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Utility Rate Assistance Program for Low-Income Residents Wins Award for Silicon Valley Power

April 8, 2009

Santa Clara, Calif., March 27, 2009 –- An electric utility rate assistance program for low-income households in the City of Santa Clara has won state-wide recognition for Silicon Valley Power (SVP), the city's municipal electric utility. By automatically qualifying households in low-income housing complexes for SVP's Rate Assistance Program (RAP), SVP received the 2009 Community Service/Resource Efficiency Award today from the California Municipal Utility Association at the CMUA Annual conference in Rancho Mirage, California.

SVP determined that only 25 to 35 percent of eligible Santa Clara residents living in low-income housing complexes were taking advantage of the 25 percent discount on the electric portion of their monthly utility bills. Working with the Housing Authority of the County of Santa Clara to identify units eligible for the discount, SVP implemented automatic qualification for all households in the complexes.

“The City of Santa Clara is always mindful of the needs of our residents, especially in challenging economic times. This award honors both our commitment to offer assistance to those in need, and our intent to proactively find and assist residents who may otherwise not realize that a discount is available to them,” said John Roukema, Director of SVP.

SVP teams up with the California Department of Community Services and Development to offer the RAP discount. Discounts are also available to residents with medical conditions that qualify for the Medical Rate Assistance Program.

About Silicon Valley Power

Silicon Valley Power is the trademark adopted for use by the century-old Electric Department of the City of Santa Clara, California. SVP provides power to more than 50,000 customers, including Applied Materials, Intel, National Semiconductor and Yahoo!, at rates 25 to 50 percent below neighboring communities. SVP is an active participant in the wholesale energy markets in the Western United States. Visit www.siliconvalleypower.com for more information.

About the Author

Amy Fischbach | Field Editor

Amy Fischbach is the field editor for the Electric Utility Operations section of Transmission & Distribution World. She worked for Prism Business Media (now Penton) for eight years, most recently as the managing editor of Club Industry's Fitness Business Pro magazine. She is now working as a freelance writer and editor for B2B magazines. Amy earned her bachelor's and master's degrees in journalism from Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kansas. She serves as the national vice president of the American Society of Business Publication Editors. She can be reached at [email protected].