Client in Minneapolis got a 20-day billing period from Xcel Energy this month. They're claiming it's to 'normalize' billing cycles after the winter storm outages. Customer is asking if this is legitimate or if they should push back. The bill was about 35% lower than normal, which makes sense for the shorter period, but wanted to check if 20 days is within acceptable range.
Short billing periods - is 20 days acceptable?
Ted, most tariffs allow billing periods between 28-33 days with exceptions for emergencies or system issues. 20 days is pretty short but if it's due to storm-related meter reading issues, it's probably legitimate. Check Xcel's tariff schedule for minimum billing period language. As long as they're not double-billing any days, should be fine.
Following up on Yvonne's point - we saw similar short periods with MidAmerican Energy after the August derecho here in Iowa. 18-22 day periods for about three months while they got meter reading back on schedule. The key is making sure they don't do a 'catch-up' billing next month that creates overlap charges. Watch the next bill carefully.
Thanks both. I'll check the next bill to make sure there's no overlap. The customer was mainly concerned about demand charges being calculated on such a short period, but those look proportional. Dana, good point about watching for catch-up billing - that's where utilities usually create problems.
Ted, one more thing to watch - make sure Xcel doesn't apply any minimum bill provisions incorrectly during short billing periods. Some utilities try to charge the full monthly minimum even on partial periods. The minimum should be prorated too if the period is significantly shorter than normal.