PG&E may provide $5 million to help Californians with medical conditions cover costs incurred during outages.
Disabilities: Utility may provide funds for lifesaving equipment
PG&E may provide $5 million to help Californians with disabilities and serious medical conditions pay for costs incurred during wildfireprevention outages, including batteries to charge lifesaving medical equipment, The Chronicle has learned.
The discussions about the new program were confirmed by a statewide nonprofit that advocates for disability rights that it is negotiating with PG&E, and a state official who is knowledgeable about the conversations. PG&E would not confirm details about the program.
The money would be used to reimburse people with disabilities for the extra cost of care — to pay a personalcare attendant to work extra hours to assist them during a shutoff, for instance — as well as emergencypreparedness kits and hotel vouchers if they need to relocate temporarily to a hotel with power.
The program, envisioned as a oneyear pilot project, would cover the cost of batteries for oxygen and dialysis machines, electric beds and wheelchairs and other critical medical devices and equipment, said Christina Mills, executive director of the California Foundation for Independent Living Centers, which is in talks with PG&E about the program. The group represents 23 independent living centers in all but two California counties.
The batteries cost an estimated $2,400 to $3,200 each. The program would not help pay for generators because they are more expensive and complicated to set up compared to batteries, and potentially dangerous if used incorrectly. Mills said she hopes
the program, which is under discussion and has not been finalized, will benefit up to 500 people with disabilities.
A PG&E spokeswoman said the utility “will continue to work with the California Foundation for Independent Living Centers to determine how to best serve people with disabilities, including customers who rely on continuous power for medical sustainability, during a public safety power shutoff. Support for these customers in future public safety power shutoff events will be evaluated and may differ depending on the event.”
PG&E would not seek to raise rates to pay for the program, said L. Vance Taylor, chief of the Office of Access and Functional Needs, part of the California Office of Emergency Services, who is knowledgeable about the negotiations between the utility and the nonprofit. Taylor’s office, which is responsible for ensuring the needs of people with disabilities are met during and after disasters, approached PG&E and CFILC with the idea of jointly creating a grant program to connect people with disabilities with resources to help them during public safety power outages. The two entities began working on the details a few months ago, he said.
“We’re very much looking forward to getting an agreement signed,” Taylor said. “People need resources, they need them right now . ... Anything that the utilities can do in partnership with the community and emergency management to promote the safety, security, preparedness and resilience of traditional vulnerable populations is essential.”
PG&E has already paid for a number of batteries that have been shipped to independent living centers across Northern California over the past several days, said Mills and the head of two independent living centers that have received batteries. The centers provide resources for people with disabilities, but are not livein facilities.
The idea is to have the centers lend the batteries to family members or caretakers, or have them bring the medical device to the center to charge, said Adam Brown, executive director of Disability Services & Legal Center in Santa Rosa, which has received 21 batteries since last week and is expecting more this week. Each weighs about 80 pounds.
FREED Center for Independent Living in Grass Valley (Nevada County) also received two dozen batteries last week from PG&E, along with debit cards for hotel stays, said Ana Acton, the center’s executive director.
The pilot program is part of a broader effort by Mills’ organization and other disabilities rights advocates to help the most vulnerable residents with medical needs and disabilities prepare for shutoffs. As part of that plan, they are also working to set up roundtheclock charging stations that are accessible for people with disabilities and training caregivers and family members to help people with disabilities make backup plans if they lose power.
Mills said her organization will try to identify the 500 individuals for the pilot project by reaching out to managedcare organizations that provide health care to people with disabilities, medical equipment vendors, hospice agencies and hospital discharge planners.
San Diego Gas & Electric started a similar oneyear pilot program this year at a smaller scale, for 80 customers who live in highrisk fire areas. Those customers are part of the utility’s medical baseline program and receive discounts on their bill because they need significant amounts of electricity to power medical equipment such as dialysis and breathing machines.