UNDERSTANDING THE MONTHLY BILLING CYCLE

Traditional residential billing in Italy is based on a bimonthly cycle. Consumers under traditional billing would receive invoices every two months. Home Fuels has made agreements with the companies they work with to receive invoices monthly.

Normally, the companies will close their billing period at the end of each month. Once the period is closed, the companies have until the 15th of the following to send us all the invoices for our clients. Invoices received after the 15th will be included in the next billing cycle. Invoices received by the deadline will be validated. The validation process includes ensuring invoices are free from IVA and are for the correct client. Also, an electronic version of all invoices is tested in our Starnik system to ensure bills are applied correctly when we lock the billing cycle.

Once validation has been completed, our accounting team prepares and submits the payment requests so the utility companies can get paid. All invoices are paid to the companies on the same business day, no later than the 25th. This allows us to obtain the Euro exchange rate at the time of payment. The exchange rate is entered into Starnik and is used to invoice all customers in US dollars.

On the first business day of the following month, the billing cycle is completed. This includes the following: applying late fees to customers who did not pay their balance by the last calendar day of the previous month, verifying the exchange rate was applied correctly for each client, checking if program fees were applied correctly, and locking the cycle which generates the invoices to all applicable customers.

Once the billing cycle is locked, the next billing cycle begins. Use the link below to view the bills that will posted. This is usually updated after the 25th, once we confirm the bills have been paid and will post.

Planning/Budgeting:

Knowing our customers receive invoices for their consumption 2-3 months after the usage has taken place, it is important to plan and try to budget for future bills. For those customers receiving utility allowance, the best solution is to put the entire monthly allowance in a separate account and consider it a savings for utility bills. At the end of the tour and after all bills have been paid, any residual funds can be considered a passive savings. Apart from that, here are some useful tools and suggestions to help plan for future bills.

• Log your readings monthly: Take photos of your readings on the last day of each month and log them. Each month you will be able to see how you are consuming energy.
• Calculating monthly usage: You will need two months’ worth of readings to calculate the consumption.
  • Electric: Add your A1, A2, A3 readings together and subtract the result from the sum of the next set of readings to find the total KWHs used.
  • Gas: Subtract the previous reading from the newest reading to find the consumption in SMC.

Another consideration is whether the billing period was based on actual consumption or estimated consumption. Actual readings are provided to the utility company by the distribution company. If actual readings are not received, the utility company can bill based on estimated usage. This differs with electricity. The electric distribution company will send actual readings, or in rare cases estimated readings, and the utility company will used what the distribution company dictates.

The information above will help you understand your energy usage as well the volatility of the energy market and what to expect your rates to look like for a given billing period. The rates alone do not determine the final invoiced amount. Other factors include the utility company’s spread, distribution company’s fees and transportations costs, and the utility companies fixed administrative fees.

If you ever have any questions concerning your bills, feel free to contact us usign the following options:

• Submit your request online at avianohomefuels.com
• Email 31fss.homefuels@us.af.mil