City of Seattle

Seattle City Light Department

DEPARTMENT POLICY & PROCEDURE

Subject BUDGET BILLING PLAN

Number DPP 500 P III-419

Effective January 11, 2012

Supersedes January 8, 1987

/s/ by Jorge Carrasco

Approved by Jorge Carrasco

1.0 Purpose

1.1 To establish a City Light Department plan which allows a residential customer or a small general service customer to pay one year's billing in equal monthly payments.

2.0 Organization Affected

2.1 Customer Care Division

3.0 References

3.1 Seattle Municipal Code 21.49.090, and as last amended or superseded.

4.0 Definitions

4.1 Residential Customer . Any person being billed by City Light on residential rate schedule RSC, RSS, RST, RSH, REC, RLC, RES, RLS, RET, RLT, REH, RLH, REB, RLB, or RSB.

4.2 Small General Service Customer . Any customer being billed by City Light on small general service rate schedule SMC, SMD, SMS, SMT, SMH, or SMB.

4.3 Enrollment Date . The date the customer's application for enrollment is processed by the Customer Service Representative.

4.4 Department . The City Light Department.

4.5 Previous Balance . The customer's account record showing any unpaid previous balance.

4.6 Other Charges . Charges which may include nonmetered services such as streetlights, fees applicable to the account, contributions to Project Share, Green Power, and Green Up.

5.0 Policy

5.1 A residential customer or a small general service customer may enroll at any time during the year in a voluntary program which allows them to make equal payments for electric energy consumption over a 12-month period.

5.2 Eligibility for participation shall be determined on the following basis:

5.2.1 Customers billed under residential rate schedule RSC, RSS, RST, RSH, REC, RLC, RES, RLS, RET, RLT, REH, REB, RLB, RSB, or RLH may participate.

5.2.2 Customers billed under small general service rate schedule SMC, SMD, SMB, SMS, SMT, SMH may participate.

5.2.2.1 Customers billed on the small general service rate must have at least one prior year of their own billing history at the current premises.

5.2.3 An applicant's account may have no more than $100.00 in arrears at the time of the first billing on the Budget Billing Plan before he/she can participate.

5.2.4 Premises that are new construction must have a minimum of 12 months' consumption history before a customer can be enrolled in the Budget Billing Plan.

5.2.5 The plan is intended for metered electric service only.

5.3 Conditions by which participation in the Budget Billing Plan shall be terminated include:

5.3.1 Customers shall be terminated from the plan at their request.

5.3.2 Customers who have three months of consecutive previous balance amounts shall be terminated from the plan.

5.3.3 Customers who move from their current premises shall be automatically terminated from the plan.

5.4 The Budget Billing payment amount for metered electric services is based on an average of the charges over the past 12 months.

5.4.1 The Budget Billing amount will be recalculated every 12 months or possibly sooner if there is a significant change in rates or consumption pattern.

5.4.2 Budget amounts shall be adjusted when a customer is added to or removed from rate assistance.

5.5 Other charges may appear on the bill and shall be due in addition to the Budget Billing amount.

5.6 If a customer who is on a bimonthly bill cycle is enrolled in both the Budget Billing Plan and the Automatic Bill Payment Program, the full Budget Billing payment amount for the current billing period will be deducted from the customer's bank account on the due date of the bill.

5.7 A customer who is on an active Budget Billing Plan is not eligible for concurrent payment arrangements.

6.0 Responsibilities

6.1 Customer Accounts Unit, Customer Care Division, shall be responsible for:

6.1.1 Processing requests and entering the information required for enrollment and removal into the account records.

6.1.2 Removing customers from the program who are not in compliance with the payment requirements, or at a customer's request.

7.0 Procedure

N/A

8.0 Appendix

Distribution: Posted online at http://sclweb.light.ci.seattle.wa.us/dpp/

Sample form: Average Payment Plan application.

9.0 Revision History