Understanding your bill | Nebraska

Your due date and the amount due are located at the top of the front page, along with your account number and service address.

Easily compare this month’s usage to the same time last year and view reasons why your bill may have changed since last month.

The billing summary breaks down your charges into four categories that are displayed in a simple, easy-to-read chart.

• Delivery: Costs to bring energy to your address. This includes the customer fee, which helps to cover the costs of pipelines, technology and equipment required to deliver that service.
• Energy supply: Pass-through market cost of natural gas.
• Taxes: Local and state taxes and fees.
• Other: Credits, adjustments and other charges included in your bill.

In this section you’ll find useful safety information and specific tips to help you save energy and money. 

If paying your bill by mail, detach the bottom of the front page and include this with your check in an envelope.

The last 12 months of usage history is available to help you see how this varies throughout the year.

Specifics about your monthly charges are shown by category and color-coded to match the monthly bill summary chart on the front page.

Important information about your account is included in the messages section.

Managing your account online provides easy access to resources and tools, including:

• Viewing your usage and bill history.
• Starting, stopping or transferring service.
• Paying your bill or changing your payment method.
• Managing email and text alerts.
• Enrolling in programs such as Auto Pay and paperless billing.

We offer several ways to pay your bill so that you can pick the one that’s right for you.

Customer charge: A fixed monthly charge, separate from energy usage, that recovers a portion of fixed operating cost, such as customer accounting and services, leak surveys, locates, and other O&M expenses.

Tiered Distribution rates: The distribution charge covers the cost of transporting, measuring, and delivering the gas from the pipelines to the customer's premises. These rates consist of two tiers. Tier 1 is charged for the first 20 therms of residential usage in the billing period. Tier 2 is charged for all residential usage over 20 therms in the billing period.

Purchased Gas Adjustment (PGA): The cost of natural gas purchased for customers. This is a pass-through cost from suppliers to Black Hills Energy customers. There is no mark-up on this cost. This charge reflects a change in the rate due to changes in the cost of purchasing energy from suppliers. 

2021 Polar Vortex: Beginning July 1, 2021, the natural gas costs incurred during the polar vortex period in February 2021 appear as an additional line-item on customer bills. At the request of Black Hills Energy and approved by the Nebraska Public Service Commission (PSC), the recovery of these natural gas costs spans for the next three years. This is currently being billed at a volumetric rate per therm and is monitored by BHE and the NPSC.

State regulatory assessment: This fee is charged to all customers to cover the cost of the Nebraska PSC and public advocate fees.

Gas Cost Reconciliation (GCR): This charge is calculated each year to determine the amount under- or over-collected for the gas cost portion of the bill. This amount is then divided by the projected sales for the coming year and factored into the monthly bill.

Safety and Integrity Charge (SSIR): A fee, approved by the Nebraska PSC, that is designed to collect eligible system and integrity costs between rate reviews.

Line Locates Charge: This surcharge is a flat monthly fee to all customers within the city of Lincoln. This charge recovers the cost associated with locating gas lines as a result of the installation of fiber optic cable within the City of Lincoln for the Allo Project.

Franchise fee, county and state sales tax: Fees and taxes collected and paid to the city, county and/or state based on city, county, and/or state laws.