The natural gas service charge system shall be administered according to the following provisions.
(A) (1) The Clerk/Treasurer shall maintain a proper system of accounts suitable for determining the operation and maintenance, equipment replacement, and debt retirement costs of the natural gas facility and shall furnish the City Council with a report of such costs annually in the city’s financial report.
(2) The City Council shall annually determine whether or not sufficient revenue is generated for the effective operation, maintenance, replacement, and management of the natural gas facility and whether sufficient revenue is being generated for debt retirement.
(3) The city shall reassess and, as necessary, revise the natural gas service charge system to ensure the proportionality of the consumer charge and to ensure the sufficiency of the funds to maintain the capacity and performance to which the facility was constructed, and to retire the construction debt.
(B) The Clerk/Treasurer shall be responsible for maintaining all records necessary to document compliance with the natural gas service charge system.
(C) Bills for natural gas service shall be issued on a monthly basis succeeding the period for which service was rendered. The Clerk/Treasurer shall compute the amount due to the city from each consumer of the natural gas service and shall mail the consumer a statement of charges as soon as practicable after the end of each period of service. The Clerk/Treasurer shall establish such monthly or other service periods for a consumer as the Clerk/Treasurer deems best. The Clerk/Treasurer shall establish and shall specify in the statement a due date to be uniform as to time allowed for payments for all consumers and to be not less than 15 days after mailing of the statement, upon which all charges then due for municipal natural gas service are to be paid. Amounts owed for municipal gas service shall be due and payable to the Clerk/Treasurer on the due date specified in the statement and shall be paid on or before that date. Any bill not paid in full five days after the due date will be considered delinquent. The penalty shall be computed as 10% of the original bill and shall be increased the same 10% for every month the bill is outstanding.
(D) The owner of the premises shall be liable to pay for the service to such premises, and the service is furnished to the premises by the city only upon the condition that the owner of the premises is liable to the city, with the exception of those services established by renters who have prepaid for natural gas service until satisfactory credit history has been established.
(E) Volumes of gas used shall be determined on the basis of the meter reading, and billings shall reflect the units of gas utilized. Any error in reading the meter shall not affect the liability for gas used as determined by a correct subsequent reading of the meter. When a meter is not able to be read, the city may estimate the volume of gas used and issue a billing based on such estimate. A meter registering between 3% fast and 3% slow shall be deemed for all purposes to be registering correctly. A meter registering incorrectly shall be replaced by the city at its expense. Periodically, the city may test meters using standard industry practices to determine accuracy. If a consumer requests a meter test and the meter is found to be correct as defined above, the consumer shall pay the applicable meter testing fees.
(Ord. passed 12-13-2016)