Subcommittee advances expansion of Virginia''s PIP energy assistance program; bill goes to appropriations

Delegate Herring described a substitute to HB 884 that would expand Virginia''s percentage-of-income payment (PIP) program, increasing eligibility and capping participant payments at affordable shares of income: "By limiting electric bill payments for PIP participants to no more than 3% of their annual income if the household heating source is anything other than electricity or 5% if their annual household's primary heating source is electricity," Herring said.

Witnesses explained the PIP rate is collected across all customers. Kim Pate from the State Corporation Commission summarized that the PIP rate would be applied on bills and that the program is financed through rates paid by all customers: "So it's a socialized cost." Carmen Bingham of the Virginia Poverty Law Center, who helped design earlier iterations of PIP, said raising eligibility to 200% of the federal poverty level brings Virginia in line with national burden standards and supports more households.

The substitute also includes debt-forgiveness incentives tied to on-time payments: after consecutive payments a portion of prior arrearages is forgiven. The subcommittee voted to report the substitute and refer it to appropriations by 7 to 2.