$500 grants still available for LA residents in need of help paying for utility bills

As many people cope with unemployment and lower wages due to the pandemic, the City of Los Angeles is extending its window for a $500 grant program for utility bills.

"The need is so great out there, and you see it at any food giveaway, and any diaper giveaway that I have," said Los Angeles City Council President Nury Martinez. "The great need that families are going through right now because they're simply not working or they had to cut their hours."

While the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power will administer the program, the $500 checks that 100,000 customers will receive in December can be used for any utility cost.

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"Your gas services, your cable, your Wi Fi, your cell phone bill -- all these bills that are mounting," Martinez said.

Eligible recipients must be an LADWP customer.

"You have to live within the city of Los Angeles. They have to have been impacted economically, due to COVID," said Armando Bolivar, assistant director of customer services at LADWP.

The program is part of the federal CARES Act.

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Applicants must meet the income requirements. For example, the maximum income for a four-person household would be $52,400,

"You don't necessarily have to be on a low-income discount program or a lifeline discount program," said Bolivar. "Those customers would get priority for consideration."

The new deadline is Nov. 22. You can apply at LADWP.com/utilitycares.