SCE | Customer Care in the Holiday Season

With another Stay-at-home impacting families throughout California, the holiday season is going to look a little different. To make the holiday season a little stressful than it already is, Southern California Edison continues to promote their customer care programs! Check out the information below from SCE’s website to look at more information on how to get discounted rates and the other services offered.

Has your job been affected by COVID-19?
Our thoughts are with our customers who have been directly or indirectly affected by COVID-19. If you have recently lost your job or your income has changed, you may qualify for a reduced energy rate through our CARE or FERA programs, even if you are already receiving unemployment benefits.

In addition, California LifeLine is a state program providing discounted home or cellular phone services to eligible households. They’ve partnered with Boost Mobile to give CARE program participants a monthly $15 discount towards prepaid cell phone plans. For more information, or to see if you qualify, visit https://www.californialifeline.com/en

CARE and FERA Can Reduce Your Monthly Bills
Everyday expenses affect some households more than others. Fortunately, there are two programs that may lower your energy bills:

California Alternate Rates for Energy (CARE) reduces energy bills for eligible customers by about 30%.
Family Electric Rate Assistance (FERA) reduces electric bills for qualified households by 18%.
Both programs have the same application and it only takes 2 minutes to sign up with no additional documentation required.

Two Ways to Find Out if You Qualify:
Option 1: Public Assistance Programs
You can qualify for CARE if you or someone in your home participates in at least one of these public assistance programs:

  •   Bureau of Indian Affairs General Assistance

  •   CalFresh/SNAP (Food Stamps)

  •   CalWorks (TANF)/Tribal TANF

  •   Head Start Income Eligible (Tribal Only)

  •   LIHEAP

  •   Medi-Cal/Medicaid

  •   Medi-Cal for Families (Healthy Families A&B)

  •   National School Lunch Program (NSLP)

  •   Supplemental Security Income (SSI)

  •  WIC

Option 2: Household Income
Based on Household income as of today. Even if you are receiving unemployment benefits, you may still qualify. Learn more here

The Energy Savings Assistance program is designed to help you conserve energy and save money. Income-qualified customers may be eligible to receive energy-efficient appliances at no charge or a minimal charge. In some instances, a copayment may be required.
If you qualify, we will cover the costs—including installation—of new energy-efficient appliances.

Get Help If You Use Medical Equipment
If you or someone in your household requires the regular use of electrically powered medical equipment or other qualifying medical devices, you may be eligible for our Medical Baseline Allowance program. This program provides an additional 16.5 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity per day. Provided at the lowest baseline rate, this helps offset the cost of operating the medical equipment.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we have temporarily changed how to enroll and recertify for the Medical Baseline program so that our customers can continue to benefit from this important program.

  • Enrollments: Customers who use electrically-powered medical equipment can temporarily enroll in the Medical Baseline Allowance program without a physician’s signature for a period of one year beginning March 4, 2020.

  • Renewals: Customers already enrolled in the program who were due to renew between March 4, 2020, and April 16, 2021, will continue to be enrolled in the program. These renewals will be postponed for one year from the original renewal date in 2020

SJVCEO