Reading Your Utility Bill
Posted: Tuesday, August 26, 2025
- 1. Your account information including account number, service address, statement date, and service period are clearly displayed in the top right corner of the statement.
- 2. The previous balance is the amount that was due on the previous month’s bill. This section displays any payments made on the account as well as any outstanding charges.
- 3. Individual charges and usage are displayed here. Each type of service is subtotaled.
- 4. This is the total amount due as of the statement date shown at the top of your bill, including any past due charges carried over from previous billing cycles.
- 5. This message center is where you will find important information each month from Stoughton Utilities.
- 6. Detach this pay stub and return it with your payment. In addition to your account number, service address, and statement date, you will also see this month’s current charges, the due date, and your total amount due.
- Statement Date: This is the date your billing statement was generated. Any payments made after this date will not be reflected on this statement.
- Current Charges: These are the current charges for the current service period only. Any past due amounts, credits, or budget amounts will not be reflected here.
- Total Amount Due: This is the total amount due on your account, including any past due amounts and credits. If you’re on the budget billing plan, your budget amount due will be shown here.
- 7. Details related to your meter readings can be found here. This section shows your current and previous meter readings, as well as if we read your meter or had to estimate your usage.
Definitions
Customer charge: A charge for electric service that covers a portion of the costs for electric meters, meter reading and billing.
Demand: The rate at which electric energy is delivered to or used by a customer expressed in kilowatts at a given instant or averaged over a designated period of time, usually 15 minutes.
Demand charge: A charge for electric service provided designed to recover the capacity (kW) costs of the wholesale electric supplier .
Demand rate: A method of charging for electricity where the rate of electric usage (kW) during the billing period is considered in determining a portion of the customer’s bill.
Distribution demand: Highest demand over the current month or preceding 11 months.
Distribution demand charge: Designed to recover costs of infrastructure needed to deliver electricity from wholesale delivery point to customer’s service entrance.
Energy: When used in the billing context, generally refers to kilowatt-hours.
Energy charge: The portion of the electric service based on electric energy (kWh) consumed.
Flat rate: The price charged per kWh is constant, does not change based on time of day.
Kilowatt: Measure of electric power equal to 1,000 watts. One kilowatt (kW) equals 1.34 horsepower.
Kilowatt-hour: Basic unit for measuring electric energy. Equal to one kilowatt of power supplied or consumed for one hour.
Late payment charge: Charge that covers administrative and carrying costs of late payments.
Off-Peak period: Periods of relatively low system demand, including nights and evenings, weekends, and holidays.
On-Peak period: Periods of relatively high system demand from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. on weekdays.
Power Cost Adjustment Clause (PCAC): Charge per kWh that varies monthly. Designed to make wholesale power costs a pass-through cost to customer. Equivalent to the amount current per-unit cost of wholesale power is greater or less than base per-unit cost of power.
Single-phase service: Service where the facility has two energized wires coming into it. Typically serves 120/240 volt services and requires simpler infrastructure to support. Is less expensive to install and maintain.
Three-phase service: Service where the facility has three energized wires coming into it. Requires more sophisticated equipment and tends to be more expensive to install and maintain.
Time-of-use rate: Prices for electricity that vary depending on what time of day the customer uses electricity. Designed to reflect the different cost the utility incurs to provide electricity during on-peak and off-peak periods.