East Los Angeles resident Nataly Degante, 35, saw an over $200 increase in her utility bill this month — the result of running five air purifiers in her home 24/7 to keep out pollutants and the stench of rotting food since the Lineage warehouse fire. Her AC unit also runs occasionally, when the heat becomes unbearable, Degante said. Opening the windows isn’t an option.
“I had those air purifiers on 24/7, all the time, even at night because in the night it smells the absolute worst…The amount of my bill is too much,” Degante said. Her children, 10 and 14, often complain about the smell and early on, they experienced headaches, nausea and nosebleeds as a result of the fire, she said.
City and county agencies as well as Lineage have given away thousands of air purifiers to residents throughout the month at various resource sites or through door-to-door distribution. Officials have touted the resource in their response efforts and have also promised utility bill assistance to offset the costs of running the purifiers for long hours.
The result? In Boyle Heights, Lineage has donated $50,000 that will automatically go towards covering the bill for 219 LA Department of Water and Power (LADWP) customers living closest to the fire. Now, LA County Supervisor Hilda Solis wants Lineage to pledge to do the same for unincorporated East LA, which gets electricity via Southern California Edison (SCE). Officials didn’t immediately provide details whether additional support would be available. Meanwhile, a coalition of community groups has been calling for widespread relief as poor air quality has affected not just homes immediately surrounding the warehouse, but neighborhooding areas as well.
The promise to cover utility bills for residents affected by the fire was first brought up at a roundtable meeting between Bass, Councilmember Ysabel Jurado and local business owners who said they’d experienced lower foot traffic due to the smoke and smell but still had bills to pay. Bass pledged to speak to the general manager of the LADWP to discuss what could be done about utility bills.
In a July 9 interview with Boyle Heights Beat, Bass advised LA residents to “save your DWP bills,” to compare their costs before and after the fire and hopefully provide some relief. At a contentious town hall meeting between Lineage, city and county officials and hundreds of residents that evening, Jeff Rivera, chief operating officer of Lineage, presented a new wave of support for those living near the warehouse that included “Supporting residents utility bills through LADWP.”
Exactly what that support would look like has been unclear until now.
According to LADWP, 219 customers located closest to the Lineage warehouse will soon have an automatic, fixed, one-time payment applied to their accounts. LADWP said the payments were funded through a “private donation,” but could not share any information about the private donor or how the homes were chosen.
Bass’ office told The Beat that the private donation of $50,000 came from Lineage and the 219 homes were chosen because they are LADWP customers that live within the boundary of what officials have determined is the area with the most need. The city and county have used the same map to determine what homes are eligible for temporary housing assistance through AirBnB. The map covers homes in both Boyle Height and East LA located between Los Palos Street and Hicks Avenue and Union Pacific Avenue and Beswick Street, but officials have never explained why those boundaries were chosen.
According to the mayor’s office, Bass is “working to raise additional funds to expand the number of residents and businesses that can benefit from this assistance.”
So far, residents in unincorporated East LA are not included in the utility bill assistance funded by Lineage.
On Friday, LA County Supervisor Hilda Solis called that out, writing in a statement that “no comparable assistance was secured for East Los Angeles” by Lineage. Solis said she connected with SCE to ensure residents were also being supported and promoted a phone number in an Instagram post for residents to call.
East LA resident Degante called that number this week and was disappointed to find out that the assistance available was not more comprehensive. SCE has provided options for customers to opt for a payment plan or apply for SCE’s Energy Assistance Fund which allows customers experiencing hardship to receive a grant of up to $200 through a partner organization like the Salvation Army. Applying for the grant needs to be done directly through the organization.
“Quite frankly, from what I saw in the Instagram post, I thought it was gonna be like a pardon. … It was not the case,” Degante said.
Now she worries that even if help becomes available for East LA residents, she will not be eligible because she lives about a mile and a half from Lineage.
“Now I see an immense need for East LA to have its own council, to have its own city hall, because I don’t feel like we’re being seen. I feel like if anything, we’re being ignored,” Degante said.
A coalition of affected residents known as Protect LA Now, is using the term “Eastside+” to describe the broader area they say was also impacted by the fire including Maywood, Huntington Park, Cudahy, Commerce, Montebello, Monterey Park and El Sereno.
On Wednesday, Protect LA Now urged local officials and Gov. Gavin Newsom to act to provide relief for residents who are now “forced to pay outrageous electric bills.”
“These families are still waiting for government officials to have solutions- not to hand every public health decision to Lineage, the company that caused this,” Protect LA Now said in a statement Wednesday. The group planned a community vigil and teach-in on Wednesday evening at Resurrection Church in Boyle Heights.
At Tuesday’s LA County Board of Supervisors meeting, the government body that provides representation to unincorporated areas like East LA, Solis convened multiple agencies including the South Coast Air Quality Management District, LA County Public Health and SCE to review ongoing recovery efforts and provide clarity on the support available.
Dave Ford, senior government relations manager for SCE, said during the meeting that the utility company was in conversation with Lineage to provide support for residents of East LA, too.
“We’re looking at working with them on very similar program that they have provided for the city of Los Angeles and doing the same in the unincorporated area of East LA,” Ford said.
Christian Garcia of SCE thanked Solis for “helping to bring Lineage to the table,” adding, “…it was a little bit frustrating to get them in there.”
Garcia said Lineage is now establishing a fund for more than 100 SCE customers in unincorporated East LA to receive some relief on their bill, similar to those in Boyle Heights. The exact numbers are still being finalized.
“I think what the minimum is to request nothing less than what the city is receiving,” Solis said.
Lineage told Boyle Heights Beat that they are working on solidifying the details of their support with SCE.
How to know if you qualify:
According to LADWP, an automatic payment will be applied to customers that live within the designated boundary (between Los Palos Street, Hicks Avenue, Union Pacific Avenue and Beswick Street).
No further action is required from qualified customers.
What support is available for residents that live outside of the boundary?
LADWP customers can request:
- Payment arrangements: No down payment, no interest, no fees; A long-term payment option that divides the total account balance evenly across a specified number of billing periods.
- Payment extension: A short-term payment option that gives customers additional time, up to one billing period, to pay their full balance.
- Level pay: A billing option that helps you plan by providing predictable monthly bills based on average usage. You can also roll in past-due balances.
To inquire about these programs, call 1-800-DIAL-DWP, visit a customer service center or use the online form on LADWP.com/ContactUs .
LADWP customers can also apply for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) through the Maravilla Foundation. But the Maravilla Foundation website says that due to reduced government funding and high demand, fewer applications are being accepted. To qualify for LIHEAP, the monthly income for a family of four must not exceed $6,407.16. A full list of requirements and application instructions can be found here.
SCE customers can apply for:
- A number of income-based programs to have discounts applied to their bill including the California Alternate Rates for Energy and Family Electric Rate Assistance.
- Payment plans, including a long-term installment plan, so customers can spread their balance over time with manageable payments, and the Budget Billing Plan, which helps spread energy costs more evenly throughout the year.
- The Energy Assistance Fund, which provides one-time bill assistance of up to $200. SCE works with United Way and over 80 community-based organizations to provide the assistance but customers need to apply directly through the organization. To find the partner organization closest to you, click here.
