Laughlin Family Housing will be changing to the Method “D” Utility Billing Program. This is in compliance with the Air Force’s program in which military members and their families are responsible for the utilities they consume, and as such are encouraged to be more conscious of how their actions can affect the environment. Every resident is provided with a changing monthly utility allowance which is intended to cover the cost of utilities (water, sewer, and refuse collection are excluded). Residents who consume energy conservatively may earn a rebate, and residents who choose to use energy less conservatively may be billed for their excess consumption. Laughlin Family Housing will continue to use Minol as the third-party utility billing company to provide monthly utility billing statements. The resident’s Utility Allowance will be calculated using Method “D” and will provide you a method in which the UA will adjust with the seasonal high and lows. Along with the method change, the UA will also change. Both Changes will take effect with the BAH Change for the new year. The new UA will be used to calculate your consumption for the month of January and will be reflected on the first bill that uses 2014 consumption. UTILITY ALLOWANCE (UA) Method D ■ Established to set aside a portion of a service members BAH to pay utility costs. ■ The UA does not eliminate out-of-pocket utility expenses for all Service Members. ■ Over Consumption of UA = out-of-pocket expenses (i.e., payment of the difference between their actual consumption and the allowance). ■ Under Consumption of UA = reward (i.e., rebate equal to the difference between their actual consumption and their allowance). ■ UA Calculation is calculated annually and derived by taking the average usage (i.e., similar or same floor plans are grouped together) multiplied by applicable rates, and increased by 10 %, calculating a total of 110% of the average UA the military member and families would receive to allow for anomalies. The total of the annual UA is broken out into seasonal factors (%), which would take the varying average monthly consumption divided by the total consumption to come up with a percentage based monthly UA. An example of Utility Allowance Method “D” is included for your review which utilizes the seasonal method for calculating the UA, and as such, allows for seasonal changes to be part of the overall annual UA calculation. For example, the locations of Laughlin Family Housing has very warm summers, and with the heat the average resident is likely to over consume those four months out of the year, even with the best conservation efforts. A resident having to pay for this overage could create a financial hardship on their families. Method “D” allows for the percentage of the Utility Allowance to be changed for the months that the resident would likely consume more energy. Method “D” also allows for the resident and family members who may reside at a duty location for six months or less, to not have the out-of-pocket costs if they live at any of the Laughlin Family Housing only during high consumption months. The UA program is designed so that a military member will not be required to pay out-of-pocket at the end of the year for utility expenses. Because PCS season falls during the summer months, a military member does not have a chance to save the UA under consumption from the months where they typically consume fewer utilities. Again, this may place the military member and their families under financial hardship. Method “D” would allow the military member to use the appropriate percentage every month, mitigating the extreme highs and lows due to seasonality. For example; if the average household consumes 27% of their UA in July, they will receive 27% of their annual UA for the July billing period. This will leave the remainder of 73% that would be split in accordance with the seasonality calculation for the remaining 11 months. If I can answer any questions or concerns you have with this method, please let me know.
Posted on: Mon, 28 Oct 2013 15:08:38 +0000