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1. What is Budget Billing?

The City of Cheney offers a utility comfort billing program - Budget Billing. This program will provide an equal payment for 12 months allowing our customers the knowledge of what their utility bill will be each month.

When the actual bill is lower than the budget bill, the customer gains a "deferred credit" to use towards months where the actual bill is larger than the budget bill amount.

After a 12 month period, your account goes through a "settle-up" process. This means the past 12 months, plus or minus the deferred balance is re-averaged to calculate a new budget bill amount.

2. Who is eligible for budget billing?

All City of Cheney utility customers are eligible to enroll in budget billing. Simply fill out the budget billing enrollment form.

3. How is the Budget Bill amount calculated?

The Budget Bill program uses the last 12 months of usage to calculate the average bill. Every billing cycle the actual charges will be more or less than the budget payment amount. This is called either a deferred balance or deferred credit.

4. Is there a maximum to my deferred balance owed?

Currently, the City allows up to 150% of your budget bill amount to become a deferred balance owed. It this amount reaches a point higher than 150%, you will be asked to either 1) pay down the deferred balance to within the 150% with your next bill, or 2) request a settle-up and a new budget bill amount.

5. What happens if I miss a payment?

Regular payments are required for the budget billing process. Missing a payment makes the account eligible for disconnect of utilities.