Understanding My Bill

An administrative agency of the Unified Government that provides retail and wholesale Electric and Water service to Kansas City, Kansas and local jurisdictions.

An amount of money applied to the customer’s account that reduces the total amount they owe on their bill.

A credit kilowatt-hour measures the electricity the customer’s solar panels send back to the power grid. This will only appear on a customer’s bill if they have a solar power system.

A cubic foot is a volumetric measurement of use in the water industry and contains approximately 7.48 gallons. One hundred (100) cubic feet (CCF) is therefore approximately 748 gallons.

A Customer Charge is one of the Base Monthly Charges in a rate schedule. This charge normally provides for recovery of costs incurred in providing service to customers and is not related to how much energy a customer uses. The Customer Charge represents a portion of the cost of system access and customer service including the cost of meter reading, bill calculation, postage and the expenses associated with the basic plant investment at each service location, such as meters, transformers, service lines, etc.

An Energy Charge is a rate applied to the amount of energy used by a customer, expressed in Kilowatt-hours (kWh).

The Energy Rate Component (ERC) is a rider applied to the amount of energy used by a customer to recover the Utility’s fuel and all purchased power costs and other ancillary costs incurred to provide energy to customers.

The Environmental Surcharge (ESC) is a rider to provide for the annual recovery of the Utility’s capital investment in projects that are required to meet Federal, State or Local environmental regulations.

Appears on the bills of customers who have enrolled in BPU’s Equal Payment Plan (EPP). This optional plan helps make utility payments more predictable by basing the monthly payment on the customer’s average utility costs over the past 12 months. The summary shows the customer’s current utility charges, monthly EPP payment, any balance carried forward, and settlement balance, which reflects the difference between actual utility charges and payments made through the plan. Customers who have not enrolled in EPP will not have this summary on their bill. To learn more about EPP, visit https://bpu.com/billing-rates/payment-assistance/ 

Weather-related or unforeseen circumstances may prevent us from obtaining an actual meter reading. In this case, your meter reading will be estimated.

A State of Kansas imposed fee based on gallons of water consumed.

A kilowatt-hour is 1000 watt-hours and is a measure of energy. It is the time rate use of power. As an example: A 100-watt light bulb used for 10 hours would be 1000 watt-hours or 1 kWh.

A government-funded program that helps eligible households pay a portion of their home energy costs. When assistance is applied to a BPU account, the LIEAP section of the bill shows any credit carried over from a previous balance, new assistance added, the amount applied toward the current bill, and the remaining credit available. This section only appears on accounts with LIEAP assistance or a remaining LIEAP credit.

For more information, visit https://www.dcf.ks.gov/services/ees/pages/energyassistance.aspx

A fee set by Unified Government (UG) ordinance that requires the BPU to pay a percentage of its gross revenues to meet certain UG costs incurred due to BPU operating as a public utility. The PILOT is in lieu of property taxes and franchise fees.

A Rider is an addition to the rate schedule. The primary purpose of a rider is to set out a provision that may not be included in the Base Monthly Charges and may have application to more than one rate schedule and thus eliminates the need for redundancy from one rate schedule to another.

Kansas City, Kansas is a city in the state of Kansas and is the county seat of Wyandotte County. It is part of a consolidated city-county government known as the “Unified Government” (UG).

A state fee, required of all water customers in Kansas. State law requires all water utilities to collect a consumption-based fee from customers and remit it to the State of Kansas for the Kansas Water Plan. The state uses this money to manage statewide water issues like sustainable sources, flood management, water quality, and wetland protection.