Contributed to WSJ by Town of Wake Forest
Wake Forest Power (WFP) is reminding residential customers of a simple, yet effective way they can help neighbors struggling to pay electric bills due to COVID-19 or other financial hardships.
Helping Others by Providing Electricity or H.O.P.E.is an initiative offered by the Town of Wake Forest designed to help financially disadvantaged electric customers pay their utility bills. The program is funded by the generous donations of WFP customers and administered through a partnership between the Town and ChurchNet, a local non-profit organization assisting area people in need.
WFP now offers three ways for customers to contribute to H.O.P.E. online:
- Round up your bill to the next dollar. For example, a bill of $73.46 would become $74.00. Individually, this is pretty small change; on average, participants will contribute around six dollars annually to the program.
- Make a recurring contribution with your monthly utility payment. For your convenience, the Town of Wake Forest is happy to set up a recurring donation of as little as $1/month or whatever dollar amount you choose.
- Make a one-time contribution via PayPal.
Again, each donation option is available online at https://bit.ly/WFHOPE.
If you itemize your deductions for state and federal income tax purposes, you may deduct H.O.P.E. donations. Simply keep your utility bill statements to document your contributions or contact the Town at the end of the calendar year to request a statement totaling your donations. Then, when filing your tax returns, list the Town of Wake Forest as the recipient of the donation.
The Town directs 100% of the proceeds to ChurchNet which then determines which of the Town’s electric customers qualify for assistance and how much financial aid they will receive. Again, every dollar donated to H.O.P.E. is used to help pay WFP bills.
Through H.O.P.E., WFP customers have the opportunity, the means, the encouragement and the reward of helping financially disadvantaged neighbors pay their electric bills. For more information, visit https://bit.ly/WFHOPE or contact Customer Service Manager Andrew Brown, Jr. at 919-435-9466 or abrown@wakeforestnc.gov.
