By Stacey Isaac Berhazer

This is one in a series of blog posts that describe customer assistance programs (CAPs) for customers who are experiencing financial hardships at specific Georgia utilities. CAPs take different forms, but they provide help to customers who can’t afford their water/wastewater bills, a situation that has worsened with the economic downturn associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. 

About the City of Atlanta Department of Watershed Management 

The Department of Watershed Management (DWM) was formed to manage the City of Atlanta’s essential utility operations: drinking water, wastewater and stormwater systems. The DWM is a regional public utility covering a 650-square-mile area. The utility serves 240,780 residential customer accounts representing 1.2 million people. The water treatment capacity is over 246 million gallons per day, while wastewater treatment capacity is 170 million gallons per day. Residential customers living inside the city who consume about 4,500 gallons of water per month would have an average monthly bill of about $30.44 for water service and about $77.01 for sewer service, totaling $107.45.   

 Care and Conserve Program

The City’s customer assistance program has been around since 1995. Care and Conserve lives up to its name by not only helping customers via discounts on the water/wastewater bills, but also with efficiency or water conservation measures. On the financial assistance side, eligible customers qualify for the Bill Payment Assistance. On the efficiency side, the Care and Conserve Plumbing Repair Program (CCPRP) provides plumbing repairs and replaces high-flow water fixtures within the homes of low to moderate-income customers. This not only reduces the customers’ bill going forward, but helps to conserve water. The City carries out the plumbing program by partnering with specific non-profit organizations, including the Nehemiah Project Community Development Corporation, that receive a departmental grant to provide City water customers with plumbing repairs and water efficiency fixtures. Primary eligibility criteria for Care and Conserve include the customer having an income of 200 percent (plus $500) of the poverty index as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget. However, the City does have additional criteria that further determine customer eligibility.

Care and Conserve has also implemented new advocacy policies regarding renters with water leaks. As renters are not eligible for CCPRP, the department works closely with the local housing authorities and landlords to ensure water leaks for applying customers are repaired quickly to minimize the negative infrastructure, financial and health impacts associated with broken plumbing.

On a webinar entitled Operating Efficiency Opportunities that was part of a series on Resources for Water Utilities Responding to COVID-19, City staff described how the Care and Conserve program was enhanced to address the pandemic. Care and Conserve announced that the program budgeted over $2 million in assistance to qualifying City of Atlanta water and wastewater customers. $1.0 million of these funds will go towards bill payment assistance, while the remaining $1.2 million is in the form of a grant for plumbing repairs with the CCPRP. In addition to this additional funding, the program also enhanced its administrative process by making it easier for customers to apply for bill payment assistance through the new online application, which allows customers to submit their documentation via text and email. Care and Conserve is also hosting a series of seminars with other social service providers to educate them about the program’s offerings.

 Senior Discount Program

In addition to the Care and Conserve program, senior citizens (65 years or older) who demonstrate a household income of $25,000 or less per year are also eligible for financial assistance from the utility. Customers meeting these age and income criteria are offered a 30% discount on their water and wastewater bill.

Toilet Rebate Program

Atlanta, like many other water utilities in the Metro North Georgia Water Planning District, participates in this District’s toilet rebate program. The single-family residential arm of this program is described in this blog on Henry County Water Authority’s assistance program. The City of Atlanta also participates in the District’s multifamily toilet rebate program, extending the high-efficiency toilet rebate to multifamily customers in apartment and condominium communities.

Can Smaller Water Utilities Offer this Type of Assistance?

Atlanta is a large utility. In fact, as part of this operation, DWM manages one of the largest water capital improvement programs in the country at an estimated cost of approximately $4 billion. But smaller communities can also develop programs to address affordability. One advantage in the case of smaller systems is that the community tends to be more tight-knit. People know when one of their neighbors has lost a job or received a bad health diagnosis. So, in some ways the proof of eligibility process, which is often a major burden in larger utilities, can be less formal or lengthy. Drop us a line at stacey@ibenvironmental.com if your small to medium Georgia water utility is offering a customer assistance program.

This is part of a blog post series funded by the Georgia Environmental Finance Authority (GEFA).

Disclaimer: The opinions of the writers should not be considered legal advice or endorsement by GEFA.