She was awarded a Pulitzer Prize in Explanatory Reporting in 2021 for a Reuters More than one in five customers behind on bills had debt over $1,000. and assistance will be distributed by state energyutility companies that choose to participate. Advocates cheered that choice, but worried lawmakers didnt go far enough to prevent shutoffs. The Utility Discount Program (UDP) . In April 2020, amid the first pandemic surge, the LA utilities department closed Hollmans account with an unpaid balance of $9,064.13, meaning that he couldnt open a new account until he paid off the debt, which could affect his credit score or be taken to small claims court. At least 1.6 million California households, or one in eight, have water debt. This article is part of theCalifornia Divide, a collaboration among newsrooms examining income inequality and economic survival in California. But that only applies to customers of investor-owned utilities, leaving the quarter of Californians served by publicly owned utilities vulnerable, said Mad Stano, an energy equity attorney at the Greenlining Institute, a racial justice nonprofit.