by Olivia P. Tucker
Times Reporter
The Scottsburg City Council approved a “pay as you go” plan for the city owned electric utility at their regular meeting on February 13.
This plan allows consumers in the city of Scottsburg to manage their electric bill but will have no advance deposits, no monthly bill surprises and no late payment charges, according to city officials
“ [This Ordinance] helps the lower class that we have in the city, it also helps the city,” said the electric department superintendent Willie Daniels.
The idea of a prepaid plan was looked into this several years ago, said Daniels. But with a new system coming in place for billing, it is possible for the electricity to be set up in a structure for prepay because of this. However, the prepaid plan does not necessarily apply to every consumer, but it does to rental homes as a security for landlords of the property.
The city is changing billing companies from Keystone to National Information Solutions Cooperative (NISC). The new system will allow customers to pay their utilities online, over the phone, on a mobile app, in person or by mail. It will have a printout so consumers can see their usage of utilities broken down by a graph as part of their invoice.
“There hasn’t been a billing software update in many years,” said Utilities Office Manager, Malina Jefferies, “The driving factor to change is the legacy software that we are using doesn’t allow prepaid billing. It does not allow for the customer to log in to see their usage. It doesn’t have the ability to pay online.”
The utility office will be closed for training with NISC on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8:30 a.m.- noon, said Jefferies. She added that the tentative start date is next Tuesday, February 28, but that wasn’t official as well as how many days the training will take. The dates need to be decided at the next Board of Works meeting to be held Monday, Feb. 27, as well as a meeting with NISC if the dates work for training on the new system.
Council Member Chuck Rose asked Daniels how soon that electric needed to the prepaid plan up and running. Daniels responded that NISC needs to be notified so it is added to the billing software but the system wouldn’t be in place until October.
The council voted unanimously in favor of the change.