The City of Lacombe advises residents that due to a modified billing cycle in December 2016, utility customers may have experienced sharp increases in their January 2017 bills.

The billing cycle for utility accounts generally run month to month.

The December utility reads were obtained before the Christmas break on December 22.

By reading the utility accounts early, customer consumption and billing was reduced to 22 days for the month of December.

The January reads were taken on the 31st, and the extra days from December were added to the January billing cycle.

As a result, customers were charged for 40 days.

“The holiday season billing period posed a challenge for staff to get the reads close to the end of the month,” said Financial Services Manager Justin de Bresser.

“This timing difference should be minimized in 2017, as most of the city will be on radio-read metres by year-end. I encourage utility customers to sign up for online access to their utility accounts. This will enable them to view consumption, history and their bills. Customers will also have the option to pay their bills online.”

For this month’s billing cycle, manual meters reads are currently being obtained, and the radio reads are scheduled for February 27.

Bills will be in the mail or emailed on March10.

Customers with manualread metres may see a slight increase on the February bill, since those reads were also taken early in December, and the January read was estimated.

Residents are asked to call (403)782-6666 if they have any questions or require further clarification on their utility bills.

For more information on the City’s electronic billing service, visit www.lacombe.ca/ebilling.