Rick Perry - Welfare and Unemployment
Power for Low-Income Residents
In August of 2006, Governor Perry released a press statement noting that he was acting to reinstate a program through the PUC to provide a 10% discount to qualifying families.
Perry Directs PUC to Restore Program for Low-Income Texans
Agency Should Include System Benefit Fund Restoration in Its Budget RequestThursday, August 10, 2006 • Press Release
AUSTIN – Gov. Rick Perry has directed the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) to include in its legislative budget request the restoration of a program that helps low-income Texans pay utility bills.
“As governor, I remain committed to funding the low-income discount program with the System Benefit Fund,” Perry wrote in a letter to the PUC. “I included funding for low-income customers in the 2005 state budget that I submitted to the legislature. Because the System Benefit Fund is financed through a non-bypassable charge on the bill of each affected customer, the money is specifically dedicated to helping low-income customers. As you know, the electric rate discount program was not funded by the legislature during the current biennium.”
Perry said the PUC should include restoration of the System Benefit Fund (SBF) at the 10 percent level as an “exceptional item” in its legislative appropriations request.
Funding at the 10 percent level means qualifying Texans will receive a 10 percent discount on their electric bills.
It will cost an estimated $76 million in fiscal year 2008 and $82 million in fiscal year 2009 to restore the SBF at the 10 percent level.
“Today, electric prices are higher than they were in 2002 due to the higher cost of natural gas, and although retail competition has resulted in benefit to customers, the low income discount needs to remain a part of the competitive package or the charge should be removed from customers’ bills,” Perry added. “It is unconscionable for the money to be collected and not go to the citizens it was designed to help.”
The SBF was created in 1999 as part of the state’s deregulation of electric rates. It is funded through a charge on the bill of each electric customer in the electric choice area. The amount is set by the PUC and is currently 65 cents per megawatt-hour. Therefore, the “average customer” who uses 1,000 kwhs per month pays 65 cents into the fund each month.