CPS ENERGY PROGRAMS AIMED AT HELPING CUSTOMERS IN NEED

Our San Antonio metropolitan community rang in the New Year with freezing temperatures that hovered in the mid-20s. This weather pattern of frigid weather has continued on and off through January. First on January 3, 2018, CPS Energy customers set a new usage record, with an all-time winter peak energy demand of 4,316 MW.

Last week another blast of cold temperatures and rain covered most of Texas. The great news is, we ended up with better results this time due to how well our community responded to our requests to conserve over a 48-hour period, starting on January 16, 2018.

Then, on January 17, 2018, when the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) hit a new state system record for winter energy demand, our community’s winter energy demand actually declined from our new peak that was set on January 3, 2018. In fact, our peak energy demand for January 17, 2018 in San Antonio was 100 MW lower than experienced on January 3.

“While conservation has overall been helpful, freezing temperatures this month mean our customers are having to consume more energy. This in general will result in larger energy bills,” said DeAnna Hardwick, Director of Customer Service. “Since we understand this may put a strain on our customers’ finances, we stand ready to discuss our customer’s concerns and be helpful.”

CPS Energy has a variety of money-saving and general assistance programs that are intended to help our customers who qualify feel some relief. Some of those program are summarized as follows:

• REAP – CPS Energy contributes $1 million or more per year to the Residential Energy Assistance Partnership (REAP). This invaluable program is their commitment to provide help to pay energy bills for customers who qualify for assistance.
• Budget Payment Plan – Customers’ annual energy bill is averaged over the past year, and a fixed amount is billed making it easy to budget energy dollars for the year.
• Senior Citizen Billing Program – Senior customers are allowed additional time to pay the net amount of energy bills.
• Senior Citizen Late Fee Waiver – Qualifying seniors over 60 years old can sign-up to have their late charges waived.
• Affordability Discount Program – Customers may be eligible for a discount on their monthly service charge.
• Casa Verde – Qualifying customers can receive an average of $5,000 in energy efficiency upgrades to their home at no cost, helping save energy month after month.
• Disabled Citizens’ Billing Program – Disabled customers on Supplemental Security Income are allowed additional time to pay the net amount of their energy bills.

As part of our commitment to People First, we at CPS Energy urge our customers experiencing financial hardship to contact us in an effort to work through mutual solutions to ensure continuous electric and natural gas services.

For a list of other money-saving programs, visit www.cpsenergy.com/assistance.