Thousands of D.C. households that qualify for help paying utility bills could soon be enrolled automatically instead of repeatedly filling out applications.

The D.C. Council’s Committee on Transportation and the Environment unanimously advanced legislation Wednesday, introduced by Ward 6 Council member Charles Allen, that would automatically connect eligible residents with discount programs offered by Pepco, Washington Gas and D.C. Water.

“We ask people to prove poverty over and over and over again,” Allen told WTOP. “It’s a pretty demoralizing thing to have to just constantly keep going in and telling people how much you’re struggling.”

Allen said fewer than half the people eligible for the programs are enrolled, leaving about 31,000 households without assistance for which they qualify.

“The problem that we’re solving is we’re going to get those people the help they need and just cut the red tape, remove the barriers,” Allen said. “Let’s just deliver for people and make government work better.”

Under the proposed bill, the Department of Energy and Environment would work with agencies that already determine eligibility for programs such as SNAP, TANF, Medicaid and the D.C. Healthcare Alliance. The department will then use that information to enroll residents into utility assistance programs.

“People can be able to save hundreds, if not a couple thousand per year by being in the right program based on their different needs,” Allen said.

The proposal comes as District residents continue to face electricity prices above the national average. Residential electricity prices in D.C. averaged 25.21 cents per kilowatt-hour in July, compared with 18.31 cents nationally, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

“When we talk about the affordability crisis, people don’t need to look much further than their own mailbox to see what that looks like,” Allen said. “And people are hurting out there.”

Allen pointed to the regional power grid when asked why electricity is so expensive in the District.

“They simply aren’t producing enough, generating enough energy,” Allen said. “But demand just continues to skyrocket, especially when you think about how many data centers are being built in the region.”

The utility aid bill now heads to the full D.C. Council. Allen said the first vote could come as soon as next week. If approved, the legislation would then go to Mayor Muriel Bowser, who Allen said he expects would sign it into law, with automatic enrollment beginning in 2027.

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