Utility Bills

Due to the heavy snow and subsequent inaccessibility to electric and water meters, the Petersburg Borough has been having to estimate many meter readings for utility bills this month.  If your meter reading has been estimated, it will say so on your utility bill.

When an estimate has been done, the Borough’s utility software automatically calculates the estimation using the following process: The program takes the previous month’s usage and number of billing days and the usage and number of billing days for the same month of last year.  The total usage of these two sample months is then divided by the total number of billing days to come up with the most likely average daily usage for your home or business at this time of year.  The resulting daily usage estimate is then multiplied by the number of billing days for this month to come up with the final estimated billing for the month.  

The process takes into account your recent usage history and a historic usage history for the same time of year to get as close to the actual billing as possible.  If your billing is estimated, there will be a billing “true up” when an actual reading can be taken and applied to your account.   For most customers, this will result in an abnormal monthly bill when the actual reading is possible, but please know that the charges will reflect the amount of power or water/sewer that you have used since the estimation occurred.   The Borough has no desire to cause hardship on any customer due to estimated billing and acknowledges that the best situation is for accurate readings of electric and water meters be taken every month.  

To help ensure that minimal estimation is used for your utility billing, please do the best you can of keeping your meters accessible to the meter reader – as is required by Borough Municipal Code.  This includes considerations of snow berms, hazardous ice and snow roof overhangs and overgrowth of brush and other vegetation.  Your cooperation is greatly appreciated.

If you have any questions regarding your billing, please contact the Borough Finance Department at 907-772-4425.