Budget Bill - Terms & Conditions
IMPORTANT TERMS AND CONDITIONS
The Budget Billing program allows a residential or non-residential customer to pay his or her Georgia Power bill at a similar amount each month.
Subject to other applicable laws and regulations, your participation in the Budget Billing plan will continue automatically until you withdraw or cease to be eligible for the plan.
Eligibility for Budget Billing: All residential or non-residential customers with four or less active electric service points and a Georgia Power account in good credit standing will be eligible for Budget Billing provided their average monthly bill does not exceed $5,000.00.
You authorize us to calculate your Monthly Bill Amount for Budget Billing based on the average of your last 12 monthly bills. Your Monthly Bill Amount may vary from month to month. We continuously recalculate your monthly Budget Billing amount to make sure your average usage has not changed significantly. If there is a change, we adjust your next monthly Budget Billing amount. To make sure you are aware of this change, we will let you know the month before we start billing you this new amount. The difference between your actual electric bill amount and your Budget Billing amount each month is called the “difference” amount. Over time, the “difference” balance moves up and down, depending on your energy usage habits.
The Budget Billing process calculates the Budget Bill amount to be billed as well as the actual service amount. The actual service amount is stored along with the difference between actual bill and Budget Bill amount. The Budget Bill amount is calculated based on the account’s Annual Base and 1/12th of any Previous Year’s Deferred amount (the debit or credit amount of current year’s difference from the previous Budget Billing year) rounded to the nearest whole dollar. The Budget Bill will be reviewed each month, using the customer’s current usage dollars and the previous 11 months of Total Annual Base plus the Previous Year’s Deferred.
Current Bill Amount
+Amount of most recent 11 months of Total Annual Base
+Previous Year’s Deferred Amount (debit or credit)
=Total / 12 = New Budget Bill Amount (rounded to the nearest dollar)
If this new amount differs by more than $5.00 and 10% of the current Budget Bill amount, this amount will be set as the new Budget Bill amount and will be effective with the next month’s bill. The following bill print notification will be printed on the customer’s current bill advising and preparing them for the coming change on the next billing month.
You may cancel Budget Billing at any time. After canceling Budget Billing or discontinuing service with us, any balance due will be billed to you or any credit will be applied to your bill.
On a Budget Billing account anniversary, the Budget Billing settlement process will determine what do with any deferred balance. The default action is to rollover any deferred balance into the next plan year. The customer’s Budget Bill amount will be increased or decreased by 1/12 of the previous year’s deferred balance over the next 12 months.
If your Budget Billing account becomes delinquent, Georgia Power has the option of removing you from the Budget Billing plan. If at that time the account has a deferred balance, that balance will become due.
If you move within Georgia Power’s service area, you can transfer any “difference” to your new bill. However, any past due balance must be paid or an agreement made before transferring service. If you are moving outside the Georgia Power service area we will apply any overpayment to your final bill or add any unpaid final balance to your final bill.
Georgia Power periodically reviews the routes by which customers’ meters are read to ensure they are in line with traffic patterns and efficiency goals. If your neighborhood is reviewed, the date on which your meter is read may change. Should this happen, you may see an adjustment in your Budget Billing amount for the next billing period. This adjustment only reflects a change in the number of days in this billing period and you will continue to receive your Budget Billing monthly rate after this adjusted billing.