Beginning July 1, 2013, the City of Douglas will offer options for customers to pay their monthly utility bills. After hearing from several representatives of the public, the Utility Billing and Collections Department has implemented payment options for customers to pay their utility bills in a timely manner. At the present time, two options are available to customers. Customers will be able to sign up for the Average Monthly Payment Plan (AMP) or the Contract Payment Plan.
The Average Monthly Payment Plan (AMP) will allow a customer, who is not under a contract payment plan and has a 12 month billing history, to choose to have bills set to a monthly average plan. Under this plan, the billing will be a rolling average. Customers will not have a large “settle up” to do, at the end of the twelve (12) months, if they do not stop the plan because of too high or too low averages. The customer may stop the AMP plan at any time during business hours, but, must know that stopping the plan would cause them to settle their bill and they must pay the difference in the billing amount. Customers will not be allowed to start another AMP plan for a full 12 months. While on the AMP plan, the customer will NOT be eligible for a Contract Payment Plan since this is a payment plan where bills are averaged.
A customer who chooses the Contract Payment Plan, must complete a Utility Committee Form prior to 8:31am on the day Utility Billing/Collections Department is actually disconnecting customers in the particular Ward for non-pay. The Utility Billing/Collections Manager or one appointed by him will review these forms to validate eligibility by initialing the form and dating. Any request by a customer for a Contract Payment Plan must be documented on the Utility Committee Form. Each customer is allowed one (1) request for the Contract Payment Plan every twelve (12) months from his/her prior Contract Payment Plan issue date. The only exception is for Senior Citizens, age 55 or older. Senior Citizens, age 55 or older, are allowed two (2) requests per year if needed to help with high utility bills as long as the bill with the last payment of the prior Contract Payment Plan has been paid in full.
For more detailed information about the options available for utility payments, please call the Utility Billing/Collections Department at (912)389-3499 or visit our website at www.cityofdouglas.com.
