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6.10.04 No more refunds on M.U.D. budget plan Metropolitan Utilities District customers who use M.U.D.'s budget plan are out of luck if they are banking on a refund for the amount they have overpaid in the past year. On the other hand, they are in luck if they owe the utility money. Beginning this summer, M.U.D. will carry over year-end credits or debts on budget plan bills, formerly known as the level payment plan. Under the budget plan, M.U.D. charges customers a flat rate each month and then settles up at the end of the billing year. Normally in July, customers with more than $50 extra in their accounts would be getting a checks from M.U.D. And those with a debt would have had to ante up or make up the shortage in next year's payments. Because natural gas prices are rising, the refund that customers aren't getting will be used to offset those higher prices and allow M.U.D. to avoid raising the monthly payment amount, said Ron Bucher, assistant general manager of administration. The change is among a number that M.U.D. is making as it rolls out an $8.4 million customer information system. Most obvious has been the new bill that began arriving in mailboxes in May. Ultimately, Bucher said, people should find that the new system gives them more flexibility and information. In the meantime, though, the transition has been difficult. The new bill has prompted so many calls to M.U.D. that its phone lines have been overwhelmed. Attempts to telephone M.U.D.'s customer service department Wednesday afternoon, for example, were met by a busy signal. To deal with the load, M.U.D. has been requiring its customer service staff to work overtime. The new bill includes greater detail on gas costs and water use, and Bucher said many people simply are calling with questions. One of the chief complaints has been that the bill doesn't give some customers the balance on their budget plan. Specifically, the information was omitted for the 25,000 such customers who pay through automatic bank drafts. Thus, customers couldn't tell by looking at their bill what happened to their money. Bucher said the money is still there in individual accounts, earning customers 1 percent interest. Because of the calls, Bucher said, M.U.D. will restore that information to all bills beginning with the next cycle. M.U.D.'s decision to no longer send out refunds for those on the budget plan brings the utility in line with others in the area. Aquila Inc. and the Omaha and Nebraska Public Power Districts carry over most customers' balances. That's because writing out individual checks is costly for utilities. The new customer information system is being supplied by Indus, a major contractor to utilities. The previous computer system, Bucher said, was more than 30 years old, difficult to maintain and virtually impossible to improve. As a result of this new system, M.U.D. will be able to make midcycle adjustments to budget plan payments. As a result, year-end balances will run closer to zero. And, he said, the system eventually will allow customers to obtain personal account information on line. It already has allowed M.U.D. to add the following new information to bills:
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