Gathered at the Madison Water Utility southside offices today, Madison officials announced a new program to help low-income residents pay their utility bill.
The Madison Customer Assistance Program, or MadCAP, will work to provide discounts to eligible residents. Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway says that discount will be applicable towards all of the municipal services listed on their utility bill.
“This service spans all of the City of Madison services on the municipal bill which includes water, sewer, storm water, sewer, urban forestry, resource recovery, and landfill services,” said the Mayor.
The program has two tiers for eligibility. For residents that make less than 50% of the area’s annual household income, or around $46,000 for a family of two, they can qualify for a $20 monthly credit. For residents making less than 30% of the area’s annual household income, or around $28,000 for a family of two, they can qualify for a $30 monthly credit.
That comes as the Water Utility recently hiked rates for the third time in four years.
Last year, state regulators approved the city’s rate hike to fund water main replacements without taking on more debt. According to the Wisconsin State Journal, the state’s Public Service Commission approved the 18% rate increase last October, which raised the average water bill by four dollars.
Mayor Rhodes-Conway says she hopes the two-year pilot reconfigures the needs of the community and the way residents receive aid.
“This is the first water utility assistance program in Wisconsin and the program that we’re launching is a pilot program per the public service director’s instructions. Over the next two years, we plan to learn from it, to understand how many households need assistance in our community, and how we can ease a better way for them to participate, and how we can help them save money at the same time and be more water efficient,” said the Mayor.
Krishna Kumar is general manager of the Madison Water Utility. He says that communicating the opportunity to low-income residents is a prime focus.
“The real challenge now is to make sure this new program reaches all of the residents who qualify for this program and start actually benefiting from it. With that goal in mind, we are making concerted efforts to inform our residents about the availability of this noble affordability program,” said Madison’s Water Utility Manager.
Eligible households can start applying tomorrow, March 1. After application approval, the price decrease will be reflected in the upcoming billing cycle.
You can apply online at the water utility homepage on the city of Madison’s website, or in person at the Madison Water Utility at 119 East Olin.
