Understanding your bill | Kansas

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Your due date and the amount due are located at the top of the front page, along with your account number and service address.

Easily compare this month’s usage to the same time last year and view reasons why your bill may have changed since last month.

The billing summary breaks down your charges into four categories that are displayed in a simple, easy-to-read chart.

• Delivery: Costs to bring energy to your address. This includes the customer fee, which helps to cover the costs of pipelines, technology and equipment required to deliver that service.
• Energy supply: Pass-through market cost of natural gas.
• Taxes: Local and state taxes and fees.
• Other: Credits, adjustments and other charges included in your bill.

In this section you’ll find useful safety information and specific tips to help you save energy and money. 

If paying your bill by mail, detach the bottom of the front page and include this with your check in an envelope.

The last 12 months of usage history is available to help you see how this varies throughout the year.

Specifics about your monthly charges are shown by category and color-coded to match the monthly bill summary chart on the front page.

Important information about your account is included in the messages section.

Managing your account online provides easy access to resources and tools, including:

• Viewing your usage and bill history.
• Starting, stopping or transferring service.
• Paying your bill or changing your payment method.
• Managing email and text alerts.
• Enrolling in programs such as Auto Pay and paperless billing.

We offer several ways to pay your bill so that you can pick the one that’s right for you.

Customer Charge: A fixed monthly charge, separate from energy usage, that recovers a portion of Black Hills Energy’s fixed operating costs, such as customer accounting, technical training and customer call center services, as well as costs associated with Black Hills Energy’s investments in customer-related natural gas facilities such as meters and service lines.

Commodity Charge: The commodity charge (also known as the delivery charge) is the cost to deliver the natural gas to the customer. The total charge is variable and depends on the gas consumption.

Purchased Gas Adjustment (PGA): The cost Black Hills Energy pays for the natural gas that is delivered to customers. Any costs incurred by Black Hills Energy are passed-through dollar-for-dollar to customers without a mark-up in price.   

Gas Hedge Factor: This fee is applied to customer bills from April to October each year and recovers the cost of a natural gas hedging program, as annually reviewed and approved by the Kansas Corporation Commission. The hedging program helps to partially mitigate against price volatility in the winter. Black Hills Energy passes the actual cost of gas directly to customers without a mark-up in price.

Weather Normalization Adjustment (WNA): This adjustment is determined by comparing the actual delivery charge revenue to revenue that would have been collected under normal weather conditions. At the end of the twelve-month calculation period (Oct.-Sept.), the difference between the two numbers is either refunded or surcharged to customers over the next twelve months, depending on whether temperatures were warmer or colder than normal.

Ad Valorem (Property) Tax Surcharge (AVTS): This cost recovers Kansas state property tax paid by Black Hills Energy. The state assesses values annually for each of the 50 counties served by Black Hills Energy. The county then bills Black Hills Energy the property taxes and we pay the county directly. This surcharge is authorized by Kansas statute and the amount has been reviewed and approved by the Kansas Corporation Commission.

Gas System Reliability Surcharge (GSRS): This adjustment recovers the cost of improving the gas distribution system, integrity management programs and cyber-security projects to maintain safe and reliable service. The GSRS also recovers costs of government-mandated road relocation projects.

Storm Uri Gas Charge: The Storm Uri Gas Charge recovers the cost of natural gas procured by Black Hills Energy during the unprecedented February 2021 cold weather event. These natural gas purchase costs and subsequent customer charges were audited and approved by the Kansas Corporation Commission. The charge will be recovered over a five-year period for all sales customers, excluding irrigation.

Tax Adjustment Rider (TA Rider): The TA Rider customer credit or charge is applied as a percentage of actual monthly base billings, including the monthly customer charge, commodity charge, and where applicable, the weather normalization adjustment total. The rider provides customers certain tax benefits associated with the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 and Kansas Bill 2585 of 2020.

Franchise Fee, County and State Sales Tax: Fees and taxes collected and paid to the city, county and/ or state based on city, county, and state laws.