Utility Moving to Two Billing Cycles

Beginning in July the Virginia Public Utilities will be moving from billing all its customers on the last day of the month to billing approximately half of them on the 15^th and the remainder at the end of the month. We chose July because this change has the least impact in the summer when bills are generally lower.

Whose billing date will change?

Generally, customers in Midway, Ridgewood, College Park, Northside, Finntown and Main Street (those with account numbers beginning with a 1, 2, or a 3) will be grouped into Cycle 1 and will be impacted by this change. The rest of the customers (those with account numbers beginning with a 4 or a 5) will be grouped into Cycle 2 and their billing/payment cycle will not be impacted.

What will happen?

§ All customers will receive notification of this change with their May and June bills.

§ All customers will receive a bill shortly after the 1st of July for the meter read taken in June. It will be due on the 20^th of July. This will be a normal billing.

§ Cycle 1 customers will receive a bill shortly after the 15^th of July for the meter read taken in early July. That bill will be due on the 5^th of August. There will be no change in meter read dates for these customers. This billing will be for a full month of consumption and a half month of service charges. Equal Pay customers in this cycle will need to make their regular equal payment by July 20^th and again by August 5^th. Direct Pay customers in Cycle 1 need to be aware that a payment will be withdrawn on July 20^th and again on August 5th.

§ Thereafter Cycle 1 customers will receive a full billing shortly after the 15^th of each month. Cycle 1 customer’s new due date will be the 5^th of every month beginning in August.

Who else will be affected?

Some customers whose meters are currently being read in the first half of the month will be grouped in Cycle 2 and have their meters read in the second half of the month. This includes customers on 3^rd Street South west of the high school, Pine Mill Court, the Cedars area, the 100-500 block of 4^th Street South, the 200 block of 7^th Street South, along with a smattering of customers on Southside whose meters have been partially or fully AMR’d will also be impacted. These customers will see their meter read date move from the first half of the month to the latter half of the month over the next few months. Read periods for these customers may reach 35 to 40 days for June and July as this migration occurs. After July, their read date will remain in the second half of the month and the length of time between read dates will be approximately 30 days.

Why do this?

The benefits of this change include leveling out the work flow for our office staff, especially in the area of cash receipting, and improving cash flow by shortening the time between providing the product and receiving payment for the product. This change should result in minor improvements in bad debt collections and should reduce some of the confusion on the part of customers surrounding what period of consumption a utility bill is for.

Questions?

If you have questions, please call our Billing and Customer Service Specialists at 748-7540.