Seeking to help customers manage much higher natural gas utility bills this winter, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. Tuesday filed with the California Public Utilities Commission to expand its program for qualifying low-income customers and to expand eligibility for a monthly bill-levelizing programs. The utility wants to make the expanded programs available as of Nov. 1, the start of the traditional heating season.

PG&E’s utility said it made filings Tuesday and last Friday for approval to raise the income guidelines for the elderly and disabled so more customers can qualify for the state-mandated “California Alternate Rates for Energy” (CARE) program that provides monthly 20% discounts to eligible customers. The move would raise the threshold from 175% of federal poverty guidelines to allowing incomes up to 200% of those guidelines.

“As part of the same request to regulators, PG&E has asked for approval to allow qualified master-metered residential customers and qualified small businesses to participate in the utility’s free “balanced payment plan,” said a PG&E utility spokesperson, adding that currently only qualified single-family residential customers are eligible.

PG&E’s utility said it has been planning these changes for weeks in anticipation of this winter’s gas prices, and it presented the ideas at a hearing last Thursday in Los Angeles before the CPUC’s commissioners and staff.

Customer Service Senior Vice President Tom Bottorff said the nation faces “a national challenge from higher energy prices,” and thus, the utility is “moving quickly to help the most vulnerable in our society — senior citizens and the disabled.”

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