Understanding Your Bill

View Sample Bill

Bill Terms and Definitions

The following are definitions of terms found on your bill:

Basic Service Charge: The monthly basic service charge partially covers fixed costs incurred to serve each customer, regardless of use.
CCF: Natural gas is measured by volume. One CCF represents 100 cubic feet of natural gas.
Capital Investment Charge: This surcharge collects costs for certain safety-related gas infrastructure improvements.
Delivery/Distribution Charge: This charge covers the costs associated with distributing gas through our system to you.
Demand Charge: The demand charge reflects a portion of the cost of generating, transmitting and distributing electrical energy to you and is based on peak usage.
Demand Response Charge: A charge that allows MidAmerican Energy to recover the costs of demand response programs.
Due Date: Your bill is due and payable on or before the date shown on your bill. A late payment charge will be applied to amounts not paid by the due date.
Electric Delivery Charge: A charge for the cost of delivering electric energy to you over MidAmerican Energy's distribution system.
Electricity Excise Tax: This tax is imposed by Illinois on the use or consumption of electricity.
Energy Adjustment Clause: MidAmerican Energy continually experiences increases and decreases in the cost of fuel and purchased power used to supply electricity to its customers. This clause allows MidAmerican to make an annual adjustment to reflect fuel and power costs.
Energy Charge: The energy charge reflects the cost of generating, transmitting and distributing electrical energy to you and is applied to energy measured during the month.
Energy Cost Adjustment: This adjustment reflects the cost of power plant fuel or purchased power.
Energy Efficiency Charge: A charge that allows MidAmerican Energy to recover the costs of energy efficiency programs.
Estimated Reading: If we are unable to obtain an actual meter reading, the amount of the bill will be estimated based on past usage. Any necessary adjustments for an estimated bill will be made the next time your meter is read and will appear on the following bill.
Franchise Fee: A surcharge imposed by municipalities on the sale or use of natural gas or electricity.
Fuel Adjustment Clause: A charge to recover the costs of fuel used in company-owned generating stations and purchased power.
Gas Supply Charge: This charge reflects the cost of purchased natural gas.
Illinois CC Assessment: A tax imposed by the Illinois Public Utilities Act on the use or consumption of gas.
Income Tax Adjustment: An adjustment to address changes in income tax expense.
kWh: A kWh is a unit of electric usage. One kilowatt-hour is the amount of electric energy used to keep one 100-watt light bulb burning for 10 hours.
Meter Class Charge: The meter costs incurred to serve each customer’s natural gas needs.
Meter Service Charge: A charge for the performance of functions related to the installation, testing, maintenance, repair and reading of electric meters used for billing of customers and management of meter information.
Municipal Tax: This tax is imposed by municipalities on the use or consumption of electricity and gas.
Pipeline Transport Charge: This reflects the cost incurred to reserve capacity on the interstate pipeline system in order to deliver gas to you. If the pipeline transport charge is not a line item on your bill, it is included in the gas supply charge.
Pressure: The pressure factor adjusts the metered gas usage to compensate for variations in metering and local atmospheric pressure.
Prorate: The prorate factor adjusts for a billing period shorter or longer than normal.
Purchased Electric Charge: This charge recovers the costs to purchase capacity, energy and transmission services in order to meet our Illinois customers’ electric needs.
Purchased Electric Charge Adjustment: This adjustment may be a charge or credit and ensures that MidAmerican Energy correctly recovers any costs related to the Purchased Electric Charge.
Purchased Renewable Energy Adjustment: This charge covers the cost to purchase renewable energy resources to meet Illinois requirements.
Purchased Zero Emission Adjustment: This charge covers the cost of zero emission energy resources to meet Illinois requirements.
Rate: This designates your gas or electric billing rate at MidAmerican Energy. Tariff and rate schedule information is available upon request.
Rate Equalization Factor: Equalization adjustment factors are applied to electric service rates for the purpose of ensuring all Iowa MidAmerican Energy customers will pay the same electric base rate within each rate class – residential, commercial and industrial. Rates will be adjusted in equal annual increments over 10 years.
State Sales Tax: A state imposed tax on all billings for gas and electric service.
State Utility Tax: This tax is imposed by Illinois on the use or consumption of gas.
Supply Charge: A charge for the costs of generating electricity.
Therms and Btu Factor: We bill you on the number of therms of natural gas used because the heating value of a cubic foot of gas varies. The therm is a unit of constant heating value, and the therm factor converts volumes of gas used from cubic feet to therms. One therm equals 100,000 Btu (British Thermal Units).
Transmission Cost Adjustment: MidAmerican Energy supports continual improvements to the national electric grid to benefit regional and local reliability. This cost adjustment allows MidAmerican Energy to make annual adjustments to recover the forecasted transmission improvement costs, subject to an annual reconciliation to actual expenditures.
Transmission Service Charge: This charge covers the costs and fees related to high voltage transmission of power and energy by MidAmerican Energy.