Plan to help pay power bills gains steam

Friday, June 2, 2006 | 7:17 a.m.

A 5-year-old state program to help the poor pay their electricity and gas bills is now being tapped by more than 23,000 people after initially struggling to garner interest.

The program pays households an average of about $828 a year toward their gas and power costs, said Linda Mercer, energy assistance program manager of the Nevada Welfare Division.

About two-thirds of the households are in Clark County.

Program administrators say it is helping some of Nevada's most vulnerable residents cope with the summer heat: Nearly half of households receiving utility assistance include a disabled person, nearly 25 percent include a child under 6, and more than 40 percent have a resident older than 60.

Among them is 64-year-old Norman Gibbons. The gas-and-power subsidy, he said, "helps me to exist."

Gibbons receives $623 a month in Social Security and other benefits, but $500 of that pays for the Las Vegas lot on which his mobile home sits. He also gets $152 a month in food stamps, but that doesn't help with his utility bills.

The Legislature created the program in 2001, funding it with a surcharge of about 25 cents on monthly electricity and gas bills.

Households qualify for help based on income and the cost of their bills. Participants are required to pay 3.33 percent of their income toward those bills, and the state covers the rest, minus some fees and taxes.

The Sun reported in June 2004 that the program had $13 million in unspent funds because the state was having trouble getting the word out.

A yearlong marketing campaign triggered a 28 percent increase in applications, and the program doubled its Las Vegas staff.

That's when Gibbons learned of the program.

Gibbons qualifies because of his income, but his electricity bills have been so low that he receives only $350 a year from the program.

It's not enough to help him afford air conditioning, so he sleeps under a fan during the day and spends his evenings by the pool at his mobile home park.

Still, he's grateful for the utility assistance because it "takes one more bill off my back."

For more information, call the Energy Assistance Program at 486-1404.