Chris Rosenberger
07-05-2007, 11:04 AM
Because we heat our house with electric, I have been paying my electric bill on a budget billing plan for many years. It worked out very well when we had a small local electric company. They kept the payments adjusted so you never had a large balance or a large credit & the payment amount never adjusted up or down by a large amount.
That all end when our small local electric company was bought out by Duke. I have never had a balance carry over from month to month; I always have a credit balance. Last year they started adjusting my payment every 3 months based supposedly on my last 3 months usage. My payment has changed by as much as $60 in one jump. I always thought the idea of budget billing was to smooth out those large jumps from month to month.
With this months bill I got a notice that my payment would increase by $30 base on the last quarter’s usage as compared to the last 12 months usage. I thought this could not be right because our electric usage has been going down mainly because our kids no longer live at home & getting newer appliances.
I went to the Duke website to check out my usage. I found that over the last 24 months my usage has averaged $184, over the past year the average was about $185 & over the last 3 months it was about $161. Our payment for the last 3 months has been $186; it is to go to $216 next month. After paying this month’s bill I have a credit balance of about $200. At the current usage & payment I would have a huge credit balance by the end of the year.
Thinking the notice was a computer error, I called Duke. I was told that it was not an error & that their budget billing program did not take a credit balance into consideration. It is adjusted solely based on usage. They could not give a good explanation of how they arrived at the $216 figure base on the fact of my usage being an average of $161. Needless to say I am no longer on budget billing.
I wish I could bill my customers this way. I would never have to get a loan.
I feel better now. :)
That all end when our small local electric company was bought out by Duke. I have never had a balance carry over from month to month; I always have a credit balance. Last year they started adjusting my payment every 3 months based supposedly on my last 3 months usage. My payment has changed by as much as $60 in one jump. I always thought the idea of budget billing was to smooth out those large jumps from month to month.
With this months bill I got a notice that my payment would increase by $30 base on the last quarter’s usage as compared to the last 12 months usage. I thought this could not be right because our electric usage has been going down mainly because our kids no longer live at home & getting newer appliances.
I went to the Duke website to check out my usage. I found that over the last 24 months my usage has averaged $184, over the past year the average was about $185 & over the last 3 months it was about $161. Our payment for the last 3 months has been $186; it is to go to $216 next month. After paying this month’s bill I have a credit balance of about $200. At the current usage & payment I would have a huge credit balance by the end of the year.
Thinking the notice was a computer error, I called Duke. I was told that it was not an error & that their budget billing program did not take a credit balance into consideration. It is adjusted solely based on usage. They could not give a good explanation of how they arrived at the $216 figure base on the fact of my usage being an average of $161. Needless to say I am no longer on budget billing.
I wish I could bill my customers this way. I would never have to get a loan.
I feel better now. :)