COVID-19 Municipal Utility Relief Program

FOR MUNICIPAL UTILITIES: STATE AND LOCAL FISCAL RECOVERY FUND (SLFRF) PROGRAM (UNDERWAY)

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Special Session II of the 2021 Acts of Assembly appropriated $120 million from distributions of the federal State and Local Recovery Fund (SLFRF) pursuant to the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA) to help provide direct assistance to residential utility customers with accounts over 60 days in arrears. The Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) and Virginia Department of Accounts (DOA) will help administer the distribution of funding to municipal utilities that apply through the Virginia State Corporation Commission’s (SCC) application by October 22, 2021.

Only residential customers are eligible for this utility assistance. Municipal utilities shall pay the full amount of arrearages owed by eligible residential customers for the period of March 12, 2020, through August 31, 2021. However, funding may be limited and may not fully address the eligible arrearages for each municipal utility system that applied. Therefore, utility systems are required to proportionately distribute their award to the population/group of all residential utility customers accordingly. Municipal utilities must ensure residential customers eligible for this relief have the funding credited to their account as soon as possible and must reflect this relief on the soonest billing statement possible given the specific billing system utilized by the utility. Should the application of any assistance render a customer due a balance necessitating a cash refund payable to the customer, such assistance shall be proportionally reduced as to achieve a zero balance.

Correspondence

CORONAVIRUS RELIEF FUND (CRF) PROGRAM (ENDED ON DECEMBER 1, 2021)

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Virginia was allocated additional federal Coronavirus Relief Funds (CRF) available pursuant to the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) for the purpose of allowing municipal utilities providing electric, gas, water and wastewater services to set up local utility relief programs for their customers impacted by COVID-19. Counties and cities, in partnership with a municipal utility that is overseen by a local governing body, applied for funding to set up locally administered utility relief programs to assist their customers with arrearages that have not been paid to the municipal utility as a result of the customer experiencing economic hardship due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The arrearage assistance covered the period from March 1, 2020-Dec. 1, 2021. The Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) facilitated an application process for localities to apply in partnership with their municipal utilities to utilize the COVID-19 Municipal Utility Relief Program to create local relief programs for eligible customers subject to abiding by U.S. Treasury guidance and other regulatory matters concerning the use of CRF funds. Funding allocations have been awarded to municipal utility systems that applied. This program has now concluded.