(A) Billing dates and bills payable.
(1) Electric meters are normally read once each month on approximately the same date (with necessary variation for weekends and holidays), but the city reserves the right to read meters at other times.
(2) Bills for service shall indicate the date on which the meter was read, the meter reading at the beginning and at the end of the billing period, the gross amount charged and the net amount to be paid if payment is made by the date stated on the bill.
(3) Bills for electric service are due and payable on or before the date shown on the bill. Payment may be to an authorized agent of the city at City Hall. The amount called amount due now is a discounted charge available to customers with no delinquent bills.
(4) If payment is made by mail and properly addressed to the city, the United States postmark indicates the date on which the payment is considered accepted.
(B) Meters not read on normal reading dates.
(1) The city will make a reasonable effort to read meters on corresponding days of each meter-reading period, with proper allowance for weekends and holidays.
(2) Customer bills may be prorated on a daily basis in the following situations:
(a) When the meter-reading period is less than 80% of or substantially longer than the normal meter-reading period as a result of the date of initial connection, the date of permanent disconnection or a meter-reading date change for the city's convenience; and
(b) When the meter-reading period for a large commercial or large industrial customer is less than 80% of the normal reading.
(3) The city will normally attempt to secure meter readings for each billing period, and will normally leave a meter-reading form for the customer when access to meters cannot be obtained.
(4) If no form is left or the form is not returned in time for billing, the city will estimate the number of Kilowatt-hours used.
(5) In case of emergency, such as storms or accidents the city may render bills on estimated use without reading the meters or supplying forms to the customers for meter reading.
(C) Estimated bills.
(1) Only in unusual cases will more than 3 consecutive estimated bills be rendered to customers without the customer's prior approval.
(2) If an estimated bill or bills appear to be abnormal when a subsequent reading is obtained, the bill for the entire period shall be recomputed on the basis that the energy used during the period was used uniformly each month during the period, and the customer shall be given credit for the payment of any estimated bills; if there is reasonable evidence that the whole use occurred during only 1 billing period, the bill shall be recomputed.
(D) Budget payment.
(1) Any residential customer of the city may elect the city's budget payment plan as the payment method for residential electric service.
(2) The customer may start or discontinue the plan at any time during the normal budget year of January through December.
(3) An estimated budget amount will be paid each month by the customer. In December, any excess or deficient payments from the current budget year will be applied to the next budget year unless a refund is requested or payment is made by the customer.
(4) The estimated budget amount may be revised if the city feels that revisions are necessary; the customer will be advised of any revision.
(5) The budget payments will be subject to normal due dates unless the due date is changed for cause upon the customer's written request.
(6) The city may terminate all or part of any customer's budget payment plan for cause, including the customer's failure to comply with the plan.
(E) Failure to receive bills.
(1) The city will mail bills to the customer's address shown on the application, agreement or contract for service, but the city reserves the right to adopt other methods of delivering bills.
(2) Failure to receive a bill does not exempt a customer from these rules, provided the city has mailed or delivered the bill to the customer's last known address.
(3) Failure to render any bill on the normal date will not relieve the customer of the obligation to pay the bill under these provisions.
(4) The customer may notify the city in writing of a temporary absence from the city and make arrangements in advance for delaying utility bill payment up to 2 weeks.
(F) Disconnect for nonpayment of service bills. If a bill is not paid by the due date, a notice may be sent to the customer and service may be disconnected pursuant to § 50.06(G) and (H).
(G) Grounds on customer's premises.
(1) If an accidental ground is found on the customer's equipment and removed, the city will estimate the customer's normal consumption for each regular billing period during which the ground was known to have existed by comparing previous consumptions.
(2) (a) The city will rebill the customer for the estimated normal consumption during each billing period at the standard rate applicable to the particular installation and for the lost energy.
(b) The lost energy due to the ground is assumed to be the difference between the total measured consumption for any period and the estimated normal consumption for that period.
(3) The customer will be billed for lost energy at the city's cost of energy, including any adjustment charges from the city's power supplier.
(4) No adjustments will be made for a period greater than the 6 months preceding detection of the ground, regardless of evidence that the ground existed for a longer time. No adjustment will be made unless the city has sufficient proof that a ground has existed and the extra energy was not used by the customer.
(H) Failure of meter to register. If a meter does not register or registers incorrectly the electric energy furnished by the city during any period, the energy used for billing purposes shall be estimated, using the average of the amounts registered over the similar preceding or subsequent periods, or over corresponding periods in previous years, or by estimate using the best available means.
(I) Adjustment of bills.
(1) If a meter creeps or a metering installation has an average error of more than 2%, or a demand metering error of more than 3.5%, a billing adjustment for the period of inaccuracy shall be made in the case of over-registration and may be made in the case of under-registration.
(2) For watt-hour meters, the average accuracy shall be the arithmetic average of the percent registration at light load and at heavy load, giving the heavy load registration a weight of 4 and the light load registration a weight of 1.
(3) If the date when the registration error began can be determined, this date shall be the starting point for determining the adjustment, except that adjustments due to slow meters shall be limited to the preceding 6-month period.
(4) If the date when the registration error began cannot be determined, the error shall be assumed to have existed for a period equal to 1/2 of the time elapsed since the meter was installed or 1/2 of the time elapsed since the last test, except as otherwise provided below regarding registration error due to creep.
(5) Generally bills shall be recalculated on the basis of actual monthly consumption. If service has been measured by self-contained single-phase meters or 3-wire network meters and involves no billing other than for kilowatt-hours, bills may be recalculated based on the average monthly consumption determined from the most recent 36-months’ consumption data.
(6) The registration error due to creep shall be calculated by timing the rate of creeping and assuming that this creeping affected the registration of the meter for 25% of the time since the meter was installed or since the last previous test, whichever is later.
(7) When the average error cannot be determined by test because part or all of the metering equipment has failed check metering installations registration, the quantity of energy consumed based on available data may be estimated. The customer must be advised of the failure and of the basis for the estimate. The same periods of error shall be used as defined above.
(J) Refunds.
(1) If the recalculated bills indicate that more than $1 is due an existing customer or $2 is due a person no longer a customer, the difference between the amount paid and the recalculated amount shall be refunded in full; otherwise, no refund shall be made. Refunds shall be made to no more than the 2 most recent consumers who received service through the meter found to be in error.
(2) If someone who is no longer a customer is found to owe an additional amount or is due a refund, a notice of the amount due shall be mailed to the previous customer at his or her last known address, and the city shall refund any amount due the consumer within 3 months of demand by the previous consumer.
(3) When a customer has been overcharged as a result of incorrect meter reading, incorrect application of the rate schedule, incorrect meter connection or other similar reasons, the overcharge may be credited to the customer's account or refunded to the customer at the city's option for a period of up to 2 years.
(4) When a customer has been undercharged as a result of incorrect meter reading, incorrect application of the rate schedule, incorrect meter connection or other similar reasons, the amount of the undercharge may be billed to the customer for a period of up to 2 years.
(K) Procedure for collection of undercharge.
(1) When a customer's bill is to be adjusted for an undercharge, the customer shall be notified of the proposed change 10 days before the change is to be effective. The notice shall be in writing and sent by certified mail to the customer's present billing address. The customer shall be given an opportunity to review the proposed change at a hearing before the Council within 40 days of when the notice is mailed.
(2) If the customer fails to request a hearing or to notify the city of a dispute over the proposed change, the customer shall be deemed to have accepted the proposed changes and shall be liable for the increased charges.
(1987 Code, § 304.14)