Budget Billing Quick Facts
Want consistent utility bills? Budget billing might be for you.
People who live in Central Iowa expect humid, hot summers and windy, cold winters. We know the weather will change if we wait five minutes. That’s also true for our utility bills, though we never quite get used to how the spikes and dips in cooling and heating
needs impact our monthly budgets.
For many people, budget billing can eliminate ugly surprises on your bill and give you a stable, consistent way to plan for utility spending. But it’s important to understand how it works and whether it works for you.
What is budget billing?
Essentially, budget billing allows you to pay the same amount on your utility bill each month, spreading out the fluctuating costs of cooling, heating, and water usage over the year. With any utility, including IMU, customers can set up budget billing after they have 12 consecutive months of service at their residence that can be used to calculate a monthly average. At the end of each year, any difference in actual usage is calculated into the next year’s budget billing amount.
What are the advantages of budget billing?
The main advantage of budget billing is consistency. Many people appreciate knowing what they’ll pay every month, like they already do with other major bills. Budget billing works by spreading your predicted costs evenly over the year so you won’t see crazy fluctuations during the hottest and coldest months.
What are the potential disadvantages?
The biggest perceived disadvantage of budget billing is that it’s possible to end up with a large bill at the end of the year if your current utility usage doesn’t line up with the model from the prior year. Sometimes that can’t be helped. Extreme weather, a new person in the home, even a new hobby that uses lots of electricity or water can raise your usage over the predicted level. But when that’s not happening, you can manage your costs by monitoring your bill, which always shows how far over or under you are for the year so far. So if your electric costs suddenly go up, for example, you can think about what changed in your home and adjust usage accordingly. You can call IMU any time to adjust your monthly payment to cover the increased usage.
How does IMU budget billing work?
Budget billing with IMU is all-inclusive, so water and sewer, electric, fiber, phone, and TV will technically all be on the budget plan, even though some costs - like for fiber services - don’t vary. To sign up, just call the office at 515-961-9444 during regular business hours. If you’ve been in the system for 12 full billing cycles and your account is in good standing, you’re eligible. Once you apply, your monthly average is calculated and a letter sent to your home for you to sign and provide the required auto-pay information. When everything has been received and processed, budget billing starts with the next billing cycle.
How do I cancel my budget billing if it doesn’t work out for me?
Budget billing can be canceled by calling our office and requesting budget billing be ended. Customers can cancel any time, even if they’re not moving or ending service. Any budget balance deficit or credit will appear on the next invoice.
What happens if I go over or under my predicted usage for the year?
At the time of annual recalculation (usually in February or March) any budget imbalance is allocated and included in the next 12 month average. That means a surplus will lower your next-year bill, while payments on a deficit are spread over the next 12 months so you’ll never have to worry about a hefty bill you weren’t expecting. If you prefer to pay down all or part of your budget deficit right away, call our office and we will assist you.
If you’re interested in signing up and still have questions, please call 515-961-9444 during regular business hours. One of our in-house customer service reps can help!
GOOD NEWS!
This spring a software upgrade will give budget billing customers more control over unbudgeted changes in usage, with the option to stop by our office or call in to make extra payments directly to the budget balance.