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SACRAMENTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--California American Water takes great pride in our ability to provide safe reliable water and wastewater services. These services are essential and affordability is key. In order to support the affordability of water service for residential customers, California American Water offers a Customer Assistance Program that provides discounts of 20 to 30 percent for essential service to customers who earn 200 percent or less of the Federal Poverty Level. While this discount is available for the vast majority of our residential customers, some customers in new acquired systems have not had immediate access to these programs. Given the severity of the economic downturn that accompanied the COVID 19 pandemic, the company sought and received approval to extend its Customer Assistance Program to residents in three newly acquired systems in Sacramento (Fruitridge Vista), Madera (Hillview) and Ventura (Rio Plaza). This approval extends the availability of the program to approximately 6,000 new residential customers. Essential service should be available to everyone served by California American Water, said California American Water President Rich Svindland. Im proud of our leadership on affordability and pleased we can extend financial help to families and seniors who are suffering as a result of the pandemic. In these trying times, our water service is critical for health and sanitation. Residential customers in the three newly acquired systems became eligible for the discounts on the first of December. Application forms will be mailed to customers or can be found on at www.californiaamwater.com In addition, California American Water will review customer enrollment in discount programs for Pacific Gas and Electric and Southern California Edison to identify qualified participants. In addition to ratepayer assistance, California American Water utilizes tiered residential rates to provide essential levels of water service at discounted costs, budget billing, payment arrangement plans of up to 12 months and a variety of conservation programs and services to help customers save by using less. Customers can learn more by visiting our website at www.californiaamwater.com. About California American Water: California American Water, a subsidiary of American Water (NYSE: AWK), provides high-quality and reliable water and/or wastewater services to more than 680,000 California residents. Information regarding California American Waters service areas can be found on the companys website www.californiaamwater.com. About American Water: With a history dating back to 1886, American Water is the largest and most geographically diverse U.S. publicly traded water and wastewater utility company. The company employs more than 6,800 dedicated professionals who provide regulated and market-based drinking water, wastewater and other related services to 15 million people in 46 states. American Water provides safe, clean, affordable and reliable water services to our customers to make sure we keep their lives flowing. For more information, visit amwater.com and follow American Water on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn AWK-IR

Answer: California American Water Offers Customer Assistance Program to Customers in Hillview, El Rio and Fruitridge Vista Systems