Editor, Commonwealth:
Please explain why Greenwood Utilities no longer has a program where senior citizens on a fixed income can pay a fixed payment year-round. The previous administration had such a program.
We could plan a lot better if we knew what our expenses were going to be. Atmos Energy has such a plan. It will be beneficial to all.
Buddy Naaman
Greenwood
Editor’s note: Larry Griggs, executive vice present of operations for Greenwood Utilities, provided the following response.
Greenwood Utilities has not offered what your subscriber references since 2012, which is when we changed to a different software provider. However, we have since 2012 offered what is called “levelized billing.” This plan is much similar to the plan that Atmos Energy offers presently.
Levelized billing makes your bill predictable. With levelized billing your monthly bill is a continuing average of your usage for the most recent 12 months plus 1/12 of any prior balance. Because levelized bills use a rolling average, your monthly bill will vary slightly every month. Because changes in usage are averaged over a 12-month basis, there should not be a large increase or decrease in your bill, even in cold winter and hot summer months. However, large water leaks left unattended may cause a large increase in your levelized billing.
By spreading out the impact of highs and lows, levelized billing is able to balance your utility billing for an entire year.
There are qualifications and certain limitations to becoming part of levelized billing:
You must have resided at your current service address for 12 months.
You must have an acceptable payment history.
Once on levelized billing, you must keep your account current.
Under levelized billing you are not eligible for payment arrangements.
The only time you reconcile your account is when you leave Greenwood Utilities service or when you no longer want to participate in the levelized billing program.
