Water Co. Encourages Use of Discount Program

H2O Help to Others offers hardship grants, other assistance for PAWC customers

By Jason Togyer
The Tube City Almanac
November 08, 2021
Posted in: Announcements

Diane Holder, vice president of operations for Pennsylvania American Water Co., speaks during an event at Renziehausen Park on Thursday as PAWC government affairs representative Brent Robinson, state Sen. Jim Brewster and McKeesport Mayor Michael Cherepko look on. (Tube City Almanac photo)

Elected officials and the region’s largest water and sewer company urged residents to take advantage of a program that can provide discounts and emergency help with utility bills.

At an event at Renziehausen Park on Thursday, Pennsylvania American Water Co. celebrated the 30th anniversary of its low-income customer assistance program, H2O Help to Others.

“We never forget that at the end of every water pipe, there is a family depending on us,” said Diane Holder, PAWC vice president of operations for the western part of Pennsylvania. “For public health and sanitation, everyone needs access to safe tap water and waste water service.”

The utility provides drinking water to many Mon-Yough communities, including Glassport, Liberty, Lincoln and West Mifflin, and since 2017 has operated the McKeesport sewerage system and wastewater treatment plant.

The McKeesport sewerage system also serves customers in Duquesne, Dravosburg, East McKeesport, Elizabeth Twp., Glassport, Liberty, North Versailles Twp., Port Vue, Versailles and White Oak.

Others present for Thursday’s event included McKeesport Mayor Michael Cherepko, state Sen. Jim Brewster, state Rep. Austin Davis, state Rep. Nick Pisciottano, McKeesport wastewater treatment plant supervisor Tim Berdar, and PAWC government affairs representative Brent Robinson.

PAWC’s assistance program is administered by the Dollar Energy Fund. It includes annual hardship grants of up to $500 for families that qualify, as well as discounts on monthly water or sewerage service, as well as water-saving devices.

H2O Help to Others provides about $6 million in customer assistance per year, Holder said.

Chad Quinn, chief executive officer of Dollar Energy Fund, said his organization administers utility assistance programs for 45 companies in 15 states.

Pennsylvania American’s program is “probably the best program in the United States” because it offers direct financial assistance as well as water-saving devices, he said. “American Water should be very proud and all of its partners should be very proud, because it’s making a measurable financial impact on the community.”

Quinn said the H2O Help to Others program was the first of its kind to be launched by any water company in the United States.

Holder acknowledged that since PAWC took over the McKeesport sewerage system in 2017, there has been a rate increase.

But, she said, cost increases are due to continuing “infrastructure upgrades to pipelines, plants and many things in between.”

In 2020, according to a company report, PAWC invested $3 million to connect 44 properties in Dravosburg to the public sewer system. Those homes were dumping waste into an abandoned mine, which then emptied into the Monongahela River. The project included construction of two new sewage pump stations, 4,800 feet of sewer mains and 2,600 feet of sewer laterals.

Infrastructure improvements are vital to attracting new business and residential development to the region, Brewster said.

“As we rebuild our cities, like McKeesport, Duquesne, Clairton and New Kensington, we need to rebuild our infrastructure,” he said. “Companies won’t come here if we don’t have the infrastructure to support them. But people can’t stay here if they can’t afford their utilities. That’s the reason these kinds of programs (like H2O Help to Others) are so important.”

H2O Help to Others provides grants of up to $500 per year for PAWC residential customers who are at or below 200 percent of the federal poverty income guidelines; and an 85 percent discount on the monthly water service charge for households at or below 150 percent of the income guideline.

For wastewater assistance, the program also provides grants of up to $500 per year for PAWC residential customers at or below 200 percent of the income guideline; and a 20 percent discount on the total wastewater charges for households at or below 150 percent.

“Programs like this are literally a lifeline for people to make ends meet,” Davis said. “From just a human perspective, access to clean drinking and bathing water is a basic human right, and many people in our communities struggle to afford it.”

Davis would like to see similar programs extended to all other water utilities in Pennsylvania, he said, and he has introduced two pieces of legislation that would enable that to happen.

To apply, customers should contact Dollar Energy Fund toll-free at 1-888-282-6816 or visit www.dollarenergy.org.

Originally published November 08, 2021.

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