DME identifies 218 commercial accounts needing billing adjustments, proposes shorter underbilling lookback

Tony Pointe, general manager for DME, briefed council on adjustments to commercial demand charges and the utility—s recommendation to change retrospective billing practice. Staff—s review identified 218 commercial accounts that had not been adjusted per the current ordinance over roughly a two-year period; collectively the adjustments represented a net billing change of about $331,000.

Pointe said about 32 accounts were overbilled and received credits totaling a little over $51,000 (credits ranged from about $21 to more than $10,000, average credit roughly $1,600). The majority were underbilled (roughly 186 accounts) and represented over $382,000 in backbillings (averaging about $2,000 per backbill). "Those range from a little bit over $21 to a little bit over $26,000," Pointe said describing the backbill range.

Under the current code (Chapter 26), staff may correct billings for up to two years. Pointe recommended a customer-favoring approach: continue to refund overbillings to the earliest error, but limit collection of underbillings to a six-month lookback. He also recommended keeping the existing two-consecutive-month demand-trigger and 12-month rate lock-in (a common industry standard), and automating monthly monitoring so customer-service staff will be alerted to classification changes and billing anomalies.

Councilors asked how staff detect errors and how customers may appeal classifications. Pointe said monitoring will be automated (using SQL/macros and quality-control checks) and that disputes are generally handled at account setup; he acknowledged one customer had asked the council to completely waive an adjustment. Several council members said they supported staff—s recommendations and asked for education materials for customers to explain demand and where to find usage details on bills.