UPDATE: 4/10/2020

Council Moves Forward on Small Business Loan Program, Commercial Eviction Moratorium

This week the Poway City Council passed a moratorium on commercial evictions to help those affected by the coronavirus. Councilmembers voted to suspend commercial evictions until May 31. The urgency ordinance went into effect immediately.

The council also directed staff to develop a loan program for small businesses affected by the pandemic. The council-initiated item was brought forward by Mayor Steve Vaus to provide a financial bridge for businesses to survive the current crisis. Named the Poway Emergency Assistance Recovery Loan (PEARL), Council asked staff to present details at the next council meeting April 21.

The council agreed on loan program framework, including:

• The city would set aside up to $2 million in loans for small businesses in Poway;
• The maximum amount would be $50,000;
• Small businesses are defined as having a maximum of 50 employees.

Council discussed additional eligibility criteria, financial information applicants will be required to provide, and interest rates depending upon the amount of the loan and the repayment period.

We want to remind you of SDG&E’s direct assistance programs that can help people experiencing financial hardships due to COVID-19.  Many may qualify for SDG&E assistance programs and bill discount programs.  Those programs are available at https://www.sdge.com/residential/pay-bill/get-payment-bill-assistance/assistance-programs and include the following:

• California Alternate Rates for Energy (CARE): Provides a 30% or more discount on monthly bills for customers with qualifying current household income or customers who are participating in certain public assistance programs.

• Family Electric Rate Assistance (FERA): If a customer doesn’t qualify for CARE, they may qualify for FERA, which provides income-qualified households of three or more with a reduced electric rate (12%) on their monthly bill.

• Medical Baseline Allowance: Customers who have a qualifying medical need or necessarily use a medical device (i.e. for a compromised immune system, life-threatening illness, or any condition where additional heating and air conditioning or a qualifying device is medically necessary to sustain a person’s life) are eligible for a significant discount on their energy bill.  Household income is not a factor for qualifying, but a doctor’s certification on the application is required.

If you are aware of people that have been economically affected by COVID-19 who might benefit from these programs, please forward this message to them and welcome them to apply for assistance.

These programs are in addition to measures that we have taken to help our non-profit partners meet the challenges of COVID-19.  We have accelerated some of our philanthropic giving initiatives to provide resources as soon as possible to our non-profit partners, many of whom have shifted their programming to provide basic needs in their communities.  SDG&E has also dedicated resources to support food, income, utility, and rental assistance to impacted workers through the COVID-19 Community Response Fund at The San Diego Foundation (for non-profits), the San Diego Worker Assistance Initiative at the United Way (for impacted workers), and the SDG&E Neighbor-to-Neighbor Fund at the United Way (utility bill assistance accessible by calling 2-1-1).

We will get through this, and SDG&E is here to help.  For a more complete list of how we are helping communities through this pandemic, please visit sdge.com/coronavirus.

Sincerely,

Penney Newell

Sr. Community Relations Manager

T 619.696.2188  M 619.977.4878

E pnewell@sdge.com (new email)

www.sdgenews.com