About the Budget Plan Bill

CONTACT INFORMATION: Use the phone numbers to contact SMECO with questions or report an outage.

BUDGET PLAN DETAILS: A status update on your Budget Billing plan or payment plan.

USAGE COMPARISON: Compare your current month’s usage to the same month last year.

ENERGY USAGE HISTORY: This chart gives 13-month energy usage data.

DAILY AVERAGE USE: See how many kilowatt-hours you used on average each day during the billing period.

MAILING ADDRESS: The billing address as it appears in SMECO’s records. For address changes, call SMECO at 1-888-440-3311, or log in to Account Manager and update your mailing information.

ACCOUNT NUMBER: Identifies your account. Please use this number on all payments and correspondence.

DUE DATE: Pay your bill by this date to avoid late fees.

TOTAL AMOUNT DUE: The total amount that you owe for the month.

ACCOUNT SUMMARY: Summarizes billing and payment activity at the time the bill was issued.

SERVICE ADDRESS: A short location description of your account.

PAST DUE BALANCE: If you owe money from previous bills, the amount will be shown here.

DID YOU KNOW?: SMECO provides helpful information about your account, services, programs, energy efficiency and more.

METER NUMBER: A serial number that identifies the meter used at the location.

METER READINGS: The meter reading from the last billing period is subtracted from the meter reading for the current billing period to determine how much energy was used during the month.

METER MULTIPLIER: For accounts that use large amounts of electricity, meters register a percentage of the actual kilowatt-hour (kWh) usage to keep the meters from operating at excessive speeds. A meter multiplier is then used to determine the total kWh usage.

NEXT APPROXIMATE DATE TO READ METER: The approximate date of the next meter reading. The time between readings can vary from 27 to 34 days if a reading date falls on a weekend or holiday.

BILLING PERIOD: Denotes the dates and number of days covered by the bill.

RATE: Indicates which rate schedule the customer is billed under.

CURRENT CHARGES AND ADJUSTMENTS: A listing of the charges that make up the SMECO bill.

• STANDARD OFFER SERVICE (SOS): A per-kilowatt-hour charge for energy provided by SMECO. The charge is calculated each month based on the amount of electricity the customer uses. The combination of the SOS and the PCA is the total cost of electricity supply for the month.
• POWER COST ADJUSTMENT (PCA): The PCA is a monthly adjustment to the SOS charge to reflect short-term increases or decreases in the cost of purchased power. The charge or credit is calculated each month.
• FACILITIES CHARGE: A fixed monthly charge for facilities required to serve customers, including billing and payment processing, and electric service and metering facilities.
• DISTRIBUTION CHARGE: The charge for the cost of building, operating, and maintaining SMECO’s electric system (poles, conductors, substations, buildings, vehicles, etc.). The charge is based on the amount of electricity the customer uses each month.
• EMPOWER MARYLAND CHARGE: This charge covers the cost of state mandated programs to help customers save energy and save money. Rebates are available for heating and cooling systems, large appliances, and recycling refrigerators. Other programs include SmartTemp and the Home Energy Improvement Program. Go tosmeco.coop/save for more info.
• PUBLIC SERVICE COMPANY FRANCHISE TAX: A tax applying to all customers as part of state utility tax law changes made in 1999.
• ELECTRIC UNIVERSAL SERVICE CHARGE: A charge instituted by the State of Maryland to assist low- and fixed-income electric customers.
• COUNTY ENERGY TAX: St. Mary’s County charges an energy tax on the Standard Offer Service energy and demand charges. Prince George’s County charges a tax on the amount of kWh each customer uses.
• MARYLAND ENVIRONMENTAL SURCHARGE: This charge is imposed by the state. The PSC sets the amount of the surcharge every fiscal year.
• BILL STABILIZATION ADJUSTMENT: This adjustment helps ensure that SMECO revenues to cover fixed costs will not be adversely affected by abnormal weather or energy usage. This adjustment is either a charge or a credit, depending on whether revenues fall short or exceed an average monthly level.

BUDGET AMOUNT AND ADJUSTMENTS: The amount due according to your Budget Billing plan or payment plan.

TOTAL CURRENT ACCOUNT CHARGES: Charges accumulated for the most recent usage period.

MESSAGE BOARD: Find tips on saving energy and information about SMECO programs.

ENERGY EFFICIENCY TIPS: Your bill is based on the amount of energy you use, and most energy use is based on the weather because most of it is used for heating or cooling your home. Look here for ways to save energy so you can save money.