Lower Bills

After determining your eligibility status, and applying for these and other service discounts, calculate your own monthly costs and savings. Those who are lower-income and eligible for these services and supports may be pleasantly surprised to learn that they may save more, or less, than what is noted in the Sample Monthly Service Discount for Eligible Recipients table below. Service costs may vary a lot by region. For example, I recently paid $1850 for a small studio in a Bay Area community in California. In other parts of the country, one may pay a mortgage for a small mansion for the same cost.

Although it’s possible to lower bills by doing research and applying for service discounts, Bill Genius takes a cut of the savings if you save any money, but the service can be helpful for those who, for whatever reason, don’t want to do the work on their own to find available discounts.

SAMPLE MONTHLY SERVICE DISCOUNTS FOR ELIGIBLE RECIPIENTS

Rough Estimates of Monthly Services Costs for those Eligible for Lower Income Services	Information is based on a snapshot of various online calculations for services around the U.S.and varies considerably	Approximate Monthly Cost	Potential Monthly Savings	Approximate Monthly Savings	Potential                         Monthly Discounted Cost	Website	Determine Program/Service Eligibility Requirements
Electricity/Gas	(Electricity/Gas Discount based on CARE Discount (PG&E); (https://www.move.org/utility-bills-101/)	$110.76	20%	22.15	$88.61	https://www.acf.hhs.gov/ocs/map/liheap-map-state-and-territory-contact-listing	Locate your state’s Low-Income energy programs and apply for discounts. See individual program eligibility guidelines. You may be able to qualify for more than one program discount at a time.
Water	(https://www.move.org/utility-bills-101/)	$70.39	25%	17.60	$52.79	https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2016-04/documents/dw-ww_utilities_cap_combined_508.pdf	Contact your local waste water and drinking water utility and ask if they particiate in a discount Customer Assistance Program (CAP) such as the one’s listed on the wesbite
Trash/Recycling	(https://www.move.org/utility-bills-101/)	$14.00	25%	3.50	$10.50	Contact your local waste disposal company and ask if they have a low-income, senior or other discount programs.	Contact your local company for details
Online Streaming company ($5.99-14.99)  with Pluto if used instead of Cable TV ($85)	(https://www.move.org/utility-bills-101/)	$85.00	82%	70.00	$15.00	https://pluto.tv/	Free online streaming for everyone with Internet access. Watch hundreds of TV channels and download thousands of movies and TV shows for free.
Internet	(https://www.move.org/utility-bills-101/)	$60.00	83%	50.00	$10.00	https://www.everyoneon.org/find-offers	Find low-cost Internet and computers in your area. (https://www.everyoneon.org/lowcost-offers)
Lifeline Landline (Discount)/Cell Phone & Service Plan with 2+ Gig’s Data (Some phones/service available for free)	(https://www.usmobile.com/blog/cut-cell-phone-bill/#:~:text=The%20average%20American%20cell%20phone,part%20of%20your%20monthly%20budget.)	$70.00	100%	70.00	$0.00	https://data.usac.org/publicreports/CompaniesNearMe/Download/Report	https://www.lifelinesupport.org/do-i-qualify/
1-Bedroom Apartment Rental	Average cost of rent  for a 1 bedroom apartment (https://www.apartmentlist.com/rentonomics/rental-price-data/)	$962.00	70%	673.40	$288.60	https://affordablehousingonline.com/	Use affordablehousingonline.com to find Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher, Public Housing and low-income housing opportunities in the U.S. See your individual HUD resource locator to contact your local Public Housing Authority/Agency (PHA) for affordable housing opportunities for open opportunities and program eligibility guidelines: https://resources.hud.gov/#
Food	Food Cost: (Assuming max SNAP benefit allotment in CA for a single person in 2021)	$255.00	80%	204.00	$51.00	https://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/state-directory	Select your state’s SNAP website to apply
Health Insurance	https://www.valuepenguin.com/average-cost-of-health-insurance vs. Medicaid recipient without a share of cost	$403.00	100%	403.00	$0.00	https://www.healthcare.gov/apply-and-enroll/how-to-apply/	Apply and enroll for health insurance. (https://www.healthcare.gov/lower-costs/)
Car Insurance (Get Quotes)	Average Cost of Car Insurance in the U.S. for 2021  (https://cars.usnews.com) vs. CA Low Cost Auto Insurance)	$118.00	77%	91.00	$27.00	https://www.4autoinsurancequote.com/category/learning-center/	Visit each company’s website individually                                                     1) California: https://www.mylowcostauto.com/;                          2) New Jersey: https://www.state.nj.us/dobi/division_consumers/insurance/saip.htm;                                                                                                           3) Hawaii: https://www.dmv.org/insurance/car-insurance-for-low-income-families.php
Potential Monthly Cost/Savings		$2,148.15	75%	1,604.65	$543.50

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