HPU's Optional Equal Pay Program

What is the Equal Pay Program?

Requirements for acceptance.

How your payment is determined.

Additional Equal Pay payment requirements.

 Do you have other ways available to pay my bill?

 Equal Pay sign up form.

What is Equal Pay?

Hibbing Public Utilities (HPU) offers an Optional Equal Pay Payment Plan to its residential and commercial customers. Under this program, historical account information and other data are applied to a formula resulting in a dollar figure, which will be the monthly payment amount.

A major advantage to this program is that it offers you, the customer, equal monthly payments for utility services. However, participation in this program does not allow the customer to use unlimited utilities at a fixed cost. Budget payments are only estimates and once annually in May, all equal pay payment amounts will be recalculated, up or down, depending on your actual usage the previous year.

When the installment amounts are recalculated in May, (depending on the amount), any actual balance owed to HPU will be included in the newly calculated installment amount. Any credit balance will be used to decrease the newly calculated installment payments. This is even one more reason to become more energy efficient and conscious - it SAVES YOU MONEY.

If for any reason, your utility consumption changes significantly during the course of the Optional Equal Pay Payment Plan period, notify HPU whether your consumption has increased or decreased. The installment payment amount will be recalculated in order to reflect the new consumption pattern. This procedure will eliminate any large adjustments in May, when all Equal Pay accounts are normally revised.

The best part of this entire plan is that instead of having high utility payments during the winter months, the consumer can spread out the entire annual utilities cost in even payments. By knowing each month what to budget for, it is much easier to plan for your spending needs.  BACK TO TOP

Requirements for Acceptance

1. Enrollment period is open during the  month of June. The deadline to sign up is June 30^th. You may start to sign up after your May bill has been calculated.
2. The program is open to all customers.
3. Enrollment is limited to the customers who have had service, at the account for which the application is being made, for at least one year.
4. The account must be paid in full at the time of acceptance.  
5. Customers meters will still be read while on the Equal Pay program. Therefore, the account must have an actual meter reading on all services before enrollment or at the end of the program year.  BACK TO TOP

 How your payment is determined.

The equal payment for an account will be determined by the following formula: 14 months of previous billings / 14 months + 10 % = Equal Payment Amount

Additional Equal Pay Billing Requirements

1. The HPU, in May, will review all Equal Pay accounts and, from time to time, at the HPU's discretion, for recalculation of the installment amount. At that time, any debit or credit balance owing will be included in the newly calculated installment amount, which may increase or decrease that said amount.
2. Failure to meet the payment schedule under the Equal Pay Program can result in the customer being removed from the program WITHOUT NOTICE, at which time, the actual balance due on the account becomes due and payable under the normal collection provisions of the Hibbing Public Utilities Commission.
3. When a final bill is generated for an account that is under the Equal Pay program, the actual account balance becomes due and payable at that time.   BACK TO TOP

Do I have other ways available to pay my bill?

You may pay by MasterCard, Visa, or Discover either by phone, in the office, or online and by Direct Pay from your checking or savings account.

If you decide to use Direct Pay, you can come into the office, sign an application, and give us a voided check or download the application on our Forms page, sign the application and return it to us with a voided check. We will process the application as soon as possible.

If you pay by credit/debit card, call us with your credit card account number and we can process your payment. You can also pay online by going to www.hpuc.com and create an account by filling out the desired information. Once your account is established, you can pay your bill by MasterCard or Visa, or by E-check. If you call, we will be glad to help you.

If you have any other questions about the Optional Equal Pay program, the Direct Pay program, or credit card processing, please call us.

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