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Written by: Elizabeth Larson

Published: 15 July 2025

LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Measure Z Advisory Committee will hold its next meeting on Wednesday, July 16.

The committee will meet at 5:30 p.m. in the council chambers at Lakeport City Hall, 225 Park St.

On the agenda is discussion about the current state of the budget and ongoing projects.

The committee will next meet on Wednesday, Oct. 15.

Citizen members are Meg Harper, Susan King, Carl Porter, Dennis Rollins and Laura Sombs. Staff members are City Manager Kevin Ingram, Police Chief Dale Stoebe, Public Works Director Ron Ladd and Administrative Services Director/City Clerk Kelly Buendia.

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Written by: Elizabeth Larson

Published: 15 July 2025

NORTH COAST, Calif. — Pacific Gas and Electric Company is committing $50 million to new and existing financial assistance programs to support eligible customers with paying past-due energy bills. 

These programs include PG&E’s new Match My Payment Program and the existing PG&E Relief for Energy Assistance through Community Help or REACH, program.

The new PG&E Match My Payment Program offers a dollar-for-dollar match, up to $1,000, for qualifying low-to moderate-income customers to pay past-due bills to prevent service disconnections.  

Qualifying customers may receive matching payments from PG&E for multiple bill payments throughout the year, up to a maximum match of $1,000. 

For example, a past-due customer can apply for support in June and continue the program in October if they fall behind on bills again. 

The program is scheduled to end Dec. 31, 2025.  

Eligibility is based on federal income guidelines. For example, a family of four making less than $128,600 a year could qualify for assistance. This is significantly higher than the current limit of $62,400 for a family of the same size under the PG&E REACH program. 

Application information can be found here. 

Applicants are required to pay at least $50 toward their outstanding balance each time to receive matching funds. A minimum past due balance of $100 is required to apply. 

PG&E estimates approximately 400,000 customers may qualify for assistance through the Match My Payment Program. Funding is distributed on a first-come, first-served basis, depending on available resources. 

"Our Match My Payment Program is designed to make sure more families receive support when they need it most, especially during the summer months when energy bills can peak,” said Vincent Davis, PG&E Senior Vice President, Customer Experience. “We encourage customers to check their eligibility and apply for the available assistance.” 

Support also Available through PG&E REACH Program 

Customers may also be eligible for bill assistance through the PG&E REACH program, which provides income-eligible customers with a bill credit of up to $300 based on the past-due bill. Emergency assistance is available this year for customers with a disconnection notice. Income levels are lower than the PG&E Match My Payment Program.   

Qualifying customers who have already received a $300 grant from PG&E’s REACH program in 2025 are pre-qualified for up to $1,000 from PG&E’s Match My Payment Program, with a combined maximum benefit of up to $1,300 on a past due amount. 

In 2024, nearly 58,000 PG&E customers received more than $50 million in total assistance from the PG&E REACH program. The record assistance was distributed after PG&E increased benefits to qualifying customers last year. 

PG&E contracts with the nonprofit Dollar Energy Fund, or DEF, to process customers' applications for program funding.  

Additional funding for PG&E’s Match My Payment, REACH, and other bill relief programs will be regularly evaluated throughout the year to ensure resources are allocated effectively to meet customers’ needs. 

Stabilizing customer bills

PG&E forecasts no additional electric rate changes for the rest of 2025. The company expects residential combined gas and electric bills to be essentially flat for the rest of 2025 and go down in 2026.

Even though bills are stabilizing, customers may see higher bills during the summer months when they use more energy to cool their homes and businesses.

Other Income-eligible assistance programs 

PG&E has other assistance programs to help income-eligible customers pay their energy bills: 

• California Alternate Rates for Energy Program (CARE): provides a monthly discount of 20% or more on gas and an average of 35% on electricity (compared to non-CARE bundled customers).
• Family Electric Rate Assistance Program (FERA): new eligibility guidelines provide a monthly discount of 18% on electricity, regardless of household size. 
• Energy Savings Assistance Program (ESA): provides energy-savings improvements at no charge.  
• Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP): a federally-funded assistance program overseen by the state that offers a one-time payment up to $1,500 on past due bills to help low-income households pay for heating or cooling in their homes. Payments may vary by location and funding availability.  
• Arrearage Management Plan (AMP): a debt forgiveness plan for eligible residential customers.  
 
Other programs include Medical Baseline, which offers a reduction on energy bills for customers who depend on power for certain medical needs.   

To learn more about PG&E’s assistance programs, use a new Savings Finder tool or visit pge.com/billhelp. 

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Written by: FHLBank San Francisco

Published: 13 July 2025

SAN FRANCISCO – The Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco announced $49.7 million in Affordable Housing Program grants from its General Fund and Nevada Targeted Fund to support 31 developments across Arizona, California, and Nevada, creating more than 2,050 units of affordable housing throughout the bank’s three-state region.

“We continue to make meaningful investments to address the affordable housing crisis across Arizona, California, and Nevada,” said Joseph E. Amato, interim president and CEO of FHLBank San Francisco, or FHLBank San Francisco. “This funding, delivered in partnership with our local member financial institutions, supports housing affordability solutions in urban centers, rural areas, tribal lands, and communities in need. We are helping to expand the housing supply and deliver critical support services to individuals and families who need it most.”

This year’s Affordable Housing Program, or AHP, General Fund awards will deliver $44.6 million in funding for 26 projects, with 22 in California and four in Arizona, collectively producing over 1,780 affordable housing units across the two states. 

In addition to the AHP General Fund Awards, the AHP Nevada Targeted Fund will deliver $5.1 million for five projects to create 273 affordable units in Nevada. In total, 16 FHLBank San Francisco member financial institutions will partner with 27 nonprofits and affordable housing developers to create the much-needed affordable housing units. 

These grants underscore FHLBank San Francisco’s ongoing commitment to addressing the housing crisis in Arizona, California and Nevada — three states facing some of the most severe affordable housing shortages in the nation.

“Everyone deserves a safe, secure and affordable place to live. But right now, we have a housing crisis that’s impacting families across the nation,” said U.S. Rep. Juan Vargas (CA-52). “As we continue to fight for policies that increase our housing supply and lower costs, I’m glad to see investments like this to expand access to affordable housing.”

According to a report compiled by the National Low Income Housing Coalition, the U.S. is experiencing a significant affordable housing shortfall with only 35 affordable and available homes for every 100 extremely low-income households nationwide. 

In FHLBank San Francisco’s region of Arizona, California, and Nevada, this shortfall is exacerbated. Currently, Arizona and California have only 25 and 24 affordable and available homes, respectively, for every 100 extremely low-income households. 

Nevada faces the nation's most severe affordable housing shortage, with only 17 affordable and available homes for every 100 extremely low-income households in need. 

To address the dire need in Nevada, FHLBank San Francisco launched the Nevada Targeted Fund in 2023, the first targeted fund in the FHLBank System, to specifically fund affordable housing projects in Nevada. Since its inception, the Nevada Targeted Fund has awarded over $19 million in grants to create more than 1000 units of affordable housing throughout the state.

Grants from the AHP General Fund and Nevada Targeted Fund help finance the development, preservation, and purchase of multifamily and single-family housing for people in need, including the chronically unhoused, low-income families, seniors, veterans, at-risk youth, and individuals living with disabilities and mental health challenges or recovering from substance abuse. 

These grants are awarded through an annual competitive application process, in which FHLBank San Francisco members institutions partner with nonprofit organizations and affordable housing developers to submit project proposals. 

AHP-funded projects represent a wide range of strategies and solutions, from historic preservation and adaptive reuse to new construction and rehabilitation.

Since 1990, FHLBank San Francisco has awarded over $1.4 billion in grants for the construction, preservation, or purchase of nearly 155,000 affordable housing units. 

Collectively, through the AHP, the FHLBanks are one of the largest sources of private sector grants for affordable housing in the country, providing approximately $8.3 billion in grant funding for affordable housing and helping more than one million households purchase or preserve a home since 1990.

Highlights of the 2025 AHP funding competition include:

• More than $10 million awarded to six developments that will incorporate affordable housing with mixed-use spaces for childcare, job training, community-serving organizations and small local businesses.
• Six new communities that will be developed on underutilized government-owned land, including three that are part of California’s Excess Sites program. These efforts are made possible through partnerships with state and local governments.
• $10.4 million for Tribal-led projects to create six developments, five in California and one in Arizona, that will create a total of 191 units of affordable housing to serve seniors, the formerly unhoused and low-income families. These developments will also include shared community spaces and access to supportive services.

Where AHP projects are developed, local economies also get a boost, as these projects create jobs, increase construction and consumer spending, and generate new tax revenues. 

Learn more about the communities, families, and individuals that have benefited from access to AHP-funded housing and access the complete list of AHP grant winners at the bank’s website, fhlbsf.com.