{"operation":"document","citation":"4 CCR 723-4 Rule 4412","title":"Gas Service Affordability Program","source_type":"regulation","agency":"Colorado Public Utilities Commission","status":"current","official":true,"published_on":null,"effective_on":null,"summary":"(a) Scope and applicability. (I) Gas utilities with Colorado retail customers shall provide income qualified energy assistance by offering rates, charges, and services that grant a reasonable preference or advantage to residential income qualified customers, as permitted by § 40-3-106, C.R.S. (II) R","machine_formats":{"json":"https://regulus.evalyn.ai/document/co-ccr-4-723-4-4412.json","markdown":"https://regulus.evalyn.ai/document/co-ccr-4-723-4-4412.md"},"app_url":"https://regulus.evalyn.ai/document/co-ccr-4-723-4-4412","source_url":"https://www.sos.state.co.us/CCR/DisplayRule.do?action=ruleinfo&ruleId=2260&deptID=18&agencyID=96&deptName=Department%20of%20Regulatory%20Agencies&agencyName=Public%20Utilities%20Commission&seriesNum=4%20CCR%20723-4","body":"(a) Scope and applicability.\n(I) Gas utilities with Colorado retail customers shall provide income qualified\nenergy assistance by offering rates, charges, and services that grant a\nreasonable preference or advantage to residential income qualified\ncustomers, as permitted by § 40-3-106, C.R.S.\n(II) Rule 4412 is applicable to investor-owned gas utilities subject to rate\nregulation by the Commission.\n(b) Definitions. The following definitions apply only in the context of rule 4412. In the\nevent of a conflict between these definitions and a statutory definition, the\nstatutory definition shall apply.\n\n(I) “Administrative cost” means the utility’s direct cost for labor (to include the\ncost of benefit loadings), materials, and other verifiable expenditures\ndirectly related to the administration and operation of the program not to\nexceed ten percent of the total cost of program credits applied against bills\nfor current usage and pre-existing arrearages or $10,000, whichever\namount is greater.\n(II) “Affordable percentage of income payment” means the amount of the\nparticipant’s annual bill deemed affordable under subparagraph 4412(e)(I).\n(III) “Arrearage” means the past-due amount appearing, as of the date on\nwhich a participant newly enters the program, on the then most recent\nprior bill rendered to a participant for which they received the benefit of\nservice.\n(IV) “Colorado Energy Office” (CEO) means the Colorado Energy Office\ncreated in § 24-38.5-101, C.R.S.\n(V) “Eligible income qualified customer” means a residential utility customer\nwho meets the household income thresholds pursuant to paragraph\n4412(c).\n(VI) “Fixed credit” means an annual bill credit established at the beginning of a\nparticipant’s participation in a program each year delivered as a monthly\ncredit on each participant’s bill. The fixed credit is the participant’s full\nannual bill minus the participant’s affordable percentage of income\npayment obligation on the full annual bill.\n(VII) “Full annual bill” means the current consumption of a participant billed at\nstandard residential rates. The full annual bill of a participant is comprised\nof two parts: (1) that portion of the bill that is equal to the affordable\npercentage of income payment; and (2) that portion of the bill that exceeds\nthe affordable percentage of income payment.\n(VIII) “LEAP” means Low-Income Energy Assistance Program, a county-run,\nfederally-funded, program supervised by the Colorado Department of\nHuman Services, Division of Low-Income Energy Assistance.\n(IX) “LEAP participant” means a utility customer who at the time of applying to\nparticipate in a program has been determined to be eligible for LEAP\nbenefits by the Department during either the Department’s current LEAP\napplication period, if that period is open at the time the customer applies\nfor program participation; or (the Department’s most recently closed LEAP\napplication period, if that period is closed at the time the customer applies\nto participate in the program and the Department’s next LEAP application\nperiod has not yet opened, provided, however, that in order to retain\nstatus as a LEAP participant under this definition, the utility customer must\n\napply to the Department during the Department’s next LEAP benefit\napplication period and be determined eligible for such benefits.\n(X) “Non-participant” means a utility customer who is not receiving income\nqualified assistance under rule 4412.\n(XI) “Participant” means an eligible income qualified residential utility customer\nwho is granted the reasonable preference or advantage through\nparticipation in a gas service low-income program.\n(XII) “Percentage of Income Payment Plan” (PIPP) means a payment plan for\nparticipants that does not exceed an affordable percentage of their\nhousehold income as set forth in subparagraph 4412(e)(I).\n(XIII) “Program” means a gas service low-income program approved under rule\n4412.\n(XIV) “Program credits” means the amount of benefits provided to participants to\noffset the unaffordable portion of a participant’s utility bill and /or dollar\namounts credited to participants for arrearage forgiveness.\n(XV) “Unaffordable portion” means the amount of the estimated full annual bill\nthat exceeds the affordable percentage of income payment.\n(c) Participant eligibility.\n(I) Eligible participants are limited to those who meet one or more of the\nfollowing criteria:\n(A) household income less than or equal to 200 percent of the federal\npoverty guideline;\n(B) household income less than or equal to 80 percent of the area\nmedian income, as published annually by the United States\nDepartment of Housing and Urban Development; or\n(C) qualification under income guidelines adopted by the Department of\nHuman Services pursuant to § 40-8.5-105, C.R.S.\n(II) The utility shall obtain the determination of a participant’s eligibility from\nthe Department of Human Services, Energy Outreach Colorado, or the\nColorado Energy Office.\n(III) If a participant’s household income is $0, the utility may establish a\nprocess that verifies income on a more frequent basis.\n(IV) Program participants shall not be required to make payment on their utility\naccount as a condition of entering into the program.\n\n(d) Enrollment. Utilities shall be responsible for the methods by which participant\nenrollment in their approved low-income program is obtained and sustained,\nhowever the utility should engage in enrollment processes that are efficient and\nattempt to maximize the potential benefits of participation in the low-income\nprogram by low-income customers.\n(e) Payment plan.\n(I) Participant payments for gas bills rendered to participants shall not exceed\nan affordable percentage of income payment. For accounts for which gas\nis the primary heating fuel, participant payments shall be no lower than\ntwo percent and not greater than three percent of the participant’s\nhousehold income. For accounts for which electricity is the primary\nheating fuel but the participant also has gas service, utility participant\npayments for gas service shall not be greater than one percent of the\nparticipant’s household income.\n(II) In the event that a primary heating fuel for any particular participant has\nbeen identified by LEAP, that determination shall be final.\n(III) Notwithstanding the percentage of income limits established in\nsubparagraph 4412(e)(I), a utility may establish minimum monthly\npayment amounts for participants with household income of $0, provided\nthat the participant’s minimum payment for a gas account shall be no\nmore than $10.00 a month.\n(IV) Full annual bill calculation. The utility shall be responsible for estimating a\nparticipant’s full annual bill for the purpose of determining the unaffordable\nportion of the participant’s full annual bill delivered as a fixed credit on the\nparticipant’s monthly billing statement.\n(V) Fixed credit benefit. The fixed credit shall be adjusted during a program\nyear in the event that standard residential rates, including commodity or\nfuel charges change to the extent that the full annual bill at the new rates\nwould differ from the full annual bill upon which the fixed credits are\ncurrently based by 25 percent or more.\n(VI) Levelized budget billing participation. A utility may enroll participants in its\nlevelized budget billing program as a condition of participation in the\nprogram, though the utility shall also allow participants the option to opt\nout of levelized budget billing if they so choose without losing PIPP\nbenefits, which option shall be available to the participants where the\nutility’s automated billing system is capable. Utilities without automated\nbilling systems capable of permitting opt out of levelized budget billing\nshall reasonably and prudently modify their systems to facilitate opt out of\nlevelized budget billing. Should a participant fail to meet monthly bill\nobligations and be placed by a utility in its regular delinquent collection\n\ncycle, the utility may remove the participant from levelized budget billing in\naccordance with the utility’s levelized budget billing tariff.\n(VII) Arrearage credits.\n(A) Arrearage credits shall be applied to pre-existing arrearages.\n(B) Arrearage credits shall be sufficient to reduce, when combined with\nparticipant copayments, if any, the pre-existing arrearages to $0.00\nover a period not less than one month and not more than twenty-\nfour months.\n(C) Application of an arrearage credit to a participant account may be\nconditioned by the utility on one or more of the following:\n(i) the receipt of regular participant payments toward bills for\ncurrent usage; or\n(ii) the payment of a participant copayment toward the\narrearages so long as the participant’s copayment total\ndollar amount does not exceed one percent of gross\nhousehold income.\n(D) Should the participant exit the program prior to the full forgiveness\nof all pre-existing arrearages, the amount of remaining pre-existing\narrearages shall become due in accordance with the utility’s tariff\nfiled under rules 4401, 4407, and 4408.\n(E) Pre-existing arrears under this subparagraph shall not serve as the\nbasis for the termination of service for nonpayment or as the basis\nfor any other utility collection activity while the customer is\nparticipating in the program.\n(F) A participant may receive arrearage credits under this section even\nif that participant does not receive a credit toward current bills.\n(VIII) Portability of benefits. A participant may continue to participate without\nreapplication should the participant change service addresses but remain\nwithin the service territory of the utility providing the benefit, provided that\nthe utility may make necessary adjustments in the billing amount to reflect\nthe changed circumstances. A participant who changes service addresses\nand does not remain within the service territory of the utility providing the\nbenefit must reapply to become a participant at the participant’s new\nservice address.\n(IX) Payment default provisions. Failure of a participant to make his or her\nmonthly bill payments may result in a utility placing the participant in its\n\nregular collection cycle. Partial or late payments shall not result in the\nremoval of a participant from the program.\n(f) Program implementation.\nEach utility shall maintain effective terms and conditions in its tariffs on file with\nthe Commission describing its low-income program.\n(g) Cost recovery.\n(I) Each utility shall include in its income qualified tariff terms and conditions\nhow costs of the program will be recovered.\n(II) Program cost recovery.\n(A) Program cost recovery shall be based on a fixed monthly fee.\n(B) The maximum impact on residential rates shall be no more than\n$1.00 per month.\n\n(C) In order to determine monthly rates applicable to rate classes other\nthan residential, program costs shall be allocated to each retail rate\nbased on each rate class’s share of the test year revenue\nrequirement established in the utility’s last Phase II rate case, or\nunder another reasonable methodology supported by quantifiable\ninformation. The monthly rate per this subparagraph to be charged\neach rate schedule customer shall be clearly stated on a tariff\nsheet.\n(D) Utilities shall separately account for the program year’s program\ncost recovery and program and administrative costs to determine if\nthe net of program cost recovery and program and administrative\ncost are in balance during the program year.\n(i) No later than December 31 of each year, the utility shall file\na report with the Commission in the most recent\nmiscellaneous proceeding for annual low-income filings\ndetailing the net difference between program cost recovery\nand program costs as of October 31 of each year.\n(1) Should the net difference of program cost recovery\nover program and administrative costs be greater\nthan 50 percent derived in D) above, either positive or\nnegative, and the utility is not currently at the\nmaximum impact for non-participants, the utility shall\nfile with the Commission an advice letter and tariff\npages seeking approval for the rates determined in\nsubparagraph 4412(g)(II)(D) in order to bring the\nprojected recovery in balance for the ensuing 12\nmonth period. The revised Residential charge shall\nnot exceed the maximum impact for non-participants\nin subparagraph 4412(g)(II)(C).\n(III) The following costs are eligible for recovery by a utility as program costs:\n(A) program credits or discounts applied against bills for current usage;\n(B) program credits applied against pre-existing arrearages;\n(C) program administrative costs; and\n(D) Commission-sponsored program evaluation costs required under\nparagraph 4412(k).\n(IV) The utility shall apply, as an offset to cost recovery, all program expenses\nattributable to the program. Program expenses include utility operating\ncosts; changes in the return requirement on cash working capital for\n\ncarrying arrearages; changes in the cost of credit and collection activities\ndirectly related to income qualified participants; and changes in\nuncollectable account costs for these participants.\n(V) LEAP grants.\n(A) The utility may apply energy assistance grants provided to the\nparticipant by the LEAP program to the dollar value of credits\ngranted to individual program participants.\n(B) If applying LEAP grants first, a utility shall apply any energy\nassistance benefit granted to the participant by LEAP to that portion\nof the program participant’s full annual bill that exceeds the\nparticipant’s affordable percentage of income payment.\n(C) If the dollar value of the energy assistance grant is greater than the\ndollar value of the difference between the program participant’s full\nannual bill and the participant’s affordable percentage of income\npayment, the dollar amount by which the energy assistance grant\nexceeds the difference will be applied:\n(i) first, to any pre-existing arrearages that at the time of the\nenergy assistance grant continues to be outstanding; and\n(ii) second, to the account of the program participant as a\nbenefit to the participant.\n(D) No portion of an energy assistance or LEAP grant provided to a\nprogram participant may be applied to the account of a participant\nother than the participant to whom the energy assistance grant was\nrendered.\n(h) Other programs. In addition to the utility’s low-income program, with Commission\napproval, a utility may offer other rate relief options to eligible households.\n(l) Other programs offered by the utility under rule 4412 must be intended to\nreach income qualified households that do not substantially benefit from\nthe provisions of the low-income program. Such programs may take the\nform of discount rates, tiered discount rates or other direct bill relief\nmethods where the income qualified household benefitting from the\nprogram is granted a reasonable preference in tariffed rates assessed to\nall residential utility customers.\n(II) Cost recovery for other programs combined with the Percentage of\nIncome Payment Plan shall not exceed the maximum impact on\nresidential rates described in subparagraph 4412(g)(II)(C).\n(i) Energy efficiency and weatherization.\n\n(I) The utility shall provide all program participants with information on energy\nefficiency programs offered by the utility or other entities and existing\nweatherization programs offered by the State of Colorado or other entities.\n(II) The utility shall provide the Colorado Energy Office with the name and\nservice address of participant households for which annual gas usage\nexceeds 600 therms annually.\n(j) Stakeholder engagement. A utility shall conduct annual meetings with income\nqualified stakeholders for the purpose of seeking solutions to issues of mutual\nconcern and aligning program practices with the needs of customers and other\nstakeholders.\n(k) Program evaluation. A triennial evaluation of the program provisions under rule\n4412 beginning in 2019 shall be undertaken in order to review best practices in\nsimilar low-income assistance programs in existence in other regulatory\njurisdictions, as well as evaluate operation of each utility’s program for\neffectiveness in achieving optimum support being provided to income qualified\nparticipants. The evaluation shall also recommend modifications if available that\nimprove the delivery of benefits to participants and increase the efficiency and\neffectiveness of each program as they exist at the point of evaluation. The\nprogram evaluation shall include a customer needs assessment provided that\nadequate funds are available.\n(I) Procurement of the third-party vendor that will perform the evaluation will\nbe undertaken by the Colorado Energy Office. The CEO shall seek the\ninvolvement of interested stakeholders including, but not limited to,\nCommission staff, all Commission regulated electric and gas utilities,\nLEAP, the Office of Consumer Counsel, and Energy Outreach Colorado in\nthe design of the requirements regarding study focus and final reporting.\n(II) Approval of the third-party vendor shall be the responsibility of the\nCommission. The CEO shall file with the Commission in the most recent\nannual report proceeding, a request for approval of the contract of the\nvendor selected. The Commission shall review and act on the request\nwithin 30 days.\n(III) $00.0013 per customer per month shall be set aside by the utility in order\nto cover the cost of the program evaluation described in paragraph\n4412(k).\n(IV) The dollars resulting from the $00.0013 charge shall be recovered as a\nprogram cost under subparagraph 4412(g)(III).\n(V) The evaluation will be filed by Commission staff in the most recent\nmiscellaneous proceeding for annual low-income filings.\n\n(VI) Staff and the CEO will assess the individual utilities’ deferred balances set\naside for the program evaluation starting in 2019 at the conclusion of the\nthird program year and each three years thereafter and will determine the\namounts each utility is to remit to the third party evaluator based on the\ncontractual terms approved by the Commission for the evaluation.\n(l) Annual report. No later than December 31 of each year, each utility shall file a\nreport in the most recent miscellaneous proceeding established by the\nCommission to receive annual low-income filings using the form available on the\nCommission’s website, based on the 12-month period ending October 31 and\ncontaining the following information below:\n(I) monthly information on the program including number of participants,\namount of benefit disbursement, type of benefit disbursement, LEAP\nbenefits applied to the unaffordable portion of participant’s bills,\nadministrative costs, and revenue collection;\n(II) the number of applicants for the program;\n(III) the number of applicants qualified for the program;\n(IV) the number of participants;\n(V) the average assistance provided, both mean and median;\n(VI) the maximum assistance provided to an individual participant;\n(VII) the minimum assistance provided to an individual participant;\n(VIII) total cost of the program and the average rate impact on non-participants\nby rate class, including impact based on typical monthly consumption of\nboth its residential and small business customers;\n(IX) the number of participants that had service discontinued as a result of late\npayment or non-payment, and the amount of uncollectable revenue from\nparticipants;\n(X) an estimate of utility savings as a result of the implementation of the\nprogram (e.g., reduction in trips related to discontinuance of service,\nreduction in uncollectable revenue, etc.);\n(XI) the average monthly and annual total gas consumption in PIPP\nparticipants’ homes;\n(XII) the average monthly and annual total gas consumption in the utility’s\nresidential customer’s homes;\n\n(XIII) the number of program participants referred to the weatherization\nprogram;\n(XIV) the total dollar value of participant arrearages forgiven, the number of\ncustomers who had arrearage balances forgiven, and the maximum and\nminimum dollar value of arrears forgiven;\n(XV) a description of the ways in which the program is being integrated with\nexisting energy efficiency, DSM, or behavioral programs offered by the\nutility;\n(XVI) a description of the ways in which the program is being integrated with\nexisting weatherization programs offered by the state of Colorado;\n(XVII) a description of program outreach strategies and metrics that illustrate the\neffectiveness of each outreach strategy;\n(XVIII) a description of participant outreach, education, and engagement efforts,\nincluding descriptions of communications and materials, and key findings\nfrom those efforts;\n(XIX) the number of participants at the start of the program year that the utility\nremoved for any reason, the number of participants who opted out of the\nprogram after enrollment, the number of potential participants rejected\nbecause of the existence of a cap on the program, the period of arrearage\ntime from date participants became eligible and were granted arrearage\nforgiveness, and the number of participants who came back as eligible\nparticipants in the program year after being eligible in a prior program year\nand were provided arrearage credits in the program year;\n(XX) a narrative summary of the utility’s recommended program modifications\nbased on report findings; and\n\n(XXI) a statement regarding whether the utility is accommodating PIPP\nparticipants’ requests to opt out of levelized budget billing pursuant to\nsubparagraph 4412(e)(VI) and, if not, an explanation of why the utility\nbelieves it is not reasonable and prudent to modify its automated billing\nsystem to accommodate such requests. If the utility plans to\naccommodate such requests at any point in the upcoming year, a\ndescription of the plan, including the anticipated cost of the plan and the\ndate that the functionality in its automated billing system will go online,\nmust be included.\n(m) Energy Assistance System Benefit Charge. Beginning October 1, 2021, each\nutility shall include on its monthly bills a flat energy assistance system benefit\ncharge of 50 cents, with this amount rising to 75 cents on October 1, 2022, and\nbeing adjusted for inflation in accordance with changes in the United States\nDepartment of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Price Index for\nDenver-Aurora-Lakewood beginning on October 1, 2023. The disposition of\nmoney collected by the Energy Assistance System Benefit Charge is determined\nby § 40-8.7-108, C.R.S.\n(I) Prior to October 1, 2023, and each year following, Commission staff shall\ncompute the charge adjusted by the index and shall send a letter to each\nutility stating the charge to be paid by customers during the next calendar\nyear.","truncated":false,"body_characters":22666}