(A) Choice of billing for residential customers. Residential customers shall have the option (provided they meet certain qualifications) of adopting the Levelized Payment Plan (LPP) for billing purposes as opposed to the normal billing procedure.
(B) Operation of the Levelized Payment Plan.
(1) Under the LPP a customer’s bill will be computed by summing the most recent 12-months’ historical volumes and dividing by 12 to arrive at an average consumption level. This average consumption level is used to calculate an average bill by applying a pre-calculated factor and applicable tax factor and rounding to the nearest dollar. The average bill amount thus derived will be the monthly payment amount for each of the succeeding six months.
(2) Actual billings will continue to be based upon the applicable rates and meter readings obtained to determine consumption. The amount due under the LPP will be indentified as a separate item on the customer’s bill so the customer will know the amount to pay. The actual bill amount will also be reflected on the bill as a memo item for the customer’s information. At such time as an account on the LPP becomes delinquent, a late payment charge may be assessed against the delinquent amount due under the LPP.
(3) The cumulative difference between actual billings and the levelized billings under the LPP will be carried in a deferred balance that will accumulate both debit and credit differences.
(4) The monthly payment amount will be automatically reviewed and adjusted six months after the anniversary date. This adjustment will be made to assure that the difference between actual payments and average payments under the LPP will be minimal. The new LPP payment amount will be computed by averaging the sum of the most recent six months actual billings and a projected amount for the next six months. The projected amount will be derived by applying the current residential rate, cost-of-gas adjustment, and applicable tax factor to each of the most recent year’s historical volumes for the corresponding months. This amount will be rounded to the nearest dollar and will be the monthly LPP payment amount for the next six months.
(5) On the initial and subsequent anniversary dates a new levelized payment amount is calculated by averaging the nearest dollar, the amount of the deferred balance and the amount derived by applying the current residential rate, cost-of-gas adjustment, and applicable tax factor to each of the most recent 12-months’ historical volumes. This new LPP amount will then be in effect until the time of the next six-months review. On each subsequent anniversary date a new levelized payment amount will be calculated in this manner.
(6) In those instances where sufficient billing history is not available, a 12-month billing history will be estimated by the local manager. The estimated history will be based on actual billings for those months in which actual billing data is available and estimated for those months in which no such actual billing is available.
(7) Participation in the LPP will have no effect on the company’s approved rate schedules or other billing charges used to calculate the customer’s actual monthly billing.
(C) Customer qualification for Levelized Payment Plan.
(1) The LPP shall be made available to residential customers only. The LPP is optional and will be available only on customer request, after an appropriate application for the LPP is completed and submitted to the company’s local business office and subsequently approved.
(2) At the time a customer elects to participate in the LPP, his or her account must be in current status. This means that the current billings must not be past due and no unpaid balance exists on his or her account.
(3) A customer who is unable to bring his or her account to current status may be placed on the LPP upon approval by the local manager by using the LPP average billing amount plus an additional amount over a specific period of time.
(4) Customer may discontinue LPP at any time by notifying the company. If a customer requests termination, if an account is final billed, or if the customer is terminated by the company as a result of past due amounts on an account, any outstanding balance owed to the company at the time, including any differences between billings under the LPP and billings which would have been rendered under normal billing procedures shall be immediately due and payable. Likewise, any credit due customer shall be applied to the next bill.
(Ord. 2-95, passed 5-8-1995)