Billing Glossary
Estimated Bill: An indication that we could not obtain an actual meter reading. The next actual reading will adjust for any differences between actual and estimated use.
Budget Billing Plan: UI's Budget Billing plan is a free service offered to residential customers to distribute your electricity costs evenly over the year.
Kilowatt-Hour (kWh): A measure of electricity. One kWh equals one thousand watts used for one hour. If you use one 100-watt bulb for ten hours, you use one kWh. The number of kWhs on your bill is the total you used for the days covered by this bill.
Late Payment Charge (LPC): A charge for the unpaid and overdue portion of the previous bill, minus payments and credits. It is calculated at the percentage shown on this bill.
Competitive Transition Assessment (CTA): A calculation allowing your electric distribution company to recover past prudent investments in generation assets (called stranded costs), as approved by the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA, formerly known as the DPUC [Department of Public Utility Control]).
Combined Public Benefits Charge is the combination of the following three charges:
- Conservation and Load Management Program: A charge funding programs that promote energy conservation and efficiency.
- Renewable Energy Investment: An investment funding programs that promote the use of renewable (or environmentally friendly) fuel sources, such as solar power, wind, fuel cells, methane gas from landfills, biomass, trash-to-energy, and water.
- Systems Benefit Charge: A charge funding public costs such as public education, hardship protection, and nuclear plant decommissioning.
Transmission Charge: A charge for the delivery of electricity over high voltage lines
Distribution Charge: A charge for the delivery of electricity over the poles and wires to customer homes and businesses
Generation Services Charge: A charge for the production of your electric energy (open to competition)
*RMR Contracts “Reliability Must Run”: Payments that assure that certain generating facilities continue to operate
*System Congestion: Incremental costs associated with operating less economic generation due to transmission system limitations
Decoupling Adjustment: The Decoupling Adjustment allows UI to recover or pass back to customers the difference between actual revenue versus allowed revenue requirement. It’s important to note that the mechanism can translate into either a charge or credit.
Pension Tracker & Earnings Sharing: The Pension Tracker & Earnings Sharing protects both the customer and the company from recovering too much or too little for expenses related to pension obligations and allowed return on equity (ROE).
* Part of Federally Mandated Congestion Costs: any cost imposed by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) as part of the New England Standard Market Design.