Common Terms Used on Utility Bills
The following are definitions of common terms that may appear on your Ameren Illinois utility bill. The Ameren Illinois utility responsible for the delivery of your natural gas and/or electricity is referred to below as “utility.”
	AMOUNT PAYABLE AFTER DUE DATE / LATE PAYMENT CHARGE A1.5 percent Late Payment Charge will be applied to any unpaid balance after the due date.
	BILLING SEASONS Summer months are June, July, August and September. All other months are non-summer.
	CUSTOMER CHARGE / ACCOUNT CHARGE Recovers costs of providing energy service that occur even if you do not use electricity or natural gas in the billing period. Included in the charge are billing, accounting and other supplemental charges. For gas service, this also recovers basic gas metering costs.
	DELIVERY CHARGE / DEL CHG Recovers the costs of infrastructure, maintenance and services incurred by the utility to deliver electricity and/or natural gas to customers through the distribution system.
	ELECTRIC SUPPLY Recovers the cost of electricity that the utility has purchased from suppliers. (These charges apply only to customers who have not chosen a third-party supplier.) The utility provides electric supply under one of two rate options: Basic Generation Service (BGS) or Real-Time Pricing (RTP). The utility does not profit from BGS or RTP supply charges. Regardless of your supplier, the utility remains responsible for delivering your electricity.
	ENVIRONMENTAL ADJUSTMENT / FACTOR Recovers costs incurred by the utility for environmental clean-up of former gas manufacturing sites.
	GAS CHARGE (PGA) Recovers the cost of natural gas that the utility purchases from suppliers and delivers to customers. The utility receives no profit from this charge.
	ILLINOIS STATE COMMERCE COMMISSION TAX Tax on natural gas consumption; proceeds are used to operate the Illinois Commerce Commission.
	ILLINOIS STATE ELECTRICITY EXCISE TAX Tax on electricity consumption.
	ILLINOIS STATE GAS REVENUE TAX Tax on natural gas consumption.
	kW (KILOWATT) A unit of measure of the rate at which electrical energy is used. Ten, 100-watt light bulbs turned on at the same time will use electrical energy at a rate of 1,000 watts or 1 kilowatt (kW).
	kWh (KILOWATT-HOUR) A unit of measure of electricity used in one hour. Ten, 100-watt light bulbs burning for one hour would use 1,000watts, which is equal to 1 kilowatt-hour (kWh) of electricity.
	MARKET VALUE ADJUSTMENT Allows the utility to match electric power and energy costs with electric power and energy revenue.
	METER CHARGE Recovers the basic costs of providing electric metering services if they are provided by the utility.
	METER MULTIPLIER Conversion factor required to determine the actual amount of energy used.
	MUNICIPAL CHARGE Tax imposed by a local municipality.
	NO. DAYS Number of days in the present billing period, which may vary monthly. When you compare bills, compare the number of days in each billing period as well as the energy used.
	RD (Meter Reading) Used to calculate the bill.
		A – Actual Reading	C – Customer Reading
		E – Estimated Reading	R – Revised Reading
	SUPPLY COST ADJUSTMENT Allows the utility to recover costs associated with the administration of electric supply service.
	THERM The basic unit for measuring your natural gas consumption.
	THERM FACTOR Converts the basic usage or volume of gas from cubic feet to therms.
	TOTAL LIGHTING CHARGES Summary of charges for optional outdoor lighting service.
	TRANSMISSION SERVICE CHARGE Recovers costs associated with electric transmission service.
	USAGE Amount of energy used, measured in kWh for electricity and therms for natural gas. This amount is derived by subtracting the previous meter reading from the present meter reading and multiplying the result by the meter multiplier.
	USE PER DAY (Table) Shows your average use of energy per day and the average temperature during the present billing period and during the comparable period a year ago.