In-home supportive services: additional higher energy allowance.

Existing law establishes the In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) program, administered by the State Department of Social Services and counties, under which qualified aged, blind, and disabled persons are provided with services in order to permit them to remain in their own homes. Existing law, the Public Utilities Act, requires the Public Utilities Commission to designate a baseline quantity of electricity and gas necessary for a significant portion of the reasonable energy needs of the average residential customer, and to establish a higher energy allowance above the baseline for residential customers with specified medical needs, including those residential customers dependent on life-support equipment. This bill would authorize a county welfare department to use materials provided by an electrical corporation that is serving the county to inform each applicant or recipient of benefits under the IHSS program that the applicant or recipient may be eligible to receive that higher energy allowance and any advanced notifications that are provided by a public utility when the public utility plans to deenergize portions of the electrical distribution system or in an emergency. The bill would also require the department to issue an all-county information notice informing counties of the importance of the dissemination of this information.