out provision for customers who have experienced a demonstrated hardship (ex. sudden loss of income or other financial/personal setback). UGI calculates a customer’s monthly CAP bill based on a percentage of the household’s gross income or the average annual bill for the residence, whichever is more affordable. The percentage of income CAP Payment is shown in Table 2. Table 2 Calculating Percentage of Income for CAP Payment Amount Household Income According to the FPIG Monthly Income % to Pay 0-50% FPIG 7% of Household’s monthly income FPIG 8% of Household’s monthly income FPIG 9% of Household’s monthly income If a customer’s percentage of income amount exceeds the average annual bill for the residence, the average bill for the residence will be used as the customer’s CAP payment amount. The minimum monthly CAP payment amount is $25 for heating accounts and $15 for non-heating accounts. UGI does not have an annual limit for CAP credits. Thus, UGI CAP customers will be billed the same amount per month, regardless of usage. CAP credits are applied monthly with each full CAP payment. UGI contracts with a number of non-profits to administer its CAP program. These organizations are responsible for accepting CAP applications, verifying eligibility, explaining the benefits of the program to customers, referring participants to other programs, monitoring accounts, and providing energy education sessions to high energy users. In addition, the CAP administering agencies provide education to customers about usage reduction/energy conservation and household budgeting. Recertification for CAP
Table 3 Maximum CAP Enrollment Limits for UGI Companies Companies Maximum CAP Enrollment UGI Gas 10,000 UGI PNG 7,500 UGI CPG 6,000 UGI Electric 2,500 Total 26,000 During the approval process for its 2011-2013 USECP, UGI explained that the CAP enrollment limits were previously approved by the Commission in other, unrelated proceedings. The 10,000 maximum enrollment level for UGI Gas, the 7,500 enrollment limit for UGI PNG, the 6,000 enrollment limit for UGI CPG and the 2,500 enrollment ceiling for UGI Electric were all approved by the Commission. UGI Reply Comments at 2223, Docket No. M-2010-2186052. In UGI’s 2011-2013 USECP Final Order, we directed the Company to continue to monitor need projections and to petition the Commission to increase CAP enrollment numbers, if necessary. See UGI’s 2011-2013 USECP Final Order, Docket No. M-2010-2186052 (October 31, 2011), at 36. Although the UGI companies have not yet neared the CAP enrollment limits shown above, we question whether maintaining these CAP enrollment limits is appropriate. In recent USECP proceedings, the Commission has encouraged utilities to increase CAP enrollment. In particular, we approved Duquesne Light’s plan to automatically enroll customers into CAP upon receipt of a LIHEAP grant. See Duquesne Light 2014-2016 USECP Final Order, Docket No. M-2013-2350946 (March 6, 2014), at 8-9. We are not aware of any other NGDC or EDC that maintains CAP enrollment limits. Low-income households within UGI’s service territory should not be denied CAP because the maximum number of customers has been reached and the Company is in the process of petitioning the Commission for an increase to its enrollment limit.
programs is a significant factor in explaining why its CARES enrollment numbers are low. However, another possible contributing factor for UGI’s low CARES participation level is a lack of customer education about the services offered by the program. Accordingly, we recommend that UGI provide information about CARES services as part of all future universal service outreach efforts in order to increase customer participation. If we continue to see the numbers decline, we will revisit this issue in UGI’s next USECP review. Program Budgets Table 12 below shows the proposed budget levels for UGI Companies’ universal service components for 2014-2017 and their respective proposed universal service program spending.