PUC approves changes to help Black Hills low-income customers

    The Colorado Public Utilities Commission has approved changes to Black Hills Electric’s low-income assistance program that will enable more customers to remain enrolled in the program this coming heating season.
    On Sept. 27 the PUC approved an increase in the monthly low-income charge for Black Hills customers, which is used to pay for bill credits, arrearage forgiveness credits and administrative costs of the low-income program. The charge for residential customers will increase from 28 cents to 31 cents a month, which is the maximum allowed by PUC rules. Other customer classes will see corresponding percentage increases. The changes took effect Oct. 1.
    This will result in increased collections of approximately $98,400 a year. Without the increase in funding, approximately 280 low-income program participants would have been removed from the program on Oct. 1, consistent with new rules adopted by the PUC earlier this year. With the fee increase, Black Hills estimated that only approximately 175 program participants needed to be removed from the program.
 

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