The Arizona Corporation Commission has approved a special program that will benefit low-income customers of Citizens Utilities Arizona Electric Division who are on medical life support.
Commissioner Jim Irvin said, "This program benefits the entire community by helping those with the greatest needs maintain self-sufficiency to the maximum extent possible." He added, "Our next step will be to require Citizens to give us a detailed plan for notifying recipients of this and other similar programs."
Citizens has a number of low-income customers who use essential medical equipment such as ventilators, oxygen equipment and dialysis machines. The extra electricity required for that equipment makes it difficult for those customers to benefit from the Citizens CARES program.
The tariff approved by the commission would give customers a discount of 30% for a monthly bill of 0 to 600 kWh, 20% for a monthly bill of 601 to 1200 kWh, 10% for a bill of 1201 to 2000 kWh, and an $8.00 discount for a bill over 2000 kWh.
The discount is expected to have minimal impact on other customers because of the small number of persons who qualify for the program.