NOTICE TO ALL ENSTAR BUDGET BILLING CUSTOMERS
The Regulatory Commission of Alaska (RCA) gives notice to all ENSTAR customers
who are enrolled in the Budget Billing Program that ENSTAR is now allowing
underpayments resulting from the 2008-2009 budget billing year to be rolled into the next
budget billing plan year.
Budget Billing is a program that allows customers to pay 12 equal monthly payments.
Charges for actual gas consumption are compared to the payments received at the end
of the budget billing cycle. Recently, the Consumer Protection Section of the RCA
received complaints that underpayments resulting from the 2008-2009 budget billing
year will no longer be rolled into the next budget billing plan year. Instead, ENSTAR
applied the balance on the next billing statement and required customers to pay in full by
the due date. To rectify this issue, at the request of the RCA, ENSTAR agreed that:
- For all Budget Billing customers that have not yet been billed, ENSTAR is recalculating
the Budget Billing amount and spreading any shortage from the 2008-2009 plan year
over the 2009-2010 plan year (12 months) as the default. There are approximately 3,400
automatic bank draft (Electronic Fund Transfer or EFT) customers that are also Budget
Billing customers in this category
.
-
There are 2,682 EFT customers on the Budget Billing Plan that were billed with the
reconciliation amount on June 12. Their bank accounts will be drafted on June 30, 2009.
Some of those customers may have an overage or a shortage reconciliation, which was
applied on the billing. ENSTAR is recalculating the new plan year Budget Bill amount,
spreading any shortage reconciliation amount over the new plan year. ENSTAR will send
a separate letter to each of these customers advising them of the recalculated Budget
Bill amount and will also use an automated phone call to notify the customer that there
has been a change to the Budget Billing amount and that a letter will be arriving
explaining the change.
- For all other Budget Billing Plan customers that have already been billed the
reconciliation amount, including those that have already paid, ENSTAR will send each
customer a letter stating that there are options available to paying the reconciliation
amount including recalculating a new Budget Billing amount to include spreading the
reconciliation over the new Plan year. The letter will further state that the customer
should contact ENSTAR if they wish to discuss these options and give a specific contact
number. ENSTAR will also use an automated phone call to notify these customers that
they will be receiving a letter discussing options to paying the reconciliation amount.
- There are 1,885 EFT customers on the Budget Billing Plan that have already been
billed the reconciliation amount and their bank accounts have already been drafted.
ENSTAR will waive any Declined Payment Fee that may be generated as a result of
drafting the customer’s account for the Budget Billing reconciliation. In addition, if the
customer has incurred any additional charges from others as a result of ENSTAR’s
drafting the customer’s account for the one month reconciliation, ENSTAR will reimburse
the customer for those charges upon receipt of the appropriate documentation.
Letter regarding Budget Billing to ENSTAR
Date Issued: 6/22/2009