When most of us receive our bills we simply look for the
amount due and send off our payment; but if you have
ever taken a
moment to look at the detailed portion of your electric bill
you might notice that some of the terms are unfamiliar.
The following is an explanation of the five categories of
charges that appear on our residential customers' electric
bills. We
thought that it would be helpful to supply you with the definitions
for each as well as the current charges.
CUSTOMER CHARGE - This
portion of the bill covers the basic costs of maintaining
your account on a monthly basis, regardless
of the amount of electricity you use. Such services include
metering, meter reading and billing. Mansfield Electric's
residential customers have a $4.00 monthly customer charge.
ENERGY - For residential
customers, this charge reflects the cost of producing electricity
in power plants and delivering
the energy to your home over our power lines. It also includes
the cost of constructing and maintaining electrical
lines. Your energy charge is 9.11 cents per kilowatt-hour.
For our
industrial customers, the cost of maintaining our lines
is reflected in the demand charge portion of your bill.
SMALL
USER DISCOUNT - The State of Massachusetts has
arranged for the purchase of discounted electrical energy
through
the Power Authority, State of New York (PASNY). These savings
are
passed on to residential customers only. If you have used
300 or more kilowatt-hours, your SMALL USER DISCOUNT is
currently $7.62. If you used less than 300 kilowatt-hours,
your SMALL
USER DISCOUNT credit is calculated by taking your kilowatt-hours
and multiplying them by .0254. This amount may change monthly,
based upon the actual saving derived from the purchase
of power
from New York.
PPCA - The Purchase Power Cost Adjustment
(PPCA) is calculated by taking your kilowatt-hours and
multiplying them by .0265.
This charge reflects changes in the cost of purchase power
due to changes in the price of oil, nuclear fuel or other
supply factors. The rate may change on a monthly basis
as these costs
fluctuate.
EARLY PAYMENT DISCOUNT - A ten percent
(10%) discount is available to customers whose payment is
received
at the
Electric Department's
Office not later than 15 days from the billing date.
No discount is allowed when arrears are in due. Such discounts
do not
apply to the portion of the bill which is billed under
the "Purchase
Power Cost Adjustment", "SMALL USER DISCOUNT" and
the Customer Charge; only the energy portion of your
bill is eligible for this discount.
If you have any billing
questions you can contact us
at our office number above or click
here for the Billing
Questions Form. |
