The extreme weather during the winter months created extreme spikes in many HU customers’ utility bills. You can guard against large monthly fluctuations with Levelized Billing. Levelized Billing is based on a rolling 13-month average: your current usage is averaged with the previous 12 months’ billing. As a result, your billing total will change slightly every month instead of drastic seasonal fluctuations, even in the hottest or coldest months of the year. And if the calculated 13-month average is over 120 percent more than your previous month’s bill, the bill will be capped at 120 percent, and the overage spread out over time as needed.
There is no annual reconciliation with Levelized Billing; the only time you need to reconcile your account is if you move to another location or decide to stop using the program.
“With Levelized Billing, customers will pay more during the Spring and Fall,” explains HU Customer Service Manager Terri Harris. “But they will have more consistent payments year-round. And while the 120 percent cap is there as a safeguard to prevent huge jumps, we don’t have to use it very often. It is rare for a customer to have that large of a shift in their 13-month average,” she says.
For more information and to request an enrollment form, call HU at (256) 773-3340 or send an email to Customer Service Manager Terri Harris at tharris@hartselleutilities.org