Thursday, November 09, 2006

Mock billing period spurs questions

By Melina Rodriguez
Staff writer

Residents of Vernondale and Herryford villages have received three mock utility bills as part of an Office of the Secretary of Defense mandated program and some questions and concerns have arisen in the process.

“Residents have had a few questions regarding the administrative fee for gas and the TrimMean calculation for computing the average,” said Charlotte Kraenzle, communications director for Clark Pinnacle.

The Washington Gas system charges all users, on and off post, an $8.80 fee each month.

The Distribution Service System charge covers several fees for the company, including the cost of moving gas through the Washington Gas system to the meter.

“Additionally, it covers certain costs of providing service, including depreciation, taxes, maintenance and repair of customer lines, and customer-related expenses, such as meter reading and billing,” Kraenzle said.

The Department of Defense established the utility program to conserve energy and track usage. Only residents in the new energy-efficient homes will receive the bills.

Residents’ Basic Allowing for Housing will cover the bills for an allotted amount, called the base line, depending on the needs of each individual home. If the residents go over the base line then they will be charged the difference, if they are under they will receive a credit for the difference.

“We’ll never be under, we’ll always be over because of this [administrative fee] and a lot of people are upset about that,” said Tammy Hernandez, military spouse and Vernondale resident.

Monica Kelley, Vernondale Village mayor, said the base line needs to be increased to cover the $8.80 fee. “The bottom line is the base line on gas needs to be raised $8.80 and if we are over then it is great to go ahead and charge the difference, if not, we should see a credit,” she said.

According to Kraenzle, administration fees are considered when BAH rates are set.

“Gas bills on- and off-post have always included administration fees,” she said. “BAH calculations include a utility allowance that takes into account average costs for gas, including administration fees.”

Another topic on residents’ minds is how the bills are calculated.

“Fort Belvoir is using the current month’s average, which is calculated by dropping the top and bottom 10 percent and averaging the 80 percent, as the person’s benchmark,” said Kraenzle. “This gives on-post residents an advantage; the benchmark immediately reflects any increased or decreased consumption as a result of the climactic changes. During harsh winters or summers, residents will continue to be responsible only for overages in comparison to the current month’s average consumption.”

All of the new and renovated housing at Fort Belvoir has Energy Star features and appliances, additional insulation and energy-saving windows.

Herryford and Vernondale residents will receive a total of six mock bills and then receive actual bills in February 2007 for January 2007 consumption.

“It would be nice if we didn’t have them, but I can’t complain,” said Stephanie Hurst, Vernondale resident and military spouse. “In the mock bills we’ve never had [an overage of] more than $10.”

The other new villages will begin receiving actual statements once the construction of the village is complete and there are enough residents to generate an average consumption base line.

All Army installations are required to conduct a six-month mock billing period prior to implementing actual bills, but not in each village.