Pricey power bills costing locals

Some people in the Valley say their electric bills are much higher this summer. We had a heat wave in June and some people are definitely seeing the effects in their electricity bills.

Dale Brown lives in La Quinta with his wife and 3 children. While they do their best to conserve energy, Brown says he’s left with a difficult decision this summer.

“It came down to either pay what I could on the electric bill and put food on table or go without food,” said Brown.

Brown isn’t the only one dealing with high rates. I talked to other Coachella Valley residents- they say their bills are up to $600 per month.

Brown says he was told about low-income options from his electricity provider, Imperial Irrigation District, but didn’t think he would have to resort to that service until his summer bill came in.

I reached out to Southern California Edison and Imperial Irrigation District and they say while their rates have changed, people living in the desert tend to have higher bills during the summer months because of the excessive heat.

IID provided us with this statement:

“To avoid high summer bills, customers are also encouraged to sign up for our average bill payment program. Qualifying low-income customers, can apply for our residential energy assistance program, which offers a 20-30 percent discount. In addition, IID offers rebates, AC maintenance programs and free energy audits”.

Brown has applied for low-income options for his electric and now he says, “I’m going to have to wait it out and see what i can do in the mean time, and pray.”