Rochester Public Utilities (RPU) announced today that an additional $250,000 in funding from the Federal Coronavirus Relief Funds (CRF) allocated to the city of Rochester, is available to go towards helping local small business customers pay their utility bills.

The CARES (Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security) Act enacted on March 27, 2020, has appropriated $150 billion to the CRF, which can be used towards paying customer utility bills that incurred during the period of March 1, 2020 through December 31, 2020. Rochester has already received over $8.8 million CRF dollars from the State.

The initial launch date for this program was August 4, 2020 and was a plan approved by the Rochester City Council to work with qualifying small business customers to utilize $500,000 for utility bill payments.

In addition to providing assistance to locally owned small businesses, the program also has designated funding for women, minority, and veteran owned local businesses (WMBE).

“We are excited to be able to offer an additional $250,000 to help local small businesses with their utility bills. To date RPU has been able to assist 333 business locations that were impacted by the pandemic. We continue to strongly encourage all RPU small business customers that meet the criteria for application to apply for assistance,” said Krista Boston, RPU Director of Customer Relations. 

Applications must be submitted for approval by October 16, 2020.

Full program details, applications, and eligibility requirements can be found on the RPU website at www.rpu.org.

About Rochester Public Utilities

As the municipal utility of Rochester, Minn., for more than 110 years, RPU provides high-quality and reliable electricity to over 50,000 customers. Water customers number more than 40,000. RPU continually investigates innovative technologies to help customers realize the best value from the services they receive. Current initiatives include fuel cell research, wind power, and photovoltaic offerings.

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Rochester Public Utilities (RPU) announced today a partnership with the city of Rochester, Olmsted County, and Three Rivers Community Action to provide utility bill relief for qualifying residential customers.

The CARES (Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security) Act enacted on March 27, 2020, has appropriated $150 billion to the CRF (Coronavirus Relief Funds), which can be used towards paying customer utility bills that incurred during the period of March 1, 2020 through December 31, 2020. Rochester has already received over $8.8 million CRF dollars from the State. The Rochester City Council approved a plan for RPU to work with qualifying residential customers to utilize $187,500 for utility bill relief.

The important first step for customers to take is to work with local partners Olmsted County and Three Rivers Community Action to take advantage of their financial resources. This is necessary because the RPU funds are intended to be a supplement to the County or Three Rivers programs for those that do not qualify for their assistance. In order to get utility assistance from RPU – an application to the County or Three Rivers should be made before an application to RPU. The County and Three Rivers have new sources of funding that may be more flexible to help cover additional costs such as deposits and delinquent expenses for utilities. Once applications are submitted with both of those partners, an application can be submitted through RPU for the utility bill relief. The application, program details, and FAQs can be found on the RPU website (www.rpu.org).

“We’ve listened to our customers and understand that tough financial choices are having to be made by families right now. RPU staff are ready to help our residential customers who could use the financial support available to help pay their RPU bill,” said Krista Boston, RPU Director of Customer Relations.

The launch date for this program is September 8, 2020. Applications must be submitted for approval by October 16, 2020. Due to limited funding, applications will be processed on a first-come, first-serve basis. 

Full program details, applications, and eligibility requirements can be found on the RPU website at

https://www.rpu.org/my-account/financial-assistance.php