How to Use Budget Billing for Your Utilities

Step-by-Step Guide

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   Step 1: Meet the signup criteria.

   Many utility companies require a certain degree of personal stability from customers who want a budget billing plan.
   
   For instance, you might need to have lived in your current residence for at least 12 months.
   
   You’ll probably also need to be debt-free with your utility company.
   
   This shows the company that you are a reliable customer, and provides them with an accurate metric when estimating your budget billing amount., Some utility companies offer budget billing, but require you to pay an administrative fee to cover the budget billing “service.” The utility company might not go out of their way to tell you about this fee when you sign up for budget billing, so be sure to ask about it.
   
   Additionally, read the fine print at the bottom of your budget billing agreement, looking for additional fees.When in conversation with representatives from your utility provider, ask, “Are there any monthly or administrative fees I should know about before signing up?” , Budget billing uses an estimate of your planned energy usage to determine how much you’ll need to spend.
   
   Under normal circumstances, any overages in usage will get tallied in December as an end-of-year fee.
   
   But if you use less than the amount the utility company estimated, you might not get a refund.
   
   You should inquire about this when deciding if you want to switch to budget billing.Ask your utility provider’s representative, “If my utility usage is less than the amount I actually paid by year’s end, would I get a refund in the amount of utility service I paid for but did not use?” , Before you sign up for budget billing, you should know what your responsibilities are.
   
   If some change to your situation occurs – for instance, if you move, or if you decide you want to return to a regular billing cycle – what happens? Will there be fees involved? If so, you might need to save a bit extra to either cover the fees, or rethink switching to budget., There are two types of budget billing.
   
   One type, “rollover billing,” continuously rolls over the difference between what you’ve paid and what you owe on your utilities each month.
   
   The other type is known as “settlement billing.” With this option, you’ll have to pay an extra amount at the end of each year in order to cover any overages in your utility usage during the course of the year.With either option, you’ll pay a set amount each month.
   
   The amount might change if your utility provider observes a noticeable spike in your utility costs.
   
   Your particular utility provider may or may not offer both types of budget billing.
   
   Contact your utility provider for more details.
   
   Settlement billing is the more traditional budget billing option.
   
   Some companies, additionally, offer short-term budget billing options.
   
   For instance, you may be eligible for budget billing over a period of three or four months., If you’re interested in signing up for budget billing, get in touch with your utility provider.
   
   They can walk you through their process and help you determine how you can switch from traditional to budget billing.
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   Step 2: Ensure there are no monthly fees.

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   Step 3: Ask whether you’ll get a refund for using less electricity.

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   Step 4: Know your contract.

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   Step 5: Decide what type of budget billing you want.

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   Step 6: Contact your utility provider.

Detailed Guide

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