Along with the cold and snow of winter come special safety challenges for Lake Mills Light and Water's meter readers. These utility staffers do their best to obtain readings of customer meters during winter months. Customers can help by providing a clear access to the meters.
Common winter obstacles include frozen gates, overgrown shrubs, and slippery walkways. Outdoor electric meters are designed to withstand winter weather conditions, but it's still important to protect this equipment from ice and snow build-ups. Avoid piling snow against meters, and gently brush away any built-up snowfall. If possible, clear a path to your meter when you expect a reading. This allows access to the meter and shows the utility staffers the route you'd like them to take while on your property
If weather does prohibit a meter from being read, the meter will be scheduled to be read at a later date. This leads to customer bills that represent billing periods of longer than one month’s usage. “Adding an extra 5 days to the billing period will increase a bill by 15% more than a standard 30 day billing period. This can be confusing and hard to budget for,” said Greg Hoffman , Energy Services Representative.
Lake Mills Light and Water has addressed this issue by offering Budget Billing. Customers signed up for Budget Billing pay a flat rate based on their average monthly energy usage. “Weather can be hard to predict,” said Hoffman, “but we can make your bill easy to plan for.”
Lake Mills Light and Water thanks customers for their help in ensuring a safe winter season for its workers. For more information on Budget Billing or other services offered by Lake Mills Light and Water, call 648-2344 or visit www.lakemillslw.com.