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Stacey Isaac Berahzer with The Environmental Finance Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (EFC) discusses customer assistance programs (CAPs), how to fund them, legal hurdles and their expanding importance. With the crushing need for infrastructure investment and the attendant upward pressure on utility rates, CAPs are taking on an evermore important role in the rate design and rate setting process. Stacey’s insights provide a great resource into this important aspect of utility rates.
In this session, you’ll learn about:
- Background on environmental finance
- Why CAPs are increasingly important tools for utilities
- How rate increases disparately impact low income customers
- The process Stacey and the EFC used to compile their report on CAPs
- The legal issues that hinder the implementation of CAPs
- The political issues that hinder rate increases and the implementation of CAPs
- A case study demonstrating how CAP implementation navigated the legal and political process to be successfully implemented
Resources and links mentioned in or relevant to this session include:
- Stacey’s bio page on the EFC website
- Stacey’s Twitter handle: @StaceyIB_enviro
- The EFC’s website
- The EFC’s CAP report: Navigating Legal Pathways to Rate-Funded Customer Assistance Programs: A Guide for Water and Wastewater Utilities
- EPA Report on CAPs
- TWV 047: The Ups and Downs of Environmental Finance with Jeff Hughes
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