Budget billing can help you manage your energy costs by allowing you to proportion the same amount each month. Monthly utility bills can vary significantly throughout the year due to cold winter and hot, humid summers. With our budget billing plan you can levelize your payments throughout the year, removing the month-to-month fluctuations caused by changing weather.

Budget billing allows eligible members to pay the same or slightly varied amounts each month so that you know how much your monthly payment will be regardless of the current month's actual use and charges. Budget billing does not reduce your overall energy expense; it simply allows you to spread out your annual energy expense evenly over a 12-month period.

This billing option is available to members who have at least 12 months of credit history with the cooperative at the service address where budget billing is requested and must not have exceeded the following annual use by service type:

  • Electric service – any single or three phase account using less than 200,000 kWh per year
  • Natural Gas – any service using less than 30,000 ccf per year

Eligible members must also be current with their bills and the account must have a $0.00 balance before being enrolled.

Your base budget amount is the average of the previous year's total charges for kWh, customer charge, wholesale power cost adjustment and tax. This total is rounded to the nearest dollar and reflected on your monthly invoice as the "Amount Due". However, if your account has additional charges, such as late fees, services charges, NSF fees or underpayment of a previous month's billing, these charges will increase the total amount due for that month. You will need to pay the total amount due printed on the bill.

Budget amounts are recalculated in November and May for electric accounts, and May only for natural gas accounts. 

If an account misses two months of payments during the 12-month period, the member is no longer eligible for budget billing. A budget billed account may be disconnected for nonpayment.

For additional information or to enroll in JCE Co-op's budget billing program, log-in to your account on the MyAccount portal or contact our Member Services Department at 800-858-5522 or email us at info@jcecoop.com.