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Customer Assistance Programs for Multi-Family Residential and Other Hard-to-Reach Customers

Customer Assistance Programs for Multi-Family Residential and Other Hard-to-Reach Customers. Water Research Foundation Project #4557. Research Team. Janet Clements, (co-PI), Bob Raucher (co-PI), Karen Raucher (Corona Environmental Consulting)

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Customer Assistance Programs for Multi-Family Residential and Other Hard-to-Reach Customers

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  1. Customer Assistance Programs for Multi-Family Residential and Other Hard-to-Reach Customers Water Research Foundation Project #4557

  2. Research Team • Janet Clements, (co-PI), Bob Raucher (co-PI), Karen Raucher (Corona Environmental Consulting) • Lorine Giangola, Michael Duckworth (Abt Associates) • Scott Rubin (Independent Attorney) • Roger Colton (Fisher, Sheehan, and Colton) • Stacey Berahzer, Jeff Hughes (Environmental Finance Center, University of North Carolina) • Project Advisory Committee Members • Jonathan Cuppett (WRF)

  3. Products

  4. Questions we will address • Who are the hard-to-reach? • What are their water service affordability challenges? • Why do utilities want or need to reach them? • What do utilities need to know as they get started? • What can we learn from others? • How can we determine if and how we can help the H2R? • What is the bottom line?

  5. Who are the hard-to-reach? • The H2R are defined by the fact that they receive water or wastewater services but do not receive a bill directly from the utility • Many live in multi-family housing (80%) or single family rentals (13%) • Most of the H2R pay for water and wastewater services through rent or home maintenance fees

  6. Who are the hard-to-reach? of all U.S. households that receive water from a utility… 22% Do NOT receive a bill 78% Receive a bill

  7. Who are the hard-to-reach? The H2R have lower incomes are more likely to have a disability, speak English as a second language, and have lower education levels than the general population of U.S. households. They are 14% more likely to have moved in the last year.

  8. Take away #1 At a national level there are a large number of water utility customers that can be defined as H2R

  9. What are the affordability challenges of the H2R? The H2R have a median household income that is $20,000 less than the national median, $33,339 versus $53,974

  10. Income brackets below $50,000… …they are over-represented in all income brackets below $50,000 (the national median household income)

  11. In fact… The lower your income, the more likely you are to pay for water and wastewater services through rent or similar fee

  12. H2R utility customers Over one-third of households earning less than $30,000 per year, are H2R utility customers

  13. Take away #2 At a national level, a large portion of utility customers that are defined as H2R, have significant affordability challenges

  14. Why do we need to reach them? • Improve public health throughout the community • Assist the low-income customers most in need • Establish a relationship and lines of communication with hard-to-reach populations • Promote affordable housing and living conditions • Promote equity across all low-income customers • Protect tenant’s rights • Build community loyalty, trust, and a favorable public image • Prevent undesired downward spirals due to unexpected household challenges

  15. What do utilities need to know? • Your primary objective/reason for reaching them • The characteristics of the H2R in your customer service area • Internal, community, and state regulations, rules, and policies that govern what you can and can’t do • Who and how others in the community are working with these people

  16. What do utilities need to know? The characteristics of the H2R in your customer service area • Are there large segments with similar attributes regarding housing type, language, disability, financial challenges?

  17. What do utilities need to know? • Internal, community, and state regulations, rules, and policies that govern what you can and can’t do

  18. What do utilities need to know? • Who and how others in the community are working with these people

  19. What do utilities need to know? • That the life difficulties facing the hard-to-reach create emotional, physical and time barriers on a daily basis

  20. Take away #3 To develop effective programs, you need to first identify your site-specific objectives and other program boundaries for reaching the H2R and providing them with customer assistance

  21. How can we help? • Work DIRECTLY with the H2R and their landlords • Provide INDIRECT assistance

  22. How can we help? Work DIRECTLY with the H2R and their landlords • Discounts to landlords • Vouchers • Discounts through energy utility • Discounts for affordable housing • Conservation • Shrink the H2R population

  23. How can we help? Provide INDIRECT assistance • Raise awareness/support existing assistance programs • Partner with community organizations to support low-income households

  24. Partner with community organizations • Partner collaboration has a multiplier effect. Team up with established, trusted institutions. • Find collaborative opportunities that: • Provide a Trusted Messenger • Uses H2R community members in outreach • Provide consistent contact • Having sustained, long-term funding and attention is absolutely essential to identifying and engaging H2R populations

  25. What can we learn from others? • Leverage current community programs as a means of identifying, enrolling, and continually engaging the H2R population • Collaborate with trusted community organizations whenever possible • Focus on relationship-building • “Go into their world [and] reach them where they live, work, shop, play and pray” (Boyd 2015)1 1. Boyd, L. W. 2015. The Power of Innovative Tactics to Reach the Uninsured. DC Health Benefit Exchange Authority. Cited December 30, 2016. http://www.pachc.com/Annual%20Conference%20Presentations%202015/The%20Power%20of%20Innovative%20Tactics%20to%20Reach%20the%20Unisured.pdf.

  26. Take away #4 There are several ways to provide assistance to H2R customers Partnering with those already working to support the H2R can increase program effectiveness

  27. How can we determine if and how we can help the H2R?

  28. The hard-to-reachbusiness case framework

  29. The hard-to-reachbusiness case framework

  30. The hard-to-reachbusiness case framework

  31. The hard-to-reachbusiness case framework

  32. Implementation strategies and tools

  33. What is the bottom line? You probably have customers who do not receive a bill that have significant affordability challenges. If you don’t already provide customer assistance to customers who receive a bill start there. Before you worry about what to do, understand who you are trying to assist. Partner with others who already have relationships with the hard-to-reach in your community

  34. Next steps Thank you for your time and attention to the challenges facing your hard-to-reach customers Janet Clements jclements@cornonaenv.com The Water Research Foundation waterrf.org

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