California Arrearage Payment Program (CAPP)
Published on February 02, 2022
The 2022 California Arrearage Payment Program (CAPP) offers financial assistance for California residential energy utility customers to help reduce past due energy bill balances that increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. Established by Governor Newsom and the California Legislature in the 2022 State Budget and administered by the Department of Community Services and Development (CSD), 2022 CAPP dedicates $1.2 billion to address Californian's energy debts.
Energy utility customers do not need to apply to receive assistance under the CAPP program. If a residential customer account is eligible, a credit will be automatically applied to the customer's bill. Energy utilities apply for CAPP assistance on behalf of customers who incurred a past due balance on their energy bill during the COVID-19 pandemic relief period covering March 4, 2020 through December 31, 2021.
CAPP benefits are credited to customer accounts on a rolling basis as energy utilities apply and are approved for CAPP funding. 2022 CAPP funding will be released to energy utilities by January 31, 2023.
2022 Program Details
As specified under California Government Code Sections 16429.8 through 16429.10 energy utilities are to prioritize 2022 CAPP assistance to eligible customer accounts in the following order:
- Active residential customers with past due bills and who, absent the 2022 CAPP assistance or any other protection or assistance provided by the utility applicant, might be subject to service disconnection, consistent with current law, due to nonpayment of balances incurred during the COVID-19 pandemic bill relief period.
- Active residential customers with past due bills incurred during the COVID-19 pandemic bill relief period.
CSD is implementing CAPP through the release of CAPP Program Notices. Subscribe to CSD's email updates to be notified when new CAPP Program Notices are released.
Customer Protections
Government Code Section 16429.10 requires energy utilities that receive a 2022 CAPP allocation to provide the following customer protections:
- Between the time when an energy utility applicant submits its 2022 CAPP application and the department completes the disbursement of CAPP allocations to all utility applicants, a utility applicant shall not discontinue service due to nonpayment by those residential customers with arrearages accrued during the COVID-19 pandemic bill relief period.
- No disconnections of a 2022 CAPP recipient's utility service are allowed, regardless of balance owed after applying a CAPP benefit, for 90 days after a 2022 CAPP benefit is applied.
- Customers that received a 2022 CAPP benefit and have a remaining balance after that benefit is applied must be notified of the option to enter into an extended payment plan with late fees and penalties waived.
- Any associated late fees and accrued interest for customers that are awarded CAPP benefits shall be waived.