Bill offers electric bill discount program to veteransApr 6 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Wesley Gardner Austin American-Statesman
The Texas Senate unanimously passed Senate Bill 981 Thursday, which will allow electric providers to establish discount programs for military veterans who have suffered severe burns in the line of duty. "Because of their severe burns and their inability to regulate their body temperature, these brave veterans require their homes to be kept at significantly cooler temperatures than normal, especially during our brutal Texas summers," Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, D-San Antonio, author of the legislation, said in a statement. Next, the bill goes to the House, which could take it up as early as next week. The bill, which gives electric providers the option not to offer the discounts, will require the Public Utility Commission to provide a digital list of all the discount programs being offered by any company in the competitive electric market that chooses to be involved. Vertically integrated electric utilities, municipally owned utilities and electric cooperatives will not be required to display discount information. Among those who could benefit from the bill is retired Army Master Sgt. Bobby Ehrig, who was severely burned by a suicide truck bomb in 2006 in Iraq, leaving third-degree burns covering more than 40 percent of his body. "When the temperature goes above 72 degrees ... it creates a situation where it's life or death," Ehrig testified before the Senate Business and Commerce Committee on March 26. "Veterans are not asking to remove their bills," Ehrig said, they just want some assistance "so we don't have to worry about the 80 percent of the time we spend imprisoned in our homes." A 2011 bill signed into law allowed CPS Energy, San Antonio's city-owned utility, to create a similar discount program for veterans. http://www.energycentral.com/functional/news/news_detail.cfm?did=28156676 |