Your Electric Bill

The bill must include:

1. The meter reading at the beginning and end of the service period for which the bill is rendered;
2. The dates of the billing period;
3. The quantity and kinds of units metered;
4. The applicable rate schedule or identification of the applicable rate schedule.
5. The total amount of the bill;
6. The word "estimate", if the bill is an estimated bill;
7. If used, any conversion factors necessary to convert meter reading units to billing units.
8. If used, any multiplier used to determine billing units; and
9. A comparison of the average daily kilowatt hour consumption for the billing period and for the previous month and the previous calendar year.

Other items that you may see on your electric bill are:

1. energy cost adjustments; and
2. IRP/DSM charges

Energy cost adjustments are cost recovery mechanisms approved by the Commission to minimize the impact that changes in fuel prices experienced by the utility has on the need for regulatory filings. Basically, whenever the prices on the fuel used by the electric utility to generate electricity goes up, the energy cost adjustment will increase; conversely, when the fuel prices go down, the adjustment will decrease.

IRP/DSM charges are related to an electric company’s Integrated Resources Plan (IRP) and Demand Side Management (DSM) programs (see further discussion of IRP and DSM). The Commission has authorized the companies to recover reasonable costs incurred to conduct integrated resources planning and to implement cost effective DSM programs.