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On Monday, the regional Benefit Bank VISTAs and I piled into a big, big van and carpooled down to Columbus to the Ohio Department of Transportation to learn about PIPP Plus.
PIPP Plus replaces the PIPP program on November 1st. Each program is designed to help income eligible Ohio households pay their gas and electric bills. Here are the bare bones:
The old PIPP program allowed participants in the program to pay a fraction of their bill and still keep their service on. The rest of the bill was then added to their debt. If a payment was missed, service was cut. Helpful, but not super helpful. This is why I think the revisions are pretty neat.
In the new PIPP Plus program, the income eligible participants still only pay a fraction of their bill, but the rest of the bill is credited to their account--NOT added onto their utility debt (this debt is called arrears in all the bureaucratic language of the program). In addition, if the payment is payed on time and in full a fraction of the debt is removed. If a payment is missed there is a reduction of the rate the utility debt that is paid off, but the service is not cut off immediately.
Though the program has a lot of cool new things, there are also a lot of ways it can be improved. The registration and re-verification process are not very user-friendly for the people who will need it the most. The system is designed to change people's behavior, which is a debatable motive (I could, and should, devote an entire blog post to this). The program transition will not be easy on the Community Action agencies who administer it. Calling it the same thing in conjunction with the significant amount of program alterations will probably confuse people.
Probably the best learning experience of the day was hearing all my fellow VISTAs debate the ins-and-outs of what they'd heard on the ride back (hooray for carpooling to break up the monotony of the long drive!). I'd picked up on a few of the criticisms listed above, but I certainly wasn't able to articulate them so well or have so many ideas for improvements. I learned a lot, even though the PIPP program (whatever version) isn't something the Benefit Bank deals with a lot. I know I've said this before, but I enjoy the people I work with and the job I do. :) I am looking forward to the next Carpooling adventure, when we might get to stop at Grandpa's Cheese Barn.
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