IID officials brief Imperial council on public-benefit programs and infrastructure needs

Corinne Eugenio, IID director for Division 5, and IID staff briefed the City Council on IID public-benefit programs, recent customer events, rebate offerings and infrastructure work the district has completed or planned in the Imperial area.

"Our public benefits programs are actually funded by a non bypassable charge that IID is required to include on each of the electrical bills by state mandate," said Sabrina Barber of IID's power department, describing how the district funds rebates, tree-planting grants and customer-assistance programs.

Barber said the district's recent "Festival of Lights" drew nearly 9,000 vehicles and that IID distributed about 14,000 candy bags to attendees. She summarized energy-efficiency programs including appliance rebates (about $75 per unit for many products), window and insulation incentives, a refrigerator recycling pick-up and a free weatherization program that can install up to $1,000 in measures (and an additional $500 for low-income participants). IID also provides a low-income rate assistance program (REAP) that Barber described as a 20% monthly bill discount for qualifying customers under age 60 and a 30% discount for qualifying customers 60 and older; eligibility is tied to gross-income thresholds the speaker summarized by household size.

On emergency assistance, Barber said REAP customers can receive up to four pledges per year: up to $100 in cooler months and $125 in summer months, and she said the district has a procedure to combine unused pledges into a $450 lump payment under some conditions. She said IID is developing a separate assistance concept for customers who exceed income thresholds but face large medical expenses.

IID staff also reviewed water and power infrastructure projects in the area. Mike Pacheco, IID water manager, said crews plan to replace about 100 feet of a failing Dahlia lateral pipeline near a hotel and are using a dredging method to remove silt from reservoirs without draining them. Matt Smelser, IID power manager, described pole-replacement work and line upgrades, saying in 2024 IID replaced 106 distribution poles and 20 transmission poles and completed upgrades that improved import/export capability at the El Centro switching station and converted an 18-mile wood-pole line to steel for enhanced reliability.

General Manager Jamie Asbury explained the system-side rationale for recent board actions and said aging assets and long equipment lead times were driving the district's decisions. "Today, to procure a transformer, our vendor told us it'll be 4 years and 7 months," Asbury said. "I don't think anyone can go 30 days in the summer here without a transformer. We have got to get the system back up where it needs to be."

IID officials said there will be a larger public presentation to municipalities and agencies about rate-structure changes, and they told the council they intend to be transparent and to provide opportunities for public comment. "We wanna make sure that we tell the story and we tell it properly," Asbury said.

The presentation was informational; council members asked that the district publicly notice the forthcoming rate discussion so residents can participate in person or online.