Not many people know that Seattle City Light will discount your electricity bill by up to 60 percent if your income doesn't meet a certain threshold. The public utility has been criticized in the past for not doing enough to make the option known and easy to access. As of 2014, only one out of every five eligible residents was taking advantage. (I can personally attest that the application process is a time-sucking headache. I signed up back when I was an unpaid intern here at The Stranger.)

This could finally begin to change. Mayor Ed Murray unveiled new legislation on Wednesday that would automatically enroll 10,000 low income families who live in public housing in the discount program—amounting to $10 million in direct financial assistance for them, funded by an increase in utility charges for all customers by about a half of a percent. The program also halves water, garbage and other Seattle Public Utilities bills.

In a statement, Murray said the move is meant to "address Seattle’s growing income inequality and remove institutional barriers between services and those in need."

Ed Frezier, a disabled public housing resident at Rainier Vista, called the idea a "blessing... After I pay my bills, the lights, phone, water, there's nothing left. This will leave me with a few dollars to buy groceries and whatever else is needed."

Any household with an income falling beneath 70 percent of state median household income—$31,000 for single person, or $60,000 for a family of four—is eligible for the discount program. Sign up here or call (206) 684-3417.

City Council Members Bruce Harrell, Kshama Sawant, and Lisa Herbold have already signaled their support for the bill. Herbold said she wants to expand access to the discount program "even further," while Sawant, who chairs the council's energy committee, said she's been pushing for auto-enrollment all along.

"There will still be thousands of others who will need to be enrolled," Sawant said, "and I look forward to continue working with City Light and the Mayor’s office." There are roughly 65,000 eligible households in the city; the mayor has set a goal of signing up 28,000 of them by the end of his term.

This post has been updated since its original publication.