June 10, 2004
ROSEMEAD, Calif., June 10, 2004—Southern California Edison (SCE) announced today that a new energy rate discount program is available to income-qualified customers. Applications for the Family Electric Rate Assistance (FERA) program will arrive in the utility’s June electric bill.
“The FERA program offers a discount to income-qualified households of three or more that have monthly bills that exceed baseline electricity usage by 30% or more,” said SCE Manager John Nall. “It’s easy for customers to apply for FERA.”
To be eligible for FERA, households must have three or more permanent residents with an annual income between 175% and 250% of the federal poverty threshold. For example, a household of four with an annual income of $33,101 to $47,400 qualifies for FERA under the income guidelines.
FERA is similar to the California Alternate Rates for Energy (CARE) program in that it is based on income and household size. However, recipients of CARE have incomes that are lower than those eligible for FERA and CARE provides a greater level of assistance. The maximum income for a CARE household of four cannot exceed $33,100 per year to receive the discount.
The utility’s June bill will include a combined application for FERA and CARE.
For more information about FERA or CARE, please call (800) 447-6620 or visit www.sce.com.
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An Edison International (NYSE:EIX) company, Southern California Edison is one of the nation’s largest electric utilities, serving a population of more than 12 million via 4.6 million customer accounts in a 50,000-square-mile service area within central, coastal and Southern California.