Neighbors Helping Neighbors
Greetings,
As we begin this new year, I remind you that cold weather tends to increase your electrical consumption—and your PUD bills. We have friends and neighbors who could use our help.
The cost per unit of measurement—kilowatt-hours—is only one aspect of your bill. The amount of energy used via energy consumption is what can make an energy bill larger from one season to the next. That is why we work hard to provide opportunities for energy conservation. We will soon offer prepay and other programs to help our customer-owners in need.
One current opportunity is our Neighbor to Neighbor program, which gives a helping hand to customers struggling to pay their electric bills.
Our board of directors recently approved an improvement to this program, and we now offer the ability to round up your PUD bill to the next whole dollar. The amount rounded up is deposited into the Neighbor to Neighbor fund and used to support income-qualified community members with their electric bills in times of temporary need. It is for emergencies only, available up to two times a year for those who have nowhere else to turn.
Eligibility is established according to federally defined poverty levels. Eligibility is determined by our local Mid-Columbia Community Action Partnership/Community Action Partnership.
One hundred percent of customer donations stay in our community.
Other than rounding up, you can sign up to have a small monthly contribution of $1, $2, or $5 automatically added to your bill each month, or you can make your contribution on a separate check made payable to “Neighbor to Neighbor.”
To borrow the words from one of our staff members, “Your donation will touch the lives of neighbors and strangers alike and help strengthen our bond as a community.”
Please consider joining me in supporting some of our fellow community members in this manner. For more information, go to our Neighbor to Neighbor page.
Thank you,
General Manager
Roger Kline