If you are not familiar with some of the terms or phrases on your Black Hills Energy bill, check out the list below. Can't find what you're looking for? Simply call our Customer Service Center 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at 1-888-890-5554.
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Amount Due Now | The Amount due on your next payment. |
| Ampere (AMP) | A unit of measurement that tells how much electricity flows through a conductor. Amps = watts divided by volts. On a 120-volt systems, 12 100-watt bulbs draw 10 amps of electric current |
| Auto Bank Transfer (date) | This appears on your bill if you are signed up for our CheckLINE program. This is the date your payment will be automatically transferred from your bank account to pay your energy bill. |
| Billing Date | The date the bill was created and printed. |
| Btu (British Thermal Unit) | The amount of energy needed to raise the temperature of one pound of water one degree Fahrenheit. A kitchen match has about one Btu of energy. |
| Btu Factor | The standard for measuring a quantity of heat energy. This factor may vary slightly from month to month. |
| CCF | A unit of measurement, usually for natural gas. One CCF = 100 cubic feet. |
| Current Charges | A total of the natural gas or electric charges for the account for the current month. If there are multiple service addresses or meters related to this account, this amount is a sum of all of the charges. |
| Customer Charge | A fixed monthly charge to cover part of the expenses incurred to deliver energy to your home or business. |
| Deposit | The deposit amount that Black Hills Energy has received from you, if applicable. |
| EFT/CheckLINE/Automatic Bank Transfer | This appears on your bill if you participate in our CheckLINE program, which automatically transfers your payment from your bank account on the payment due date. |
| Fees and Adjustments | Any fees or adjustments applied to your account since the last bill was printed |
| Gas Pressure Factor | This factor adjusts the meter reading to compensate for the delivery pressure of natural gas. |
| Interest on Dept Refunded to Account | If you have a deposit on hand with us, you earn interest on the deposit until it is refunded to you. Interest is credited to your account annually as an adjustment. |
| kW | A unit of electrical power equal to 1,000 watts. |
| kWh (Kilowatt Hour) | The basic unit for pricing electricity. A kilowatt-hour is equivalent to one kilowatt of power used for one hour. One kWh equals 1,000 watt-hours and is the equivalent of 3,412 Btu’s of energy. |
| Mcf | One thousand cubic feet, generally of natural gas. |
| Meter Read | The reading from your meter for the current month and the reading for the previous month. The difference is used to calculate your energy usage for the month. |
| MMBtu | One million Btu’s. It is equal to approximately 1,000 cubic feet of natural gas — enough energy to bring 800 gallons of water to a boil, or heat up 12,800 cups of coffee. |
| Monthly Budget Amount | This is the amount of your payment due if you are signed up for our StreamLINE program. |
| New Account Balance | The new total for all charges due on your account. It is the sum of your Previous Account Balance and all new charges for the current month. |
| Payments Received | Payments received and credited to your account since the last bill was printed |
| Please Pay By/Payment Due Date | The date your next payment is due. |
| Previous Account Balance | The ending balance on your account from the last billing period. This was the New Account Balance amount on your previous month’s bill. |
| StreamLINE/Budget Billing | This appears on your bill if you are signed up for our Budget Billing program, which divides your annual energy consumption into even monthly payments. Your payment amount appears as the Monthly Budget Amount. |
| Supply Cost/ PGA, GCR, ECA, ICA | This may appear on your bill if there was an adjustment or rate change due to additional costs for purchasing energy from suppliers. You may see it on your bill as PGA, GCR, ECA or ICA, depending on which state you live in. |
| Therm | A unit of heating value equal to 100,000 Btu’s. |
| Watt | The basic unit for measuring volume of electricity. Technically, it’s the power produced by a current of one ampere across a potential difference of one volt. |
Quick and easy, Black Hills Energy's touchtone service puts the information you need at your fingertips. Just call Customer Service and follow the prompts. 1-888-890-5554 or contact us online.