[Nfbc-info] Fw: Please distribute flyer ASAP - HELP OPPOSE UTILITY RATE CHANGES HARMFUL TO PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES.

[Mary Willows]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: Nicolie Bolster 
To: mwillows at sbcglobal.net 
Sent: Tuesday, March 26, 2013 3:18 PM
Subject: Please distribute flyer ASAP - HELP OPPOSE UTILITY RATE CHANGES HARMFUL TO PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES.


Mary Willows, State President

National Federation of the Blind of California

Telephone: (510) 248-0100

Email: mwillows at sbcglobal.net



Dear Mary:



Last year you and the NFB of California helped reach out to Californians with disabilities by posting information to your NFBC-Info Listserv about opposition to utility rate increases proposed to the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC). You assisted us in gathering powerful, true hardship stories for the opposition testimony submitted by attorney Melissa Kasnitz of the Center for Accessible Technology (CforAT) in Berkeley to constrain your local utility’s efforts to make low-income people and low-energy users pay even more for electricity.



Now there is an industry-wide effort in California to shift greater electricity costs to lower-usage residential customers with harmful impacts to low and fixed-income individuals, including people with disabilities and seniors.



Right now, residential customers pay a low price per kilowatt hour (a unit of energy) until they reach a set usage threshold. After they pass that threshold, they pay a higher price for the next level of usage. This price structure is called Increasing Block Rates, or “tiers.” Pending proposals will reduce or eliminate the different tier prices, and adopt other changes that will increase rates for low-income and low-usage customers, while reducing rates for the highest energy-using customers.



Therefore, I am writing to ask that you and your organization distribute our one page flyer as quickly and widely as possible. Please send it throughout the state of California via your organization’s means of communication with chapters and/or contacts -- including again your NFBC-Info Listserv and any other communications available to you. The flyer is attached as accessible Word and PDF documents, and the text is also at the bottom of this email. Please pass the flyer along to any other organizations and individuals likely to have contact with people who have stories to share; and invite them to pass it along to their contacts.



Feedback to the flyer comes directly to me. We ask households including anyone with a disability to share their up-to-date, real-world stories to illustrate the damaging effects expected from yet another utility rate change impacting our vulnerable low-income Californians. We need to collect this information ASAP - but no later than Friday, April 19, 2013. The opposition testimony must be filed with the CPUC regulatory agency by the first of May.



Please reply so I know you have received my email, and let me know that you have distributed the flyer’s information.



Thank you so very much.



Nicolie Bolster





Nicolie A. Bolster
Legal Secretary
Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund, Inc.
3075 Adeline St., Suite 210, Berkeley, CA 94703-2578
Telephone: (510) 644-2555 Ext. 5237
Fax/TTY: (510) 841-8645
Email: nbolster at dredf.org
The information contained in this email may be confidential, privileged and protected from disclosure. If you think you have received this email message in error, please email the sender at nbolster at dredf.org and delete it permanently from your computer files. If you are not the intended recipient, any dissemination, distribution or copying is strictly prohibited.

DREDF: Doing Disability Justice
DREDF is located in the ED ROBERTS CAMPUS office building
at the Ashby BART station in Berkeley, California. 
The ERC is a scent-free environment.
==============================================

(INDIV FLYER)

ATTENTION: HELP OPPOSE CHANGES TO UTILITY RATES THAT ARE

HARMFUL TO PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES



The California Public Utilities Commission is considering statewide changes to residential electricity rate structures that will increase the bills of low-income residents, including many people with disabilities and senior citizens who live on fixed incomes, 

in order to reduce rates for people who use the most electricity. The Center for Accessible Technology (CforAT) in Berkeley is opposing these changes, and is looking for real-world stories to show how increased energy bills will harm vulnerable consumers.



We are collecting stories from people who struggle to pay utility bills, and who rely on electricity-operated medical equipment for essential health and life-sustaining purposes. These stories will help decision-makers understand the real-world impacts of any utility rate change impacting vulnerable Californians.



PLEASE SHARE YOUR STORY

If anyone in your household has a disability, we want to hear from you:

·        Do you struggle to pay your utility bills?

·        Have you ever been forced to choose between paying your utility bill and a bill for another essential service, such as medicine, food, or transportation?

·        Have you limited your use of electricity (including air conditioning) in a way that impacted your health, safety or comfort?

·        Will an increase in utility rates harm your ability to pay for all your monthly expenses? How would you manage higher utility bills?

·        If possible, please tell us what percentage of your monthly income you spend on electricity and natural gas utilities.



Nicolie Bolster at DREDF (Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund) is working with CforAT to gather real-world stories to oppose harmful changes that will increase utility costs for low-income consumers. Please share your stories as soon as possible, but no later than Friday, April 19, 2013 by contacting us at:

Email: nbolster at dredf.org  or   Toll-Free Phone: (800) 348-4232 Ext. 5237

En Español: (510) 926-4017

(If leaving a voicemail message, tell your story briefly and 

please talk very slowly when saying your name and phone number.)



Please pass this information along to anyone who may have information to share.



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