6.1b ERMUSR 06-12-2018 Elk River
Municipal Utilities UTILITIES COMMISSION MEETING
TO: FROM:
ERMU Commission Theresa Slominski—Finance & Office Manager
MEETING DATE: AGENDA ITEM NUMBER:
June 12, 2018 6.1b
SUBJECT:
Staff Update
ACTION REQUESTED:
None
DISCUSSION:
• Following up on the implementation of the grace period for the billing cycle due dates, I
asked the Customer Service Representatives for their feedback on having that in place.
We do not advertise the grace period, and don't give customers specifics regarding it, but
use it to appease the customer when they are concerned about the deadline and not
meeting it. It's been great to be able to say something like "ok, I'll make a note on your
account and please send that payment in right away or by"x date" and we won't charge a
penalty." There has been a definite decrease noticed in the number of calls from
customers complaining about the penalty being assessed when they only paid a day or
two late, so it is definitely helping with the small gap payers. There have even been a
few calls from customers viewing their accounts online and noticing that they missed the
due date and aren't seeing a penalty on their account yet.
• NISC is considering the week of July 30 to come and test the new fund accounting
implementation they have been working on. They will be travelling on Monday and
Friday, and onsite Tuesday through Thursday.
• Per the contract, Minnesota Municipal Power Agency(MMPA) is requesting the final
buy-in payment for membership on September 28, 2018. They will provide us their
estimated final number approximately July 12, 2018 and we will have our authorization
to sell the bonds at the estimated amount for the August 14, 2018 commission meeting.
We will have the sale the first week in September and should have our funding in time
for the September 28, 2018 payment due date.
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