coordination and referrals
01:49:27.280 --> 01:49:30.770
from the utility to those agencies
01:49:30.770 --> 01:49:32.970
to ensure that, where those opportunities exist,
01:49:32.970 --> 01:49:34.770
customers and households have
01:49:34.770 --> 01:49:37.250
the opportunity to take advantage of them.
01:49:37.250 --> 01:49:39.907
A referral to enrollment and weatherization
01:49:39.907 --> 01:49:42.203
and other programs, part of the AMP
01:49:42.203 --> 01:49:45.789
and/or other service offerings.
01:49:45.789 --> 01:49:50.330
So, ESA, ATHELMA, again, LIHEAP, Family Fuller, etc.
01:49:51.310 --> 01:49:54.463
And then, overall, coordination with the public agency.
01:49:55.340 --> 01:49:58.070
This ind of overlapped with some of what
01:49:58.070 --> 01:50:01.000
we were talking about with marketing and outreach.
01:50:01.000 --> 01:50:05.560
And then, a couple of the Board members also mentioned
01:50:05.560 --> 01:50:07.130
what I think all of this reflects,
01:50:07.130 --> 01:50:10.070
which is just household prioritization,
01:50:10.070 --> 01:50:12.070
trying to look at the whole picture of a household
01:50:12.070 --> 01:50:16.960
and prioritizing them with all the tools available,
01:50:16.960 --> 01:50:20.320
ideally from a single entity, so that strategic decisions
01:50:20.320 --> 01:50:24.393
can be made to alleviate their debt.
01:50:25.713 --> 01:50:30.713
So that's the total of everything that that's recorded here.
01:50:30.980 --> 01:50:33.730
Were there other recommendations from Board members
01:50:33.730 --> 01:50:37.960
before we go through each of them?
01:50:37.960 --> 01:50:39.663
Jeff, I think I see your hand up.
01:50:41.550 --> 01:50:44.810
Yeah, I mean, one, I think would be a recommendation
01:50:44.810 --> 01:50:48.250
that the LIOB consider sending a letter
01:50:48.250 --> 01:50:50.660
to the State Water Board and the Governor's office
01:50:50.660 --> 01:50:55.660
that we believe that any federal funds
01:50:56.490 --> 01:50:58.983
should be made available to all customers.
01:51:01.807 --> 01:51:03.780
(computer beeping)
01:51:03.780 --> 01:51:05.830
Can you elaborate on that a little bit?
01:51:07.820 --> 01:51:11.690
Well, I think, and I think others referred to this,
01:51:11.690 --> 01:51:14.210
and maybe others have more information,
01:51:14.210 --> 01:51:18.100
but I think that the State Water Board is considering
01:51:20.170 --> 01:51:23.500
making recommendations on how federal funds
01:51:23.500 --> 01:51:28.500
should be provided and potentially limiting that
01:51:31.830 --> 01:51:36.830
to municipal entities and not including customers
01:51:37.140 --> 01:51:39.493
of the investor-owned utilities.
01:51:42.040 --> 01:51:46.300
Yeah, I know the background from, not the bill
01:51:46.300 --> 01:51:47.730
that's going through the process now,
01:51:47.730 --> 01:51:50.730
but from the last relief package that it did run
01:51:50.730 --> 01:51:54.023
through the HHS office, the federal level,
01:51:54.955 --> 01:51:58.083
children and families, or community engagement.
01:51:59.060 --> 01:52:02.920
And that is the same office that runs the LIHEAP network.
01:52:02.920 --> 01:52:06.100
So, it seems like there's already synergy and intent there,
01:52:06.100 --> 01:52:08.200
but they didn't leave it up to the states.
01:52:09.170 --> 01:52:12.790
I would agree that it's better, just for the advantage
01:52:12.790 --> 01:52:17.010
of having one or as few entities as possible
01:52:17.010 --> 01:52:19.710
for service offerings, so that we're not sending
01:52:19.710 --> 01:52:21.950
low-income people to 20 different places
01:52:21.950 --> 01:52:24.810
just to get help, and making that a full-time job,
01:52:24.810 --> 01:52:28.730
that the idea of centralizing those offerings
01:52:28.730 --> 01:52:30.643
makes sense, given that LIHEAP is already
01:52:30.643 --> 01:52:33.790
a $1,000 per household in a year.
01:52:33.790 --> 01:52:37.140
It would seem adding water onto that, so those agencies
01:52:37.140 --> 01:52:40.640
can make strategic decisions, makes a lot of sense.
01:52:40.640 --> 01:52:43.460
So, I would be open and agreeable to that,
01:52:43.460 --> 01:52:46.610
but also curious to hear what other members
01:52:46.610 --> 01:52:50.307
of the Board may have to say for them.
01:52:51.690 --> 01:52:56.280
Hello, Mr. Chairman, when you were articulating
01:52:56.280 --> 01:52:59.740
what we had in terms of our discussion moving forward,
01:52:59.740 --> 01:53:04.740
did you mention an assessment as part of the AMP,
01:53:05.400 --> 01:53:09.803
an energy-usage assessment and affected households?
01:53:11.360 --> 01:53:13.450
Yes, that was the eighth one.
01:53:13.450 --> 01:53:15.180
I may have not stated it directly,
01:53:15.180 --> 01:53:17.640
'cause I was summarizing, so apologies for that.
01:53:17.640 --> 01:53:20.510
But we had an enrollment and referral,
01:53:20.510 --> 01:53:23.570
to whether they can offer service offerings.
01:53:23.570 --> 01:53:27.610
One of the bullet points there is assessment,
01:53:27.610 --> 01:53:29.300
is part of that, I was summarizing.
01:53:29.300 --> 01:53:33.480
So, I'll write that part with it in the title.
01:53:33.480 --> 01:53:34.313
Thank you.
01:53:38.958 --> 01:53:40.310
Were there questions, comments,
01:53:40.310 --> 01:53:44.257
or feedback with respect to the water issue?
01:53:47.770 --> 01:53:50.980
A question that would be a separate engagement
01:53:50.980 --> 01:53:54.003
or a carbon copy of the Water Board, perhaps?
01:54:07.570 --> 01:54:08.403
Okay.
01:54:11.550 --> 01:54:16.550
So, we'll add that and go through each of them
01:54:17.290 --> 01:54:20.270
individually, then, just to see if there's questions,
01:54:20.270 --> 01:54:23.093
comments, or just consensus is fine.
01:54:24.090 --> 01:54:26.840
On the extreme climate protections,
01:54:26.840 --> 01:54:29.540
for the seven day forecast and flexibility
01:54:29.540 --> 01:54:31.070
to turn the power back on if there's
01:54:31.070 --> 01:54:34.583
an extreme climate situation, heat or cold,
01:54:35.686 --> 01:54:38.003
is that something we're comfortable keeping?
01:54:41.060 --> 01:54:41.893
Okay.
01:54:43.760 --> 01:54:47.223
Increasing CARE subsidies for the most vulnerable.
01:54:51.870 --> 01:54:53.060
Hello, Mr. Chair, I think we should
01:54:53.060 --> 01:54:54.733
definitely have it on the table.
01:54:56.730 --> 01:54:59.580
But again, that's the whole concept behind assessing
01:54:59.580 --> 01:55:02.900
individual customer needs and finding out
01:55:02.900 --> 01:55:05.830
specifically where they are on the hierarchy of need.
01:55:05.830 --> 01:55:10.830
So definitely, have it on the table for discussion.
01:55:13.540 --> 01:55:14.373
But on that point, do we need
01:55:14.373 --> 01:55:16.690
to couple it to an assessment?
01:55:16.690 --> 01:55:21.690
Would this be a call to making sure that we're maximizing
01:55:23.270 --> 01:55:27.809
all of the available resources to provide the most
01:55:27.809 --> 01:55:32.809
complete package or portfolio of programs and offerings
01:55:34.593 --> 01:55:37.523
that can help customers during this difficult time?
01:55:42.200 --> 01:55:46.453
And would the consideration expand to include ESA?
01:55:48.460 --> 01:55:51.860
I know when we talked about in the past previously,
01:55:51.860 --> 01:55:54.170
it was really looking at it, what you said,
01:55:54.170 --> 01:55:56.977
we can enhance existing program offerings
01:55:56.977 --> 01:56:00.620
and the impacts that can have on customers during this time.
01:56:00.620 --> 01:56:04.790
And I know that earlier, you started off the meeting
01:56:04.790 --> 01:56:08.580
by making a reference to the Aliso Canyon example,
01:56:08.580 --> 01:56:10.440
where there was revisions that were made
01:56:10.440 --> 01:56:13.550
to the ESA program rules and offerings
01:56:13.550 --> 01:56:18.034
to address the impacts of that particular emergency or event
01:56:18.034 --> 01:56:21.093
on low-income residents in the surrounding area.
01:56:29.410 --> 01:56:32.600
Robert, would you want to respond to that?
01:56:32.600 --> 01:56:33.433
Yeah.
01:56:35.327 --> 01:56:38.160
One of the thoughts that I had in looking at the OIR
01:56:39.680 --> 01:56:42.470
in Elisa Canyon was on an emergency response
01:56:42.470 --> 01:56:46.210
based on driving down consumption.
01:56:46.210 --> 01:56:50.520
In other words, energy burden to low-income customers
01:56:50.520 --> 01:56:53.950
that, frankly, the state could utilize in connection
01:56:53.950 --> 01:56:58.010
with its shortages on natural gas regeneration.
01:56:58.010 --> 01:57:00.140
I think that one of the things that we looked at
01:57:00.140 --> 01:57:03.810
during that period was a very quick schedule,
01:57:03.810 --> 01:57:08.350
like we're under right now, to go ahead and implement
01:57:09.908 --> 01:57:13.050
measures that take the existing portfolios
01:57:13.050 --> 01:57:14.730
that we have both with CARE and ESA
01:57:14.730 --> 01:57:17.830
and expand them to assist customers
01:57:17.830 --> 01:57:20.650
when they truly need the help.
01:57:20.650 --> 01:57:25.650
So, that being said, I think that, again,
01:57:26.140 --> 01:57:31.140
when I meant assessment, that's done on an individual level,
01:57:31.326 --> 01:57:35.828
and to the degree that we recognized
01:57:35.828 --> 01:57:40.580
during the beginning discussions that there are going
01:57:40.580 --> 01:57:43.060
to be households that simply can't pay
01:57:43.060 --> 01:57:46.860
what they owe, for a variety of reasons.
01:57:46.860 --> 01:57:48.330
And that's just the reality of our
01:57:48.330 --> 01:57:50.860
situation, but that's not everybody.
01:57:50.860 --> 01:57:53.830
So, I think that an assessment,
01:57:53.830 --> 01:57:58.830
from both a financial perspective, as well as an energy,
01:57:59.510 --> 01:58:03.880
and perhaps water-usage consumption perspective,
01:58:03.880 --> 01:58:08.030
with measures that are existing within the portfolio,
01:58:08.030 --> 01:58:12.090
or enhanced measures going into homes,
01:58:12.090 --> 01:58:14.600
that we believe will drive down costs
01:58:14.600 --> 01:58:17.940
and reduce energy burden, is where I was headed with that.
01:58:17.940 --> 01:58:20.120
If that answers your question.
01:58:20.120 --> 01:58:21.040
Yes, it does.
01:58:21.040 --> 01:58:25.060
So, it's more of trying to prioritize certain customers
01:58:25.060 --> 01:58:27.600
to receiving these enhanced offerings.
01:58:27.600 --> 01:58:28.440
Yes.
01:58:28.440 --> 01:58:29.400
It would make a difference, yeah, okay.
01:58:29.400 --> 01:58:31.730
And I think it was mentioned before by one
01:58:31.730 --> 01:58:35.460
of the utilities, is that they try to tailor what they're
01:58:35.460 --> 01:58:38.643
doing with customer assistance programs to that customer.
01:58:39.490 --> 01:58:42.042
So, I think for us to assess that
01:58:42.042 --> 01:58:46.940
at more of a granular level given this period,
01:58:46.940 --> 01:58:47.773
and especially when they are in
01:58:47.773 --> 01:58:51.483
arrearage management plan, makes some sense.
01:58:52.800 --> 01:58:55.630
So Benito, just to circle back on the recommendation.
01:58:55.630 --> 01:58:57.110
So, it sounds like the recommendation,
01:58:57.110 --> 01:58:59.370
this wouldn't be limited to the CARE.
01:58:59.370 --> 01:59:03.730
It would also include ESA and the other existing programs
01:59:06.020 --> 01:59:09.363
where there's an opportunity to enhance the offerings,
01:59:10.400 --> 01:59:14.030
to assist with addressing the arrearages
01:59:14.030 --> 01:59:18.900
or offsetting future energy costs on that customer.
01:59:18.900 --> 01:59:20.650
Yeah, I think the simple of it
01:59:20.650 --> 01:59:23.700
is that there's a crisis factor here,
01:59:23.700 --> 01:59:26.480
and it's sort of an all-hands-on-deck moment,
01:59:26.480 --> 01:59:28.712
and all the tools in the toolbox
01:59:28.712 --> 01:59:30.910
should be utilized to the fullest extent possible.
01:59:30.910 --> 01:59:34.690
And so, to make that happen, if we're not referring people
01:59:34.690 --> 01:59:36.117
to all those tools in the toolbox,
01:59:36.117 --> 01:59:38.020
how are they supposed to use them?
01:59:38.020 --> 01:59:42.033
So, I think that's just the basic logic behind it.
01:59:42.033 --> 01:59:47.033
Assuming we agree on that concept and vote on it,
01:59:47.550 --> 01:59:50.320
I would encourage the subset of the Board
01:59:50.320 --> 01:59:54.850
to work with the respective staff at the PEC to make sure
01:59:54.850 --> 01:59:57.740
that, procedurally, we're doing things correctly,
01:59:57.740 --> 02:00:01.600
but to make that recommendation more appropriate
02:00:05.400 --> 02:00:07.140
Are we also making the recommendation
02:00:07.140 --> 02:00:10.240
that the income limits between CARE
02:00:10.240 --> 02:00:14.183
and federal income guidelines be decided on one way
02:00:16.530 --> 02:00:20.750
or the other, or agreed upon one way or the other?
02:00:20.750 --> 02:00:24.492
Yeah, in our letter for the proceeding,
02:00:24.492 --> 02:00:28.653
we did put that in there, and we stated that,
02:00:30.060 --> 02:00:34.450
we decided the dramatic diversity in cost of living
02:00:34.450 --> 02:00:38.450
in California, the ALJ sent a response
02:00:38.450 --> 02:00:42.423
on the list, that wasn't the correct forum.
02:00:43.330 --> 02:00:46.963
CARE is in statute, so that makes it a legislative thing.
02:00:47.940 --> 02:00:51.850
And unfortunately, it's statue is 200% of poverty.
02:00:51.850 --> 02:00:52.683
So, there's not a lot of
02:00:52.683 --> 02:00:55.070
flexibility there without a law change.
02:00:55.070 --> 02:01:00.060
But it does state that the discount shall not be less
02:01:00.060 --> 02:01:05.060
than 30% or more than 35% by average.
02:01:05.480 --> 02:01:07.670
And if you look at the different websites
02:01:07.670 --> 02:01:10.140
for the different utilities in the state,
02:01:10.140 --> 02:01:11.730
they show their discounts started
02:01:11.730 --> 02:01:14.470
at many different levels, including below 30%.
02:01:14.470 --> 02:01:16.910
So it seems, through one avenue or another,
02:01:16.910 --> 02:01:19.330
there is flexibility, but we would probably
02:01:19.330 --> 02:01:23.880
want to work with that to figure out
02:01:23.880 --> 02:01:28.402
where to procreate to make that type of recommendation.
02:01:28.402 --> 02:01:31.170
'Cause there might be some limitations within
02:01:31.170 --> 02:01:33.480
the resolution, but not ongoing proceedings
02:01:33.480 --> 02:01:36.613
and rulemaking from other issues we talked about.
02:01:41.265 --> 02:01:42.670
Jeff.
02:01:42.670 --> 02:01:44.923
Yeah, I just have a point of order.
02:01:46.380 --> 02:01:48.440
So, many of these things, I think,
02:01:48.440 --> 02:01:50.270
I'm going to have to abstain from voting on.
02:01:50.270 --> 02:01:52.270
So I don't know if you guys are gonna,
02:01:52.270 --> 02:01:55.070
I mean, there's certain elements of the recommendations,
02:01:56.620 --> 02:02:01.620
like, depending upon what is recommended on data sharing,
02:02:01.760 --> 02:02:04.930
or something, I think I could vote on.
02:02:04.930 --> 02:02:07.960
But a number of these things I probably will abstain.
02:02:07.960 --> 02:02:10.320
So just as a point of order, are you going
02:02:10.320 --> 02:02:13.620
to put all the recommendations into one vote,
02:02:13.620 --> 02:02:18.300
or will we be voting on elements of this?
02:02:25.540 --> 02:02:27.320
Benito, I think you're on mute.
02:02:28.970 --> 02:02:30.183
I've been correcting everyone for doing that
02:02:30.183 --> 02:02:32.429
all day, and now I did it.
02:02:32.429 --> 02:02:33.495
(Board members chuckling)
02:02:33.495 --> 02:02:35.190
So, I'm going to drink some of this coffee.
02:02:35.190 --> 02:02:39.490
But no, I think we can vote on each.
02:02:39.490 --> 02:02:42.200
I think we're hoping to vote on it as a package in total,
02:02:42.200 --> 02:02:44.450
so that it would be one letter.
02:02:44.450 --> 02:02:48.740
Jeff, I understand, I've known Jessica from the past,
02:02:48.740 --> 02:02:51.250
and Dan before Jessica, sometimes,
02:02:51.250 --> 02:02:55.440
you have to abstain for those reasons.
02:02:55.440 --> 02:02:56.633
I think that's fine.
02:02:57.930 --> 02:03:01.040
If you want to reconnect after the meeting with the concepts
02:03:01.040 --> 02:03:04.550
you're comfortable voting on or you've stated here, as well,
02:03:04.550 --> 02:03:07.350
I can make sure that's reflected in the letter, as well.
02:03:08.390 --> 02:03:10.490
Great, that's really helpful, thank you.
02:03:12.350 --> 02:03:14.730
While we're on that topic, Jessica,
02:03:14.730 --> 02:03:16.723
does that work okay for you, as well?
02:03:19.340 --> 02:03:21.353
Yes, I was planning to abstain,
02:03:21.353 --> 02:03:23.853
just from what you had said, it makes sense to me.
02:03:24.880 --> 02:03:25.923
Okay, very good.
02:03:29.640 --> 02:03:32.240
So with that, I think the next item on here
02:03:32.240 --> 02:03:34.410
that we going to check, it sounds like
02:03:34.410 --> 02:03:39.410
we have some consensus around CARE, would be data sharing.
02:03:40.720 --> 02:03:42.803
So, we just talked about that at length.
02:03:43.970 --> 02:03:45.040
I think the overall goal,
02:03:45.040 --> 02:03:47.590
it sounded like, would be quarterly.
02:03:47.590 --> 02:03:50.190
I know that there's a proceeding that's speaking to this,
02:03:50.190 --> 02:03:52.363
so again, we would want to work with staff to make sure
02:03:52.363 --> 02:03:56.640
we're voicing our opinion at the right time and place.
02:03:56.640 --> 02:03:58.264
But is that something we're comfortable
02:03:58.264 --> 02:04:00.503
voting on for recommendation?
02:04:03.720 --> 02:04:04.553
All right.
02:04:06.360 --> 02:04:07.810
Marketing and outreach.
02:04:07.810 --> 02:04:10.763
So, this one's a little bit more complex.
02:04:11.890 --> 02:04:14.630
The type of organizations we discussed
02:04:14.630 --> 02:04:18.377
are capitation fee agencies, tribal communities,
02:04:18.377 --> 02:04:20.477
which are at high risk for disconnections.
02:04:21.640 --> 02:04:26.640
We did just provide a skeleton of a grant structure
02:04:27.960 --> 02:04:31.237
for tribal members, part of ESA, Paul,
02:04:31.237 --> 02:04:35.011
and the Commissioner's work with the last proceeding.
02:04:35.011 --> 02:04:38.080
So, that could be one way that that is structured.
02:04:38.080 --> 02:04:42.210
Also, different county agencies,
02:04:42.210 --> 02:04:44.970
just for the cost of outreach,
02:04:44.970 --> 02:04:49.970
as well as the LIHEAP network and community action agency.
02:04:51.100 --> 02:04:54.010
The only question here is if there's a percentage
02:04:54.010 --> 02:04:57.630
or amount for this sort of quarter transition period
02:04:57.630 --> 02:04:59.740
the Board wants to recommend, or if it's just
02:04:59.740 --> 02:05:02.470
a general recommendation to increase
02:05:02.470 --> 02:05:04.593
the amount of resources being provided.
02:05:11.360 --> 02:05:14.320
Pardon, Mr. Chair, could you restate that again?
02:05:14.320 --> 02:05:15.153
Yeah, sure.
02:05:15.153 --> 02:05:18.040
So the fourth item was marketing and outreach.
02:05:18.040 --> 02:05:21.950
So, in other words, the CVOs, capitation fee agencies,
02:05:21.950 --> 02:05:24.800
tribal communities, as well as
02:05:24.800 --> 02:05:27.913
community service action agencies under the LIHEAP network,
02:05:29.150 --> 02:05:31.460
and also any public agency that may just not be able
02:05:31.460 --> 02:05:34.833
to absorb costs for marketing materials, things like that.
02:05:38.606 --> 02:05:41.030
Is there a dependable statement to increase resources,
02:05:41.030 --> 02:05:43.610
or is there a percentage or other metric we want to
02:05:43.610 --> 02:05:47.893
put onto it, so then it it's a little bit more measurable?
02:05:51.470 --> 02:05:55.610
Are you open for a question or comment on that?
02:05:55.610 --> 02:05:57.510
Yeah, I think that's where we're at.
02:05:57.510 --> 02:06:02.010
I think that it would be helpful to get some sort
02:06:02.010 --> 02:06:05.940
of situational analysis in connection
02:06:05.940 --> 02:06:08.010
with available funding from the utilities
02:06:08.010 --> 02:06:10.273
within their existing ME&O budgets.
02:06:11.180 --> 02:06:15.130
Obviously, if this pushes and the efforts that they have
02:06:15.130 --> 02:06:17.020
already on top it had been approved
02:06:17.020 --> 02:06:20.800
as part of our proceeding, if it pushes the envelope
02:06:20.800 --> 02:06:22.400
against that budgeting, well then clearly,
02:06:22.400 --> 02:06:27.020
we have to look at other ways and means to do that.
02:06:27.020 --> 02:06:31.730
So perhaps, it might be initially a question
02:06:31.730 --> 02:06:35.040
posed to the utilities whether or not they have
02:06:35.040 --> 02:06:38.380
the sort of financial bandwidth to make that modification,
02:06:38.380 --> 02:06:42.221
or modifications, as we see expanded outreach
02:06:42.221 --> 02:06:45.860
done by a community-based organization and NGOs,
02:06:45.860 --> 02:06:49.140
and the like, that were mentioned not only by members
02:06:49.140 --> 02:06:51.530
of this Board, but I believe the Commissioner, as well,
02:06:51.530 --> 02:06:54.590
if that makes sense to go to the utilities first, and just
02:06:54.590 --> 02:06:57.340
see what kind of financial shape they're in to do that.
02:07:00.650 --> 02:07:04.510
Bob, this is Jason, I just have a quick comment to that.
02:07:04.510 --> 02:07:08.110
So, I think during the IOU presentation
02:07:08.110 --> 02:07:10.700
on the transition plans, I made the comment
02:07:10.700 --> 02:07:13.540
that it would be helpful to get an understanding
02:07:13.540 --> 02:07:17.340
of how the marketing and outreach budgets have been
02:07:17.340 --> 02:07:22.340
either impacted or modified to support the transition plans,
02:07:23.007 --> 02:07:25.770
and all the various partnerships that are going to be needed
02:07:25.770 --> 02:07:27.970
to make sure that there's a successful interaction
02:07:27.970 --> 02:07:30.183
with customers during this critical time.
02:07:32.320 --> 02:07:34.839
And I think it would be wise, knowing that we have
02:07:34.839 --> 02:07:38.290
emphasized the importance of some of these organizations,
02:07:38.290 --> 02:07:43.290
that their budgets reflect that investment to make sure that
02:07:43.360 --> 02:07:46.700
these organizations are going to have a very prominent role
02:07:46.700 --> 02:07:49.820
in the strategies that the utilities are putting forward,
02:07:49.820 --> 02:07:54.440
as well as, they have the latitude to go to the Commission
02:07:54.440 --> 02:07:58.910
to seek a waiver or a budget modification to allow them
02:07:58.910 --> 02:08:03.270
to exceed their existing budgets if there's a need to do so.
02:08:03.270 --> 02:08:07.480
So, I don't know if we need to be very specific,
02:08:07.480 --> 02:08:12.402
but I think we should tailor the recommendation to suggest
02:08:12.402 --> 02:08:17.402
that there shouldn't be a fiscal restriction here,
02:08:17.430 --> 02:08:20.390
as long as the utilities put forward a solid plan.
02:08:20.390 --> 02:08:22.590
And if there's a need to increase
02:08:22.590 --> 02:08:24.800
their marketing and outreach budgets,
02:08:24.800 --> 02:08:27.963
then they should have the opportunity to do so.
02:08:30.490 --> 02:08:31.323
Agreed.
02:08:36.320 --> 02:08:38.630
So, would that be a plan, then,
02:08:38.630 --> 02:08:43.400
for just encouraging increased investment for that,
02:08:43.400 --> 02:08:46.830
during this, basically, a quarter?
02:08:46.830 --> 02:08:48.500
I mean, in terms of implementation,
02:08:48.500 --> 02:08:50.600
it's about a quarter, maybe a little more.
02:08:55.130 --> 02:08:55.963
Okay.
02:08:57.953 --> 02:09:00.953
(keyBoard clicking)
02:09:06.390 --> 02:09:07.223
Understood.
02:09:08.157 --> 02:09:11.520
So, the next item is just measuring success.
02:09:11.520 --> 02:09:15.350
I think that's the concept there's complete consensus with.
02:09:15.350 --> 02:09:19.105
One question, of course, which is how.
02:09:19.105 --> 02:09:22.550
So, the fundamental question I would pose to include
02:09:22.550 --> 02:09:26.090
is of the disconnections that do occur
02:09:26.090 --> 02:09:29.045
during this period, how many individuals were enrolled
02:09:29.045 --> 02:09:34.045
in any one of, certainly the AMP, but also CARE,
02:09:35.680 --> 02:09:38.880
referred to any of the other tools in the toolbox,
02:09:38.880 --> 02:09:41.910
so to speak, so that we can evaluate
02:09:41.910 --> 02:09:44.210
how well they're actually working.
02:09:44.210 --> 02:09:46.320
But I think that's the general statement.
02:09:46.320 --> 02:09:48.810
I think the subset of the Board can work out
02:09:48.810 --> 02:09:53.810
the details on that, but open it to other ideas here.
02:10:02.560 --> 02:10:04.560
Okay, does that mean we're in agreement?
02:10:07.030 --> 02:10:07.960
Yes.
02:10:07.960 --> 02:10:09.693
Just a comment on that.
02:10:11.050 --> 02:10:13.990
I remember, I think it was Commissioner Guzman Aceves
02:10:13.990 --> 02:10:16.350
had mentioned that there's more guidance that needs
02:10:16.350 --> 02:10:20.620
to be offered to the utilities on figuring out
02:10:20.620 --> 02:10:25.620
how to treat or to find, the maximum CAP,
02:10:26.210 --> 02:10:29.528
or the disconnection CAP, that is based on the formula,
02:10:29.528 --> 02:10:33.690
from a prior decision that takes into account
02:10:33.690 --> 02:10:38.170
disconnections that happened in the prior 12-month period.
02:10:38.170 --> 02:10:42.150
And so, I think it's unclear on how that CAP
02:10:42.150 --> 02:10:46.790
will be recalibrated to adjust with the current situation.
02:10:46.790 --> 02:10:50.272
So, does the recommendation that we offer touch on that,
02:10:50.272 --> 02:10:53.630
or does it need to touch on that, knowing that the
02:10:53.630 --> 02:10:57.743
Commission seems to be taking action on that front?
02:11:02.600 --> 02:11:04.706
I'm in agreement to that.
02:11:04.706 --> 02:11:08.670
Other questions or comments on that from the Board?
02:11:08.670 --> 02:11:10.353
Yeah, so maybe if we can make an easy,
02:11:10.353 --> 02:11:13.420
just to elaborate on that, I think that's gonna be
02:11:13.420 --> 02:11:16.340
a critical metrics that's yet to be defined.
02:11:16.340 --> 02:11:19.210
But I think it's something that this Commission
02:11:19.210 --> 02:11:22.380
should pursue, because it's gonna serve
02:11:24.900 --> 02:11:26.583
as an important threshold that utilities
02:11:26.583 --> 02:11:29.450
will have to manage to as they are looking
02:11:29.450 --> 02:11:32.853
at moderating their disconnections per month.
02:11:34.850 --> 02:11:35.683
Okay.
02:11:39.720 --> 02:11:41.730
Is that the type of detail we can hammer out
02:11:41.730 --> 02:11:44.030
as a subset group, or is it something you want
02:11:44.030 --> 02:11:47.663
to put part of the motion for this item?
02:11:50.660 --> 02:11:52.350
I think that it is something that we can hammer out,
02:11:52.350 --> 02:11:56.201
'cause we don't have to get to the specifics.
02:11:56.201 --> 02:11:58.583
I think we understand that it's an important need,
02:11:59.450 --> 02:12:01.860
that's an important sideBoard to this process
02:12:01.860 --> 02:12:04.623
that the Commission's gonna have to act on.
02:12:05.660 --> 02:12:06.803
Okay, understood.
02:12:09.650 --> 02:12:10.483
Makes sense.
02:12:10.483 --> 02:12:15.460
And then, for the next item, Aliso Canyon best practices,
02:12:18.240 --> 02:12:20.350
Robert, I know you worked on this one a little bit.
02:12:20.350 --> 02:12:23.297
Did you want to add any specifics?
02:12:24.610 --> 02:12:28.569
I think that, besides going Chapter and verse
02:12:28.569 --> 02:12:33.569
on Aliso Canyon, the OIR, I think that the spirit
02:12:33.569 --> 02:12:35.410
and the intent of what they were trying to do
02:12:35.410 --> 02:12:38.880
was what I was trying to get back with that recommendation.
02:12:38.880 --> 02:12:40.660
For example, I had the opportunity,
02:12:40.660 --> 02:12:42.420
when I had this idea a few weeks ago,
02:12:42.420 --> 02:12:47.420
to reach out to some contractors that I trust
02:12:47.430 --> 02:12:50.230
and ask them, are there missed opportunities
02:12:50.230 --> 02:12:54.240
for energy savings and/or energy bill reduction
02:12:55.810 --> 02:12:58.910
that simply you have to leave the home without performing
02:12:58.910 --> 02:13:02.360
those particular activities because of restrictions
02:13:02.360 --> 02:13:05.470
within the portfolio or the accepted measures,
02:13:05.470 --> 02:13:09.880
or other barriers that exist within the program?
02:13:09.880 --> 02:13:13.430
And the answer was, collectively, yes,
02:13:13.430 --> 02:13:16.760
there are things and measures that we can do,
02:13:16.760 --> 02:13:20.070
vis-a-vis weatherization and direct install,
02:13:20.070 --> 02:13:25.070
that could reduce the energy bill at the end
02:13:25.320 --> 02:13:28.790
of the month for, I would assume, many customers.
02:13:28.790 --> 02:13:31.680
So having said that, that's what I had
02:13:32.630 --> 02:13:34.623
in the front of my mind, with thinking.
02:13:35.500 --> 02:13:38.740
Back in 2016, we had a three measure minimum rule.
02:13:38.740 --> 02:13:41.760
We had a restriction on go-backs.
02:13:41.760 --> 02:13:43.920
All of these particular barriers
02:13:43.920 --> 02:13:47.680
at that time were eliminated with the goal
02:13:47.680 --> 02:13:52.180
to be a minimum of 10% energy savings.
02:13:52.180 --> 02:13:56.050
And, frankly, we did that, and we exceeded it.
02:13:56.050 --> 02:14:00.380
So, in my mind, there's no real reason
02:14:00.380 --> 02:14:03.670
why we couldn't repeat that success
02:14:03.670 --> 02:14:06.930
if we identified the barriers within the program.
02:14:06.930 --> 02:14:09.490
For example, cost-effectiveness is a barrier.
02:14:09.490 --> 02:14:12.480
It restricts many of the measures that could go
02:14:12.480 --> 02:14:17.030
into a low-income household, or reduce their bill, that,
02:14:17.030 --> 02:14:22.030
because of that barrier, simply are not part of our program.
02:14:22.900 --> 02:14:26.490
So, I think it needs a little bit of work.
02:14:26.490 --> 02:14:30.070
I do have some suggestions put out by engineers
02:14:30.940 --> 02:14:33.530
in connection with measures that could be introduced
02:14:33.530 --> 02:14:38.001
into the program that would, again, seek the target
02:14:38.001 --> 02:14:41.360
of a minimum of 10% energy reduction,
02:14:41.360 --> 02:14:44.320
while at the same time reducing that bill.
02:14:44.320 --> 02:14:46.820
So, like I said before, I'd like to put that
02:14:46.820 --> 02:14:50.320
on the table as part of what we recommend
02:14:50.320 --> 02:14:53.703
to the Commission in response to the pandemic.
02:14:56.470 --> 02:14:58.520
And Bob, this is Jason, quick question.
02:14:59.570 --> 02:15:03.023
What about the process that was used to facilitate that?
02:15:04.390 --> 02:15:09.390
I get the outcomes of that,
02:15:09.820 --> 02:15:12.700
but could you elaborate a little bit on the process?
02:15:12.700 --> 02:15:14.739
because I think we're going to maybe have to emphasize
02:15:14.739 --> 02:15:18.230
or lay a blueprint for how that could be done.
02:15:18.230 --> 02:15:20.740
Well, I'll tell you, it's amazing when I looked into this
02:15:20.740 --> 02:15:23.160
and started doing my research, because my memory
02:15:23.160 --> 02:15:26.000
isn't that good anymore, but back in 2016,
02:15:26.000 --> 02:15:28.410
the Assigned Commissioner was Katherine Sandoval.
02:15:28.410 --> 02:15:32.380
And so, we're in the midst of trying to respond to,
02:15:32.380 --> 02:15:37.250
at a minimum, a 20% reduction in natural gas
02:15:37.250 --> 02:15:40.110
that's used for generation across California.
02:15:40.110 --> 02:15:43.310
So, as a practical matter, we were also
02:15:43.310 --> 02:15:46.770
at that time, in 2016, at a bridge period.
02:15:46.770 --> 02:15:48.900
We're at a bridge period now.
02:15:48.900 --> 02:15:53.800
So, we have a guidance document,
02:15:53.800 --> 02:15:55.780
they had a guidance document.
02:15:55.780 --> 02:15:58.570
We had the basic parameters of making a decision
02:15:58.570 --> 02:16:02.310
that hadn't been really voted upon yet by the Commission,
02:16:02.310 --> 02:16:07.310
but it allowed an OIR in 2017, I believe,
02:16:08.190 --> 02:16:11.420
to address the emergency situation at Aliso Canyon
02:16:11.420 --> 02:16:15.540
and instituted those measures, posthaste.
02:16:15.540 --> 02:16:17.180
I think ironically enough, we have
02:16:17.180 --> 02:16:21.680
a similar situation today, where, clearly,
02:16:21.680 --> 02:16:24.640
we're in a bridge period, but yet we're in
02:16:24.640 --> 02:16:27.670
an emergency situation in connection with response
02:16:27.670 --> 02:16:31.450
with, again, it was cited 1.2 billion in arrears,
02:16:31.450 --> 02:16:33.650
but that was a number as a 30 days ago.
02:16:33.650 --> 02:16:37.700
My sense is that number has grown significantly since then.
02:16:37.700 --> 02:16:42.210
So, the idea here is to assist people with the cost
02:16:42.210 --> 02:16:45.410
of their utilities, so they can basically meet
02:16:45.410 --> 02:16:47.720
the terms and conditions of an arrearage,
02:16:47.720 --> 02:16:51.440
but at the same time, to stay in a helpful
02:16:51.440 --> 02:16:52.940
arrearage-management plan, they need
02:16:52.940 --> 02:16:55.970
to stay current with their utility bills.
02:16:55.970 --> 02:16:58.780
So, what can we do to, again,
02:16:58.780 --> 02:17:02.010
lessen that burden in terms of that cost?
02:17:02.010 --> 02:17:04.610
So, in answering your question about process,
02:17:04.610 --> 02:17:07.780
I believe that we could do it again through an OIR.
02:17:07.780 --> 02:17:09.498
Okay, good, all right, thank you.
02:17:09.498 --> 02:17:10.880
It didn't go to a general rate case,
02:17:10.880 --> 02:17:12.050
if that's what you meant.
02:17:12.050 --> 02:17:13.343
Yeah, okay, good.
02:17:20.770 --> 02:17:22.170
Great.
02:17:22.170 --> 02:17:26.683
Other questions or comments on that topic from the Board?
02:17:31.440 --> 02:17:32.273
Okay.
02:17:34.018 --> 02:17:35.963
The next one on here was with respect
02:17:37.060 --> 02:17:39.200
to LIHEAP coordination.
02:17:39.200 --> 02:17:42.950
So understanding the scope of the problem,
02:17:42.950 --> 02:17:44.493
there are some limitations.
02:17:45.950 --> 02:17:50.950
I think this might actually be a bit of a two-in-one,
02:17:52.150 --> 02:17:55.120
just given Jeff's previous comment.
02:17:55.120 --> 02:17:58.070
And then, LIHEAP coordination.
02:17:58.070 --> 02:18:01.610
So, to recap, LIHEAP provides up to
02:18:01.610 --> 02:18:06.450
$1,000 per household on arrearages per year.
02:18:06.450 --> 02:18:08.040
There's been added dollars in the last
02:18:08.040 --> 02:18:12.050
COVID Relief Act for water arrearages.
02:18:12.050 --> 02:18:14.450
There's more water arrearage funding coming through.
02:18:14.450 --> 02:18:17.370
We're not sure where that's going to go yet.
02:18:17.370 --> 02:18:20.390
And I also understand that there's something
02:18:20.390 --> 02:18:24.530
to the extent of 42 billion, that would include grant,
02:18:24.530 --> 02:18:27.500
utility and other types of relief money,
02:18:27.500 --> 02:18:30.170
and the LIHEAP was part of that, and thanks
02:18:30.170 --> 02:18:33.140
to our Vice Chair for pointing that out yesterday.
02:18:33.140 --> 02:18:36.693
So, I think the recommendation
02:18:36.693 --> 02:18:40.150
that we're looking at here is coordination.
02:18:40.150 --> 02:18:43.010
This network is already in place, it's already rooted
02:18:43.010 --> 02:18:46.960
in hard-to-reach communities, and it's Statewide,
02:18:46.960 --> 02:18:51.150
and it already has some tools in its toolbox.
02:18:51.150 --> 02:18:54.260
So, let's keep it coordinated
02:18:54.260 --> 02:18:58.543
and coordinate to the maximum extent possible.
02:19:00.021 --> 02:19:02.110
But that's where I see this one right now,
02:19:02.110 --> 02:19:05.480
but Jason, I know you understand LIHEAP probably better
02:19:05.480 --> 02:19:07.180
than anyone, if there's anything you'd like
02:19:07.180 --> 02:19:09.363
to add, or anyone else on the Board.
02:19:11.420 --> 02:19:14.170
Yeah, I think there were two items that came up
02:19:14.170 --> 02:19:18.360
that I was tracking with during the meeting today.
02:19:18.360 --> 02:19:20.934
The first is obviously emphasizing better
02:19:20.934 --> 02:19:25.934
and more effective data sharing, and the second is
02:19:27.920 --> 02:19:31.950
looking at ways that maybe LIHEAP can support
02:19:34.520 --> 02:19:37.720
one's participation in their arrearage management program,
02:19:37.720 --> 02:19:41.020
which currently there are rules that prevent or preclude
02:19:41.020 --> 02:19:43.320
LIHEAP dollars being from being used
02:19:43.320 --> 02:19:45.580
to assist clients in that role.
02:19:45.580 --> 02:19:50.010
But as the Commissioner Guzman Aceves had mentioned earlier,
02:19:50.010 --> 02:19:52.440
that there might be an opportunity or a need
02:19:52.440 --> 02:19:56.400
to revisit that, and maybe use LIHEAP to help
02:19:56.400 --> 02:20:00.330
an individual meet the 12 payment obligations
02:20:00.330 --> 02:20:03.780
that they would have to fulfill in order
02:20:03.780 --> 02:20:07.033
for the debt to be forgiving or wiped clean.
02:20:09.432 --> 02:20:10.265
Okay.
02:20:12.030 --> 02:20:12.863
Noted.
02:20:12.863 --> 02:20:16.313
Any other questions or comments from the Board?
02:20:20.370 --> 02:20:21.203
All right.
02:20:23.034 --> 02:20:23.867
I think,
02:20:26.140 --> 02:20:29.110
going down here, the enrollments,
02:20:29.110 --> 02:20:31.800
inclusive of assessments, the weatherization,
02:20:31.800 --> 02:20:35.843
other program offerings as part of AMP and CARE.
02:20:39.420 --> 02:20:41.503
So, a number of things are listed here, I think.
02:20:41.503 --> 02:20:45.313
ESA, SOMA, single-family, SOLAR, LIHEAP again.
02:20:47.790 --> 02:20:51.797
So, there's any other questions or comments on this item?
02:21:00.648 --> 02:21:02.565
This is Robert again.
02:21:03.500 --> 02:21:05.600
Just thinking a little bit about a potential
02:21:05.600 --> 02:21:07.877
or possible recommendation on OIR.
02:21:09.280 --> 02:21:13.440
And again, it seems that timing and the ability
02:21:13.440 --> 02:21:17.797
for us to accelerate helpful activities
02:21:19.130 --> 02:21:22.960
within what we're recommending is paramount right now.
02:21:22.960 --> 02:21:26.080
So, I'm not really sure, and maybe the energy division
02:21:26.080 --> 02:21:31.080
could advise us on whether an OIR to maybe adjust
02:21:31.140 --> 02:21:34.910
some of the provisions within the existing proceeding
02:21:34.910 --> 02:21:37.630
for both CARE and ESA can be done
02:21:37.630 --> 02:21:39.590
within an acceptable timeframe,
02:21:39.590 --> 02:21:43.720
or if there is another mechanism in the regulatory process
02:21:43.720 --> 02:21:47.613
that would allow us to do that better, if that makes sense.
02:21:51.300 --> 02:21:52.233
Good question.
02:21:54.110 --> 02:21:56.763
Alison, is that something you can answer?
02:21:59.600 --> 02:22:02.543
So, to clarify the question, are you able to hear me?
02:22:04.750 --> 02:22:09.750
Was that whether an OIR is the right path
02:22:11.820 --> 02:22:16.820
to adjust how our current CARE and ESA policies are set?
02:22:20.800 --> 02:22:23.850
The appropriate proceeding that we have,
02:22:23.850 --> 02:22:28.850
there is an open right now on the CARE and ESA policy,
02:22:30.060 --> 02:22:32.140
with the applications that were received
02:22:32.140 --> 02:22:37.083
for the 2021 to 2026 time period,
02:22:37.083 --> 02:22:40.983
ESA and CARE budgets and programs design.
02:22:46.870 --> 02:22:49.890
I think, Robert, what that would mean is that
02:22:49.890 --> 02:22:53.450
we take all these recommendations and use the next week
02:22:53.450 --> 02:22:58.450
or so to hammer 'em out with staff of the energy division,
02:22:59.740 --> 02:23:02.070
or appropriate water division.
02:23:02.070 --> 02:23:06.290
We can figure out where it makes sense, when it makes sense,
02:23:06.290 --> 02:23:10.187
to provide these recommendations, so they're best served.
02:23:13.220 --> 02:23:14.870
Alison, does that sound accurate?
02:23:18.560 --> 02:23:22.623
Yeah, I would add that it's where it's being conscious of,
02:23:26.300 --> 02:23:29.470
or one of the things that the energy division
02:23:29.470 --> 02:23:34.470
might likely ask is, what are the most critical items.
02:23:36.572 --> 02:23:41.191
There's new ideas, and being aware of the things
02:23:41.191 --> 02:23:44.903
that are already in the works when adding a new idea,
02:23:46.110 --> 02:23:50.040
is it going to create creative delay,
02:23:50.040 --> 02:23:52.340
and then we end up not getting to the customer
02:23:53.451 --> 02:23:56.630
the things that need to be served and already have
02:24:00.620 --> 02:24:05.620
record and path created to get moving soon.
02:24:11.580 --> 02:24:12.413
Understood.
02:24:17.521 --> 02:24:18.880
Were there other questions or comments
02:24:18.880 --> 02:24:21.933
on this item within the recommendation?
02:24:27.640 --> 02:24:28.473
Okay.
02:24:28.473 --> 02:24:31.330
The last one was coordination with public agencies, however,
02:24:31.330 --> 02:24:34.210
that's also built into the marketing and outreach one.
02:24:34.210 --> 02:24:37.150
So, I think one quick administrative thing
02:24:37.150 --> 02:24:39.663
we can do there is to combine those.
02:24:41.196 --> 02:24:44.053
So, that's all, that's about eight in total.
02:24:46.540 --> 02:24:49.750
And to recap, it's extreme climate protections,
02:24:49.750 --> 02:24:52.920
increasing CARE subsidies for the most vulnerable,
02:24:52.920 --> 02:24:55.500
data sharing, marketing and outreach,
02:24:55.500 --> 02:24:59.770
measuring success, best practices from Aliso Canyon,
02:24:59.770 --> 02:25:04.050
LIHEAP in coordination, and then enrollment,
02:25:04.050 --> 02:25:07.560
inclusive assessments, weatherization, and other programs
02:25:07.560 --> 02:25:11.253
part of the AMP and, potentially, CARE.
02:25:15.574 --> 02:25:18.730
Is there anything, or other questions or comments
02:25:18.730 --> 02:25:22.163
on that as a whole before we vote to the Board?
02:25:25.580 --> 02:25:27.610
Benito, this is Jason, one clarification
02:25:27.610 --> 02:25:30.273
on the climate protections.
02:25:33.734 --> 02:25:37.640
Is the recommendation to also look at this information
02:25:37.640 --> 02:25:40.400
you had mentioned earlier from Noah,
02:25:40.400 --> 02:25:43.590
and looking at redefining the three day period,
02:25:43.590 --> 02:25:47.680
or using a different standard, or we will just ask
02:25:47.680 --> 02:25:50.570
that there'll be adequate protections in place
02:25:53.463 --> 02:25:56.050
to address extreme climate conditions?
02:25:57.420 --> 02:26:00.040
So, the recommendation would be
02:26:00.040 --> 02:26:02.883
to extend the forecast to seven days.
02:26:03.780 --> 02:26:08.524
Noah's website states a level of 80% accuracy.
02:26:08.524 --> 02:26:10.080
Okay, gotcha.
02:26:10.080 --> 02:26:14.670
Yeah, and then also, it's a feasibility question,
02:26:14.670 --> 02:26:17.120
but an emergency restoration plan,
02:26:17.120 --> 02:26:20.230
if there's an extreme climate event in the forecast
02:26:20.230 --> 02:26:23.186
within a period to be determined by-
02:26:23.186 --> 02:26:24.353
Okay.
02:26:24.353 --> 02:26:27.750
Thanks for clarifying, okay, I got it.
02:26:27.750 --> 02:26:28.583
Sure.
02:26:33.890 --> 02:26:37.057
Other questions or comments from members of the Board?
02:26:43.800 --> 02:26:48.187
Okay, would somebody like to make a motion?
02:26:49.563 --> 02:26:51.950
I'd like to make a motion.
02:26:51.950 --> 02:26:53.960
This is Robert Castaneda.
02:26:53.960 --> 02:26:58.720
I move that the draft recommendations,
02:26:58.720 --> 02:27:03.720
as articulated by the Chair, be assigned to a work group,
02:27:05.890 --> 02:27:10.453
again assigned by the Chair, to delineate final
02:27:14.460 --> 02:27:18.743
and specific recommendations to the utility Commission.
02:27:22.570 --> 02:27:24.370
I may add a friendly amendment to that
02:27:24.370 --> 02:27:29.130
before there's a second, which is that a final draft letter
02:27:29.130 --> 02:27:32.130
be sent to the full Board before it's grouped and sent back.
02:27:32.130 --> 02:27:34.320
That way, if there's a strong objections,
02:27:34.320 --> 02:27:38.150
there's mechanisms within our charter to deal with that.
02:27:38.150 --> 02:27:39.573
Perfect, yes.
02:27:40.540 --> 02:27:43.523
Okay, I'll second the motion.
02:27:48.200 --> 02:27:50.450
Okay, there's a motion and a second.
02:27:50.450 --> 02:27:51.603
Any discussion?
02:27:55.200 --> 02:27:57.900
All right, Gillian, would you care to call the roll?
02:27:59.630 --> 02:28:00.750
No problem.
02:28:00.750 --> 02:28:02.850
I did have one question, because a few
02:28:02.850 --> 02:28:06.863
Board members are from voting.
02:28:09.840 --> 02:28:12.590
Am I given to understand that's on the complete letter,
02:28:15.618 --> 02:28:17.643
or in partial recommendations?
02:28:17.643 --> 02:28:19.900
I'll also call their name, but I just wanted
02:28:19.900 --> 02:28:22.263
to make sure I understood that.
02:28:26.750 --> 02:28:31.010
I think I would just clarify if it's a vote
02:28:31.010 --> 02:28:34.123
on the entire pack age, I will abstain.
02:28:34.960 --> 02:28:39.920
However, there may be some elements of it that I could
02:28:39.920 --> 02:28:43.993
vote on, but I think generally, I will abstain from voting.
02:28:51.570 --> 02:28:52.403
Okay, understood.
02:28:52.403 --> 02:28:56.853
I will just read all the Board names.
02:28:58.600 --> 02:29:00.263
Board Chair Delgado Olson?
02:29:02.050 --> 02:29:03.630
Aye.
02:29:03.630 --> 02:29:05.430
Board Vice Chair Stamas?
02:29:06.380 --> 02:29:07.960
Aye.
02:29:07.960 --> 02:29:09.911
Board Member Wimbley?
02:29:09.911 --> 02:29:11.387
Aye.
02:29:11.387 --> 02:29:13.321
Board Member Castaneda?
02:29:13.321 --> 02:29:14.217
Aye.
02:29:14.217 --> 02:29:16.163
Board Member Medina?
02:29:21.412 --> 02:29:22.245
Aye.
02:29:24.960 --> 02:29:26.510
Board Member Irwin?
02:29:27.419 --> 02:29:28.880
Aye.
02:29:28.880 --> 02:29:31.220
Board Member Castilone?
02:29:31.220 --> 02:29:32.560
Aye.
02:29:32.560 --> 02:29:34.010
Board Member Lim?
02:29:36.180 --> 02:29:37.330
I'm going to abstain.
02:29:39.388 --> 02:29:40.773
Board Member Watts?
02:29:41.910 --> 02:29:43.679
Aye.
02:29:43.679 --> 02:29:46.158
Board Member Linam?
02:29:46.158 --> 02:29:48.491
I'm also going to abstain.
02:29:49.952 --> 02:29:54.952
And Commissioner Shiroma is back.
02:29:56.010 --> 02:29:59.732
Thank you, yes, I'm abstaining, only because of my role,
02:29:59.732 --> 02:30:03.890
and with many thanks to all the hard work
02:30:05.202 --> 02:30:07.250
of my colleagues on Low-Income Oversight Board.
02:30:07.250 --> 02:30:08.083
Thank you.
02:30:19.858 --> 02:30:21.900
Okay, I believe that's everyone.
02:30:21.900 --> 02:30:25.337
So, recommendation passed, thank you everyone,
02:30:25.337 --> 02:30:27.640
for your hard work on this.
02:30:27.640 --> 02:30:31.600
And thank you once more, especially to all of the personnel
02:30:31.600 --> 02:30:34.760
from the utilities, both water, gas and electricity.
02:30:34.760 --> 02:30:37.730
Again, this is a lot of work, as well as the Commission,
02:30:37.730 --> 02:30:42.010
Alison, Gillian, and your respective colleagues
02:30:42.010 --> 02:30:43.930
in the energy and water division.
02:30:43.930 --> 02:30:47.020
I imagine you've all been very busy working
02:30:47.020 --> 02:30:50.330
on this pretty consistently for awhile.
02:30:50.330 --> 02:30:53.773
So, thank you all very much for your support and hard work.
02:30:55.270 --> 02:31:00.270
And so for the sub-group, Robert, I know you said a sign,
02:31:01.160 --> 02:31:06.160
and I would lean on giving the floor with anything
02:31:06.480 --> 02:31:09.390
to do with LIHEAP, if you're willing to be part
02:31:09.390 --> 02:31:11.803
of a subgroup, that would be very helpful.
02:31:13.140 --> 02:31:17.983
And Vice Chair Stamas, if you could do the same.
02:31:19.050 --> 02:31:22.440
And rather than extend a motion, I'm gonna volunteer you.
02:31:22.440 --> 02:31:25.433
But if there's anyone else who is here to volunteer,
02:31:27.120 --> 02:31:30.843
I think we can have another person join.
02:31:31.840 --> 02:31:36.540
Probably, I imagine we would have a meeting sometime soon
02:31:36.540 --> 02:31:38.490
just to coordinate all of this.
02:31:39.470 --> 02:31:41.610
Board Member Watts, is that your hand?
02:31:41.610 --> 02:31:43.740
Okay, terrific, all right, excellent.
02:31:43.740 --> 02:31:45.550
So, we will follow up with an email of all
02:31:46.834 --> 02:31:50.063
of the recommendations and put together a draft possible,
02:31:51.350 --> 02:31:54.090
so that the Board can review it with the timeline.
02:31:54.090 --> 02:31:57.280
I think the 19th is a week
02:31:57.280 --> 02:31:59.523
from tomorrow, so it's pretty quick.
02:32:00.753 --> 02:32:04.060
And we will follow up very shortly
02:32:04.060 --> 02:32:06.887
after the conclusion of this meeting
02:32:07.810 --> 02:32:12.810
So, we're pretty far behind, moving on to Item Seven.
02:32:15.900 --> 02:32:18.120
This is really just Q&A.
02:32:18.120 --> 02:32:21.240
We might have to press this short
02:32:21.240 --> 02:32:26.043
for joint IOU reports on the CARE and ESA programs.
02:32:27.445 --> 02:32:30.490
Subcommittee meeting might be appropriate in the future
02:32:30.490 --> 02:32:34.077
to talk about this and other things further,
02:32:34.077 --> 02:32:36.220
'cause I know we all read through this,
02:32:36.220 --> 02:32:38.520
and there's a lot of good information in here.
02:32:40.080 --> 02:32:41.423
A couple of things I was going to point out,
02:32:41.423 --> 02:32:43.570
just at a high level, I appreciated
02:32:43.570 --> 02:32:46.697
the detail on Catalina Island by SEE.
02:32:48.543 --> 02:32:51.910
Also the, the ESA savings over the last year
02:32:51.910 --> 02:32:54.590
were interesting given the situation with COVID.
02:32:54.590 --> 02:32:56.780
It'd be great to see that over perhaps four
02:32:56.780 --> 02:33:00.033
or five years to understand it in better context.
02:33:02.348 --> 02:33:05.150
And I also appreciated some of the details
02:33:05.150 --> 02:33:08.180
about the generator and battery backup programs.
02:33:08.180 --> 02:33:10.480
I know that we're working on an item for that.
02:33:11.960 --> 02:33:13.400
I've got an interesting collaboration
02:33:13.400 --> 02:33:17.143
between CSP and PG&E for the next Board meeting.
02:33:18.550 --> 02:33:21.520
But with that, briefly, with some time,
02:33:21.520 --> 02:33:24.140
I don't want to go too far pass 4:00, 'cause it's been
02:33:24.140 --> 02:33:26.980
a long day, and I know people have commitments,
02:33:26.980 --> 02:33:28.830
happy to open it up, if there's any
02:33:30.810 --> 02:33:32.833
questions from members of the Board.
02:33:36.480 --> 02:33:39.610
Mr. Chair, if I might suggest in the subcommittee section,
02:33:39.610 --> 02:33:43.080
yes, another sub committee probably does make sense,
02:33:43.080 --> 02:33:45.580
just to see where we're at with the bridge period,
02:33:46.790 --> 02:33:49.080
in connection with serving our customers,
02:33:49.080 --> 02:33:52.840
and basically what's, what's kind of happening there.
02:33:52.840 --> 02:33:55.990
We just didn't have the time to get into that today.
02:33:55.990 --> 02:33:58.300
Also, I don't know if there's any comment
02:33:58.300 --> 02:33:59.910
that you wanted to make in connection
02:33:59.910 --> 02:34:03.283
with the LINA subcommittee that we had last week.
02:34:04.649 --> 02:34:09.649
And then, I certainly look forward to our next opportunity
02:34:09.970 --> 02:34:12.080
as part of the Legislative Subcommittee
02:34:12.080 --> 02:34:14.460
just to get an update on what's going on.
02:34:14.460 --> 02:34:15.999
Thank you.
02:34:15.999 --> 02:34:16.832
Certainly.
02:34:16.832 --> 02:34:18.010
I think you jumped ahead a little bit,
02:34:18.010 --> 02:34:19.310
but I think that does make
02:34:19.310 --> 02:34:21.849
the most sense, given the clock.
02:34:21.849 --> 02:34:25.260
So for Item Seven, is it okay with members of the Board
02:34:25.260 --> 02:34:26.995
if we moved this to a subcommittee,
02:34:26.995 --> 02:34:28.730
so that we can go through it a little bit
02:34:28.730 --> 02:34:30.330
more thoughtfully in the future?
02:34:32.070 --> 02:34:33.360
Great.
02:34:33.360 --> 02:34:36.880
So, that moves us to Item Eight for coordination
02:34:36.880 --> 02:34:39.950
or report a low-income weatherization program.
02:34:39.950 --> 02:34:41.260
Jason?
02:34:41.260 --> 02:34:43.010
Yeah, no update to deliver today.
02:34:43.910 --> 02:34:45.730
Okay, very good.
02:34:45.730 --> 02:34:47.959
We're making up time, appreciate it.
02:34:47.959 --> 02:34:48.792
(Benito chuckling)
02:34:48.792 --> 02:34:51.810
So, that takes us to Item Nine.
02:34:51.810 --> 02:34:54.270
So, this is our first meeting of the year,
02:34:54.270 --> 02:34:58.260
And traditionally, although this can change,
02:34:58.260 --> 02:35:00.780
effectively at a quarterly meeting,
02:35:00.780 --> 02:35:04.780
the time where individuals wish to add or remove themselves
02:35:04.780 --> 02:35:08.352
from a subcommittee, they can do so.
02:35:08.352 --> 02:35:12.690
So, the current subcommittee structure is there.
02:35:12.690 --> 02:35:14.090
The only thing I would add is that
02:35:14.090 --> 02:35:16.960
the TAC was created by a resolution,
02:35:16.960 --> 02:35:19.820
and so we would technically need to modify that.
02:35:19.820 --> 02:35:23.530
But we can do that if somebody would wish to join it.
02:35:23.530 --> 02:35:26.250
It would just have to be done at the next meeting.
02:35:28.580 --> 02:35:33.580
So, with that, I guess I'll just go from the bottom up.
02:35:35.500 --> 02:35:39.500
Do any members who were on the Water
02:35:39.500 --> 02:35:44.433
and Climate Change Subcommittee wish to remove themselves,
02:35:45.540 --> 02:35:47.509
and does anybody wish to add themselves?
02:35:47.509 --> 02:35:50.920
(computer beeping)
02:35:50.920 --> 02:35:53.140
Or perhaps to make it easier, since it's a late hour,
02:35:53.140 --> 02:35:55.130
does anybody wish to make any changes to any
02:35:55.130 --> 02:35:58.080
of the committee structure as they're structured right now?
02:36:04.550 --> 02:36:06.073
I'll stay the same, please.
02:36:07.960 --> 02:36:08.793
Very good.
02:36:08.793 --> 02:36:13.710
I will likely take myself off the Legislative Subcommittee,
02:36:15.560 --> 02:36:18.734
just to reduce the workload a little bit.
02:36:18.734 --> 02:36:23.223
So, I will step off of that one for now.
02:36:24.490 --> 02:36:28.775
But other than that, are there any other changes
02:36:28.775 --> 02:36:31.360
and Lourdes, did you add yourself to one?
02:36:31.360 --> 02:36:33.723
I didn't hear you, sorry about that.
02:36:35.700 --> 02:36:36.723
Okay, good.
02:36:39.100 --> 02:36:39.976
Great.
02:36:39.976 --> 02:36:42.240
Can you hear me?
02:36:42.240 --> 02:36:44.222
You can put me on the Water and Climate Change.
02:36:44.222 --> 02:36:48.194
I'd be interested in participating on those.
02:36:48.194 --> 02:36:49.361
Sounds good.
02:36:51.640 --> 02:36:53.493
Any other additions or removals?
02:36:58.240 --> 02:36:59.253
Okay, terrific.
02:37:01.110 --> 02:37:03.670
The only other thing, a friendly reminder
02:37:03.670 --> 02:37:05.240
is that when these committees meet
02:37:05.240 --> 02:37:09.170
for the first time this year, they should all elect a chair.
02:37:09.170 --> 02:37:13.194
And if we can put that person on the agenda moving forward,
02:37:13.194 --> 02:37:15.601
that will be all sorts of helpful to remember.
02:37:15.601 --> 02:37:16.530
(Benito chuckling)
02:37:16.530 --> 02:37:17.363
All right.
02:37:18.490 --> 02:37:20.520
So, with that, for subcommittee reports,
02:37:20.520 --> 02:37:23.860
the Technical Advisory Committee did not meet.
02:37:23.860 --> 02:37:25.840
The Low-Income Energy Assistance program
02:37:25.840 --> 02:37:29.750
and Water and Climate Change committees had a joint meeting,
02:37:29.750 --> 02:37:32.733
which was subject matter of items five and six.
02:37:34.710 --> 02:37:38.033
The Legislative Committee did not meet.
02:37:39.470 --> 02:37:44.470
And the LINA Committee did meet on Friday of last week.
02:37:45.200 --> 02:37:48.770
My biggest takeaway was just that the proceeding
02:37:48.770 --> 02:37:52.130
provides the best opportunity for some
02:37:52.130 --> 02:37:55.450
of the structural changes that we want to see with that.
02:37:55.450 --> 02:37:58.663
And so, we encourage the Board to look at that avenue.
02:37:59.500 --> 02:38:01.090
Other than that, it looks as though the LINA
02:38:01.090 --> 02:38:04.402
is well underway, would open it up to my colleagues
02:38:04.402 --> 02:38:07.130
on that committee for any other comment.
02:38:12.940 --> 02:38:14.130
Okay.
02:38:14.130 --> 02:38:17.023
Any other business related to subcommittee reports?
02:38:21.220 --> 02:38:22.810
Alright, very good.
02:38:22.810 --> 02:38:24.650
That takes us to Item 10,
02:38:24.650 --> 02:38:26.820
the Disadvantaged Communities Advisory group.
02:38:26.820 --> 02:38:31.820
So the Disadvantaged Communities Advisory group,
02:38:32.510 --> 02:38:35.020
I can never say the acronym correctly,
02:38:35.020 --> 02:38:39.770
calls for a liaison from our Board to their Board.
02:38:39.770 --> 02:38:42.598
So, what we're going to do with, I believe,
02:38:42.598 --> 02:38:45.130
the assistance of the Commissioner's office
02:38:45.130 --> 02:38:47.440
is set up a meeting with their chair
02:38:47.440 --> 02:38:50.440
and our respective staff and to hammer out a plan
02:38:50.440 --> 02:38:54.320
for what that's going to look like for 2021 and beyond.
02:38:54.320 --> 02:38:56.780
So, when we come back for the next meeting
02:38:56.780 --> 02:38:58.650
we'll hopefully be able to report on that
02:38:58.650 --> 02:39:01.741
and what the next steps look like.
02:39:01.741 --> 02:39:05.780
And with that, that takes us to Item 11,
02:39:05.780 --> 02:39:09.853
which is on time and for wrapping up and closing remarks.
02:39:11.760 --> 02:39:14.960
Before I say anything, Commissioner would you like
02:39:14.960 --> 02:39:16.653
to offer any closing remarks?
02:39:21.210 --> 02:39:22.803
Yes, thank you.
02:39:24.440 --> 02:39:29.440
Just a big thank you to all my colleagues
02:39:29.680 --> 02:39:34.680
for the keen attention to these very essential matters.
02:39:35.330 --> 02:39:40.330
It was very nice to have my colleagues hear
02:39:40.870 --> 02:39:43.940
the conversation, the dialogue.
02:39:43.940 --> 02:39:47.020
Big thank you to the investor-owned utilities,
02:39:47.020 --> 02:39:50.100
both energy and water.
02:39:50.100 --> 02:39:55.100
I learned some new things today, and also having some
02:39:56.260 --> 02:39:59.660
of the emphasis in the presentations,
02:39:59.660 --> 02:40:04.653
really brought to the forefront all the efforts
02:40:05.730 --> 02:40:10.680
that are being made to prepare for the energy utilities,
02:40:10.680 --> 02:40:15.680
for the moratorium to expire, even as you are working
02:40:16.010 --> 02:40:20.160
in an environment where the Commission left room
02:40:20.160 --> 02:40:23.140
to extend that date, but in the meantime,
02:40:23.140 --> 02:40:25.610
we've tasked you to prepare for that date.
02:40:25.610 --> 02:40:30.610
And then for the water utilities having other jurisdictions,
02:40:31.220 --> 02:40:33.770
such as the State Water Resources Control Board,
02:40:33.770 --> 02:40:38.770
such as the legislature providing and requiring, really,
02:40:42.240 --> 02:40:47.240
additional layers and steps for you, insofar as not having
02:40:48.730 --> 02:40:52.393
that same moratorium date expiring.
02:40:53.290 --> 02:40:56.320
But I feel that within all of those,
02:40:56.320 --> 02:41:01.260
and all of those unknowns, you're working to problem solve
02:41:01.260 --> 02:41:05.320
for innovation to figure out what steps need to be taken
02:41:05.320 --> 02:41:10.320
to provide for your very essential services,
02:41:10.480 --> 02:41:15.480
to help your customer-base and help us problem solve.
02:41:16.143 --> 02:41:18.850
So, thank you so much for all of the work
02:41:18.850 --> 02:41:22.120
that has clearly gone into these efforts.
02:41:22.120 --> 02:41:27.007
Comments are going to be due next week,
02:41:28.090 --> 02:41:31.410
and then deadlines to be met for sending reports.
02:41:31.410 --> 02:41:33.300
And then, there'll be an opportunity
02:41:33.300 --> 02:41:36.360
for additional comment, and that is the due process
02:41:36.360 --> 02:41:40.070
that we provide to our constituency,
02:41:40.070 --> 02:41:43.290
and I think that's a very robust process.
02:41:43.290 --> 02:41:48.290
So, with that, thank you to my colleagues, and more work
02:41:48.290 --> 02:41:52.790
to follow, and back to you, Chair Delgado Olson.
02:41:52.790 --> 02:41:54.400
Thank you.
02:41:54.400 --> 02:41:55.700
Thank you, Commissioner.
02:41:56.917 --> 02:41:59.160
Do any other Board members have
02:41:59.160 --> 02:42:00.933
any closing remarks at this time?
02:42:02.730 --> 02:42:04.483
What was that again, sir?
02:42:06.070 --> 02:42:08.023
Any closing remarks at this time?
02:42:09.040 --> 02:42:10.270
Yeah, I tell you what, I do.
02:42:10.270 --> 02:42:12.880
I am very inspired by Commissioner Shiroma's
02:42:12.880 --> 02:42:17.610
comments right now, and what I was struck by is
02:42:17.610 --> 02:42:19.730
given some research we've done into other states
02:42:19.730 --> 02:42:22.290
when we're coming up with these recommendations,
02:42:22.290 --> 02:42:24.210
California still leads the nation.
02:42:24.210 --> 02:42:28.020
There's no question that we deeply about our people,
02:42:28.020 --> 02:42:30.840
we deal with our problems head on.
02:42:30.840 --> 02:42:34.060
We're a transparent and inclusive sort of government
02:42:34.060 --> 02:42:36.570
in this state that allows these things
02:42:36.570 --> 02:42:38.690
to really take front and center stage.
02:42:38.690 --> 02:42:41.210
And for that, I'm very proud and very thankful.
02:42:41.210 --> 02:42:42.343
Thank you to all.
02:42:44.610 --> 02:42:45.450
Thank you, Robert.
02:42:45.450 --> 02:42:48.553
Any other closing remarks or comments?
02:42:50.277 --> 02:42:51.110
Jessica?
02:42:52.820 --> 02:42:54.190
Yes, thank you so much.
02:42:54.190 --> 02:42:56.290
I just wanted to thank everyone today
02:42:56.290 --> 02:42:58.190
for all of your helpful comments,
02:42:58.190 --> 02:43:01.850
as you all listened to the investor-owned
02:43:01.850 --> 02:43:04.700
utility presentations on their transition plans,
02:43:04.700 --> 02:43:06.100
very thoughtful comments that
02:43:06.100 --> 02:43:08.710
we've been all taking notes on here.
02:43:08.710 --> 02:43:11.590
I also was just remarking to myself that it's been
02:43:11.590 --> 02:43:15.240
about a year, around this time, since COVID all started,
02:43:15.240 --> 02:43:17.050
in terms of impacting our businesses
02:43:17.050 --> 02:43:19.390
and our and our customers' lives.
02:43:19.390 --> 02:43:23.390
And I just wanted to thank our ESA contractors
02:43:26.205 --> 02:43:29.790
and all of the people that make it happen.
02:43:29.790 --> 02:43:32.200
And so, to help our customers I just wanted
02:43:32.200 --> 02:43:34.030
to acknowledge that for a minute, as well.
02:43:34.030 --> 02:43:34.863
So, thank you.
02:43:37.080 --> 02:43:37.913
Thank you.
02:43:39.470 --> 02:43:42.523
Any other questions or comments for members of the Board?
02:43:44.650 --> 02:43:48.520
Okay, well, just echo everything everyone just said.
02:43:48.520 --> 02:43:51.000
Thank you, again, to everyone for all of your hard work.
02:43:51.000 --> 02:43:53.350
Colleagues and great to see you all.
02:43:53.350 --> 02:43:56.470
I'm really hoping that when this year is over,
02:43:56.470 --> 02:43:57.670
by the time this year is over,
02:43:57.670 --> 02:44:01.117
we can all meet and Robert can set up
02:44:01.117 --> 02:44:04.850
the 20th anniversary reception with a mariachi band.
02:44:04.850 --> 02:44:08.221
(Robert laughing)
02:44:08.221 --> 02:44:09.443
And I am tired-
02:44:10.476 --> 02:44:13.561
Well, I can supply them, I can, I'll guarantee that.
02:44:13.561 --> 02:44:16.910
(Robert laughing)
02:44:16.910 --> 02:44:20.870
That's my hope for, at least, the last meeting of 2021.
02:44:20.870 --> 02:44:23.660
But in any case, look forward to talking
02:44:23.660 --> 02:44:26.700
with everyone again soon, and everybody,
02:44:26.700 --> 02:44:28.250
stay safe, the year is much brighter,
02:44:28.250 --> 02:44:30.190
and look forward to seeing you all again.
02:44:30.190 --> 02:44:31.523
Take care.
02:44:31.523 --> 02:44:32.356
Bye, everyone.
02:44:32.356 --> 02:44:33.903
Thank you for your leadership.
02:44:33.903 --> 02:44:35.063
Thank you.
02:44:35.063 --> 02:44:37.515
Congratulations on re-election.
02:44:37.515 --> 02:44:39.184
Thank you.
02:44:39.184 --> 02:44:40.017
Bye.