Billing Questions
High Bill Concerns
If you have a bill which is significantly higher or lower than you had expected, please contact our customer service center by calling (616) 846-6250. In response to high bill concerns, the Board of Light & Power will send a service worker to verify the original meter reading.
What is a Degree Day?
Degree Day – Cold winter weather or summer heat can increase the cost of your utility bills. You can determine the weather impact by using a unit of measure called a degree day. A higher number of degree days will require more energy for cooling or heating your home or business.
2 Types of Degree Days – Cooling and heating. Each compares the current day’s average temperature to a baseline standard of 65ºF to determine the energy demands of cooling or heating your home or business. Days with an average temperature of 65ºF have no cooling or heating degree days.
Hot days are measured in cooling degree days. On a day with a mean temperature of 80°F, 15 cooling degree days would be recorded
(80-65=15).
Cold days are measured in heating degree days. For a day with a mean temperature of 40°F, 25 heating degree days would be recorded
(65-40=25).
Adding cooling or heating degree days together for a whole month (or year), provides a way to compare a previous month’s (or previous year’s) heating and cooling demands to that of the current month (or current year).