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TEP has asked state regulators to approve its request to quickly return money overcollected through a monthly customer surcharge that funds energy-efficiency programs like rebates for new heating and cooling units. In a filing with the ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ Corporation Commission, TEP estimated that residential customers with average usage would get bill credits of $4.07 for May and $6.91 for June.

TEP said it overcollected its Demand Side Management Surcharge due to the Corporation Commission’s delay in approving TEP’s 2018 energy-efficiency plan, pushing back the implementation of the approved programs. Normally, that overcollected amount would be returned to ratepayers as credits over a longer period of time, at a later date, TEP said.

“We know many of our customers are struggling through financial challenges during the pandemic, so we want to support them as much as possible,� TEP spokesman Joe Barrios said. TEP’s sister utilities UniSource Energy Services Electric and UniSource Gas have filed to issue credits totaling $2.8 million of federal tax benefits to residential customers.

UniSource Electric, which serves about 96,000 customers in Mohave and Santa Cruz counties, has proposed early refunding of $1.5 million in deferred tax benefits stemming from the 2018 federal corporate income tax cut to its residential ratepayers. Home customers would get bill credits of $3.22 in May and $4.98 in June, based on average power usage. UniSource Gas, which provides natural gas to about 156,000 customers in Northern and Southern ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥, proposed to rapidly refund $1.3 million in federal tax benefits, with monthly residential bill credits averaging $4.90 in May, $2.22 in June and 41 cents from July through December.