As of January 1, 2014, all CWLP bills are at least 2 pages long, with the first page(s) containing information about CWLP-related billing and the last page containing information about fees
collected by CWLP for other City departments or local governmental agencies. The total current billings for both CWLP-related and other agency-related fees, along with any net balance forwards
(debits or credits), are totaled on the final page to determine your total bill amount.
BOTTOM PORTION OF COMMERCIAL BILL (Page 1)
Retain this portion of the bill for your records.
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| Account Number |
This is the 17-digit hyphenated number that identifies the specific account covered by this bill. Your full account number consists of a 9-digit account number (located before the hyphen) that identifies the particular Service Address and an 8-digit customer number (located after the hyphen) that identifies the person whose name appears on the account. If you have multiple accounts with CWLP, your customer number will be the same on all of your accounts. |
| Service Address |
This is the address that received the CWLP service(s) being charged on this bill. |
| Last Payment Amount |
This is the amount of your last payment received and credited to your account prior to this bill's Billing Date. |
| Last Payment Received On |
This is the date on which your last payment was received by CWLP. |
| Service |
This column lists all the types of CWLP service (e.g., Electric, Electric Demand, Water, Fire Protection Line) for which you are being charged on this bill.
- If you are an electric customer, commercial customers are charged for two types of electricity use:
- Energy: Energy refers to the cumulative amount of electricity used in a given period of time. In other words, the number of kilowatts you used over the total number of hours in the billing period. You are billed at a specific rate per kilowatt-hour (kWh) of Usage. Your energy rate depends on your Rate Classification and the time of year. Summer rates are higher than winter rates. Information relating to your energy consumption during the month appears in the "Electric" line of your bill.
- Demand: Demand refers to the amount of power—in kilowatts (kW)—you draw from the utility. You are billed at a specific rate per kW for the highest average demand measured in any 15 minute increment during the billing period. Your demand rate depends on your rate classification and the time of year. Summer demand rates are higher than those for winter. To ensure your demand charge won't be based solely on an anomalous demand spike, your meter continually measures and averages out your demand over 15-minute continuums throughout the month. The highest average peak in any of these periods is considered your demand. Information relating to your demand during the month appears in the "Elec. KWD or Summer or Winter Kw Demand" lines of your bill.
- If you are a water customer, information relating to your water consumption during the month appears in the "Water" line of your bill. The listing for your water service will also indicate the diameter size of the water line coming into your water meter. This "meter size" will affect the amount of your Water Monthly Charge and your Public Works Sewer Monthly Charge. If you have a compound water meter, it will indicate measures for Water-High Flow and Water-Low Flow separately.
- If you have any other type of service from CWLP, such as a Fire Protection Line or Security Lights, information relating to that service will appear in an appropriately labeled line in this Type of Service column, as well as in the bill detail lines of this bill.
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| Meter Number |
Each electric and water meter installed on your property is identified by a number. The ID number of each of your meters is listed in this column. |
| Rate (Classification) |
The numbers in this column indicate your rate classification for each type of service you receive from CWLP. Your rate classification determines the rate (dollar amount) you will pay for each kWh of electricity and each unit of water you use. Rate classification is based on a number of considerations, including whether you are a residential or commercial (business) electric customer, whether you are an "Inside the City" or "Outside the City" water customer, and whether or not your residence uses electricity as its primary heat source. More information about electric and water rates can be found here, https://www.cwlp.com/Departments/ElectricDeptHome/ElectricInformation/ElectricRates.aspx. |
| Read Date |
This tells you when each of your meters was read for this billing period. |
| Days |
This tells you how many days are covered in this billing period (i.e., the number of days between the most recent meter reading and the previous one). |
| Read Type |
The letters in this column indicate how your electric and water consumption for the month was determined:
- A: Actual Read taken by a meter reader
- C: Card Read by the customer, who submitted the reading to CWLP
- E: Estimated Read by computer, based, in part, on historical consumption
- P: Phoned-In Read by the customer
- M: Manually Estimated Read by the Customer Service Office
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| Meter Read |
This tells you the reading taken from (or estimated for) your electric and/or water meters for the Previous and Current Month. By subtracting the Previous reading from the Current reading, we can determine your exact kWh of electricity and units of water usage during this billing period. |
| Meter Multiplier |
A multiplying factor for commercial customer meters. The multiplier times the difference in the previous and present readings equals the actual usage.
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| Usage |
For electric customers with a Meter Multiplier of 1.00 and for water customers, we subtract your current from your previous Meter Read to determine exactly how many kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity or units of water you used during this billing period.
For electric customers with a meter multiplier greater than 1.00, we subtract your current from your previous electric meter read, then multiply that number by the meter multiplier to determine exactly how many kWh of electricity you used during this billing period. In the case of this sample bill, the meter read showed a consumption of 496 kWh. Multiplying 496 by the meter multiplier of 1200, we arrive at an actual consumption of 595,200 kWh.
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| Current Billing |
The dollar amounts listed in this column on both pages of your bill reflect the charges and credits applied to your bill for this billing period, from which your Net Balance Forward, Current CWLP Charges, Charges for Sewer, Sanitary and Waste and Recycling billed for the City Office of Public Works and Sangamon County Water Reclamation District Sewer, Total Current Charges and Total Balance will be calculated. |
| Payment |
If you made a payment on a previous month's bill that was received by CWLP prior to the current bill being issued, that payment will be reflected here as a credit (CR) and will be subtracted from your previous Billing amount. |
| Billing |
This is your balance forward from the previous month. It will show as either a debit, credit (CR), or $0.
- If payment for your previous month's bill was not received in time to be credited to your account prior to this bill's Billing Date, or if you made only a partial payment on your previous month's bill, the amount of the balance remaining on that bill will be reflected here. This balance does not include charges incurred or Rebates earned during the period covered by the current bill.
- If you are on our Level Payment Plan and your monthly level pay amounts are lower than your actual customer and consumption charges during any given month, the accumulated unpaid balance on your account will be reflected here. This balance will be added into your Total Balance, but you do not have to pay the balance off during this billing cycle if your Total Balance exceeds what you are required to pay under your Level Payment Plan agreement. Any balances remaining on your account on your anniversary date will be reconciled at that time. More information about the Level Payment Plan program can be found here, https://www.cwlp.com/ServicesHome/ServicesInformation/LevelPayment.aspx.If you previously overpaid your bill, or if you previously received a bill Rebate you haven't completely used up, that overpayment or remaining credit will be shown here as a credit (CR).
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| Rebate |
If you applied for and received a qualifying rebate—such as a Heat Pump Rebate—the amount of that rebate will appear as a credit (CR) on your bill for the month when it is applied to your account. Any balance carried over from a previous month's bill will be reduced by the size of your rebate in the calculation of your Net Balance Forward. |
| Net Balance Forward |
This is the total of all amounts covered under the "Previous Transactions" section of your bill. It's calculated by subtracting any payments received during this billing period from your last month's billing amount and then subtracting the amount of any rebates received during this billing period from that difference. If the Net Balance Forward is a positive amount, it will be added to the total of all other charges contained on the bill when the Total Balance is calculated on page 2. However, in the case of this sample bill, the Net Balance Forward is a negative amount (a credit, as denoted by the "CR"), so it will be subtracted from all other charges contained on this bill when the Total Balance is calculated. |
| Electric Monthly Customer Charge |
All CWLP electric customers pay a monthly customer charge that reimburses the utility for administrative expenses—including meter reading and billing services—not covered by kWh Energy or Fuel Adjustment charges. The amount of your monthly customer charge depends on your Rate Classification. |
| Summer or Winter KWh Energy |
Energy, which is measured in kilowatt-hours (kWh), refers to the cumulative amount of electricity used during a given period of time. In other words, how many kilowatts did you use over the total number of hours in the billing period? You are billed at a specific rate (dollar amount) per kWh of usage. Your rate depends on your Rate Classification and the time of year. Summer rates are higher than winter rates because there is typically greater demand for CWLP electricity in the hot summer months. More information about CWLP's residential electric rates can be found here, https://www.cwlp.com/Departments/ElectricDeptHome/ElectricInformation/ElectricRates.aspx.To determine your total energy cost for the month, we multiply your rate per kWh by the number of kilowatt-hours you used during the billing period. |
| Summer or Winter KWh Demand |
Most CWLP commercial customer classes are charged a demand rate in addition to their kWh Energy rate. Demand refers to the amount of power—in kilowatts (kW)—you draw from the utility. You are billed at a specific rate per kW for the highest average demand measured in any 15 minute increment during the billing period. |
| Fuel Adjustment |
Like many other electric utilities, CWLP applies a Fuel Adjustment Charge (FAC) to customer electric bills in order to not have to continuously change the utility’s basic rate schedules. The fuel adjustment provides the utility with a means of charging customers for the true cost of providing service—based on the ever-changing cost of coal, fuel and fuel-related costs, purchased power and environmental costs incurred by the electric system, in addition to a charge per kilowatt-hour (kWh) for the utility’s Environmental and Regulatory Initiative and Rebate Fund (ERIRF). Depending on the actual monthly costs of fuel incurred by the electric system, the effect of the fuel adjustment can be an increase or a decrease in your overall energy cost for the month. On your bill, the FAC-per-kWh in effect for the current billing period is multiplied by the total number of kWh consumed during the same period to determine how much your FAC cost for the month will be. |
| Transformer Discount |
Commercial electric customers in Rate Classes 42, 43, 44, 46, 47 and 49 are eligible to receive a 2% "Transformer Discount" on their electric bills if CWLP elects to meter those customers at 2400 volts or higher. |
| Primary Metering Discount |
Commercial electric customers in Rate Classes 42, 43, 44, 46, 47 and 49 are eligible to receive a 2% "Primary Metering Discount" on their electric bills if those customers, with the approval of CWLP, furnish, install and maintain the transformers that reduce the voltage coming into their facilities from 2400 volts or higher to the voltage required by the customer. |
| State Utility Tax |
Your electric bill is subject to the State Utility Tax, which is collected by CWLP and passed on to the State of Illinois. Effective January 1, 1986, the tax is 5% of your total electric cost or $0.0032 per kilowatt-hour, whichever results in a lower tax amount. Monthly customer charges are not included in any state tax calculations made at the 5% rate.
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| Electric Charges |
This is the sum total of all electricity-related charges on this bill, including the Energy Charge, the Fuel Adjustment Charge, the Monthly Customer Charge, and the State Utility Tax. |
| Water Monthly Customer Charge |
All CWLP water customers pay a monthly customer charge that reimburses the utility for administrative expenses—including meter reading and billing services—not covered by Water Consumption Charges. The amount of your monthly customer charge depends on the size of your water meter (as measured by the diameter of the water line coming in to the meter). |
| Water Units / Consumption Charges |
You will be charged a certain rate (dollar amount) per unit (1 unit = 748 gallons) of water depending on your Rate Classification and your total Water Usage during the billing period. The first five units of water used are billed at the lowest rate, the next five units are billed at a higher rate, and all usage over 10 units is billed at the highest rate. |
| Water Charges |
This is the sum of all CWLP water-related charges on this bill. |
| Fire Protection Charges |
This is the total monthly cost of your Fire Protection Line service. |
| Project Relief Contribution |
If you contribute to CWLP's Project RELIEF bill assistance program for in-need customers by authorizing CWLP to add a set amount to your bill each month, the amount of your contribution will be listed here. |
| Round Up Contribution |
If you contribute to the City of Springfield’s Round Up To End Homelessness program, by authorizing CWLP to round up your bill to the nearest dollar or add a set amount to your bill each month, the amount of your contribution will be listed here. |
| Current CWLP Charges |
This is the sum total of all CWLP-related charges—Electric Charges, Water Charges, Security Light Charges (if applicable), and Total Contributions (if applicable)—applied to your bill for the month. This amount does not include the Net Balance Forward. |
| Please Pay This Amount |
If you are not on CWLP's Level Payment Plan, the amount in this box will be equal to your bill's Total Balance, which is calculated on page 2. If you are on the Level Payment Plan, the amount in this box will be the amount you are scheduled to pay each month under the terms of your Level Payment Plan agreement. |
| Due Date |
This is the date by which your payment should be received by CWLP. Payments received after this date will be considered late and will be subject to a penalty charge of 1% per month, with a minimum penalty of 50¢. |
| Next Scheduled Read Date |
This is the date on which your meter is scheduled to be read next. |
| Average Daily Usage (kWh) |
Your total electric kWh Usage for the billing period divided by the number of Days in the period to determine the average number of kWh you use each day. This can be helpful in comparing your usage from month to month or from one month to the same month in a previous year. |
| Average Daily Electric Cost |
Your Electric Charges for the billing period divided by the number of Days in the period to determine the average amount you pay for electricity each day. This can be helpful in comparing your energy costs from month to month or from one month to the same month in a previous year. |
| Billing Date |
This is the date on which CWLP issued this bill. |
| Contributions YTD Status |
If you use your bill to make Project RELIEF Contributions or Round Up To End Homelessness Donations, the total of your calendar year donations for each program will be listed here. |
| Payment Plan |
CWLP has several different types of payment plans, including the Level Payment Plan, the Level Pay Automatic Debit Plan, and the Variable Pay Automatic Debit Plan. If you are on one of these payment plans, information about that plan, your payment amount and due date, and your account status will appear here. If you are on the Level Payment Plan or Level Pay Automatic Debit Plan, the status of your plan, as of your Last Payment Amount, will be detailed in a table that describes the following.
- Current Charges: The total of all charges incurred minus any credits earned during the billing period (Total Balance).
- Payments to Date: The total amount paid into your account via your monthly bill payments or any Rebates (bill credits) you have received since your last Level Payment Plan review.
- A/R Balance: The unpaid balance (or credit) in your account as of the Last Payment Amount. If your monthly payments have totaled less than your total charges since your last Level Payment Plan review, this part of the table will show a remaining balance. If your payments have totaled more than your actual charges, this part of the table will show a credit (designated by a "CR"). Each year, your account will be reviewed and reconciled. If a balance or credit remains, your Level Pay amount for the upcoming year will be adjusted accordingly.
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| Regular or Prorated Bill |
If there are no fewer than 20 and no more than 45 Days in this billing cycle, your bill is considered a "Regular" bill and you will be charged for a full month's Electric Monthly Customer Charge, Water Monthly Customer Charge, Security Light Charge, Public Works Sewer Monthly Customer Charge, and Sangamon County Water Reclamation District Monthly Customer Charge.
If there are fewer than 20 or more than 45 days in this billing cycle, your bill is considered a "Prorated" bill and your monthly customer charges and Security Light Charge, as well as the number of units applicable to each water usage and sewer usage block, will be reduced or increased accordingly.
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BOTTOM PORTION OF COMMERCIAL BILL (Page 2)
Retain this portion of the bill for your records.
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| Fees Billed For |
In addition to charges for CWLP-related services, CWLP includes fees charged by certain other City Departments and other local governmental agencies on its bills as a service to those departments and agencies. CWLP passes these collected fees along to the appropriate department/agency. |
| Public Works Sewer Monthly Customer Charge |
CWLP water customers who are classified as "Inside the City" (Rate 10) customers pay a monthly sewer fund customer charge to the City of Springfield Department of Public Works’ Sewer Fund. This charge is collected by CWLP and passed on to Public Works. The amount of your Sewer Monthly Customer Charge depends on the size of your CWLP water meter (as measured by the diameter of the water line coming in to the meter).
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| Sewer Consumption Charges |
CWLP water customers who are classified as "Inside the City" (Rate 10) customers are charged a sewer consumption fee by the City of Springfield Department of Public Works for all water use that is anticipated to end up in the Springfield sewer system. (Unless your property is equipped with a sewer revenue meter, 100% of your water consumption is considered to end up in the sewer system.) CWLP collects these fees and passes them on to the Department of Public Works. Sewer rates and customer charges are set by the Springfield City Council on recommendations made by the Director of Public Works. Your Sewer Fund rate is based on your Water Rate Classification and your total Water Usage during the billing period. The first three units of water subject to the Sewer Fund Consumption Charge are charged at a lower rate than subsequent units. |
| Sewer Charges |
This is the sum of the Public Works Sewer Monthly Customer Charge and Consumption Charges for the month. For more information about the purpose of these charges, contact Public Works at 217.789.2255 or Public.Works@springfield.il.us. |
| Sangamon County Water Reclamation District Monthly Charge |
All CWLP water customers not on a septic system pay a monthly customer charge to the Sangamon County Water Reclamation District t for the sewage treatment services they provide. CWLP collects and passes on all monies collected under the Sangamon County Water Reclamation District section of the bill to that agency. Sanitary Monthly and Consumption Charges are set by the District. For more information about how these rates and charges are set, contact the Sangamon County Water Reclamation District by phone at 217.528.0491 or by email info@scwrd.org. The amount of this Monthly Charge depends on whether or not you are classified as an "Inside the City" (Rate 10) or "Outside-the-City" (Rate 11 or 12) CWLP water customer. |
| Sangamon County Water Reclamation District Consumption Charges |
CWLP water customers not on a septic system are charged a sanitary/sewage fee by the Sangamon County Water Reclamation District for all water use that is anticipated to end up in the District's sewage treatment system. (Unless your property is equipped with a sewer revenue meter, 100% of your water consumption is considered to end up in the sewage treatment system.) CWLP collects these fees and passes them on to the District, which is responsible for setting all of its consumption and customer charges. For more information about how Sanitary District rates and customer charges are set, contact the Sangamon County Water Reclamation District at 217.528.0491 or by email info@scwrd.org. The District rate is based on the CWLP water Rate Classification and the total Water Usage during the billing period. |
| Sanitary Charges |
This is the total of the Sangamon County Water Reclamation District Monthly Charge and Consumption Charges for the month. |
| Subtotal Charges This Page |
This is the subtotal of all Current Charges billed by CWLP for the City of Springfield Office of Public Works and the Sangamon County Water Reclamation District during this billing period. |
| Subtotal CWLP Charges |
This is the subtotal of all Current CWLP Charges, which has been brought over from page 1 of the bill. |
| Total Current Charges |
This is the subtotal of all Current Charges Billed by CWLP billed for the City of Springfield Office of Public Works and the Sangamon County Water Reclamation District for their services and all Current CWLP Charges. |
| Net Balance Forward |
This is the total of all Previous Transactions—including the amount you were billed and paid for during the previous billing period and any rebates credited to your account during this period. This amount is carried to page 2 from the Net Balance Forward line on page 1 of the bill and is added to or subtracted from the Total Current Charges, depending on whether the Net Balance Forward is a credit or debit. |
| Total Balance |
This is the total of all charges (Total Current Charges plus or minus Net Balance Forward) incurred on this month's bill. If you are not on CWLP's Level Payment Plan, this is the amount you are expected to pay. If you are on the Level Payment Plan, you should pay the amount agreed to under the terms of your plan and shown under Please Pay This Amount on the bottom of page 1 of the bill. |
| Please Pay This Amount |
If you are not on CWLP's Level Payment Plan, the amount in this box will be equal to your bill's Total Balance, which is calculated on page 2. If you are on the Level Payment Plan, the amount in this box will be the amount you are scheduled to pay each month under the terms of your Level Payment Plan agreement. |
| Due Date |
This is the date by which your payment should be received by CWLP. Payments received after this date will be considered late and will be subject to a penalty charge of 1% per month, with a minimum penalty of 50¢. |
| Next Scheduled Read Date |
This is the date on which your meter is scheduled to be read next. |
| Average Daily Usage (kWh) |
Your total electric kWh Usage for the billing period divided by the number of Days in the period to determine the average number of kWh you use each day. This can be helpful in comparing your usage from month to month or from one month to the same month in a previous year. |
| Average Daily Electric Cost |
Your Electric Charges for the billing period divided by the number of Days in the period to determine the average amount you pay for electricity each day. This can be helpful in comparing your energy costs from month to month or from one month to the same month in a previous year. |
| Billing Date |
This is the date on which CWLP issued this bill. |
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