Understanding your bill | South Dakota

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 helps to cover the cost of powerlines, technology and equipment required to deliver that service.
• Energy supply: Pass-through market cost of electricity.
• 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 costs, such as customer accounting and services, as well as costs associated with our investments in customer-related facilities such as meters and service lines.

Energy charge: Energy charges are the cost per kWh for electricity used at your premise during the billing cycle.

Cost Adjustment Summary: The Cost Adjustment Summary includes several different costs associated with providing reliable energy, including:

• The purchase of fuel used to run our generation facilities
• Cost to purchase additional power from third parties, as needed to meet customer demands.
  • Note, this is a pass-through cost and is the most likely charge to fluctuate as the price for the commodity is based on supply and demand.
• Cost associated with transmission system investments not covered by the energy charge. This includes investments in new facilities and modifications to existing transmission facilities. Examples include maintenance and enhancement to transmissions lines, sub-stations, etc.

Franchise fee, county and state sales tax: These fees and taxes are determined by the town/city, county or state, and applied to customers located within the town/city limits, county or state.