How do I make Advance Pay work for me?
By monitoring your consumption, you’ll notice patterns in your daily usage that can help keep electricity costs down. Any variation from your normal pattern—such as house guests, holidays, or extreme weather days—will become apparent. Advance Pay gives you the POWER to control your budget by providing access to information concerning your daily/weekly cost of electricity. Under the traditional billing method, you aren’t aware of your costs until you receive the bill; by then, it’s too late to control your costs.
Do I have to pay a deposit or fees with Advance Pay?
No! There is never a deposit or late payment fees with Advance Pay. If you are already a TSEMC member who has paid a deposit, it can be applied to your account. There is never a late payment fee. If your account balance runs low, simply make a payment to “recharge” your account to the level you desire.
Do I get a bill?
No! With Advance Pay, instead of receiving a traditional paper bill, usage is calculated daily and you purchase electricity as you need it.
How do I stay informed about my account or available balance?
The website www.myusage.com allows you to manage your account. On www.myusage.com, you can see the usage and cost of electricity used for any given day—that’s Advance Pay. Typically, consumers don’t realize how much electricity they have used or how much it will cost until their bill arrives. By then, it’s too late to try to reduce your cost. The website www.myusage.com gives you the power to understand and control your electricity usage and costs.
You can review your account balance, recent payment information and make changes to your personal contact settings. You can select the method and the dollar amount at which you want to be notified of a “Low Balance”. You can update the types of alerts you wish to receive concerning the status of your account, including daily balance notification, low balance warning, pending disconnection warning, payment received, service disconnected, etc. You can also check your account balance by calling a toll free number to access automated account information.
When will I receive a low balance notice?
When you set up your Advance Pay account, you will set the amount at which you will begin to receive low balance notifications. Then, based on your user profile, you will receive text messages, e-mail notifications or phone notifications when your account balance goes below your own preset limit. This will give you time to make a payment on your account to increase your credit balance. Payment should be made as quickly as possible to prevent your account from falling below a zero balance. If your account balance falls below zero, your service will be disconnected the following day.
How much do I have to pay to be reconnected?
For reconnection, make at least the minimum required payment, and your service will be reconnected shortly. The minimum amount required for reconnection is any balance owed plus $10.00 credit toward electric usage. There are no late fees, disconnect fees, or reconnect fees.
How can I make payments to my Advance Pay account?
Tri-State EMC will provide you with your personal Advance Pay website where you can monitor your daily usage as well as check on your balance and make payments by check or credit card. You may also make cash payments through our office or call our office to make payments. You will continue to make payments by whatever method you choose, just as you do now, but you will have control over how much you pay and when you pay.
*There is no charge for debit or credit card payments.
How much money should I keep on my Advance Pay account?
It’s up to you! That’s part of the POWER you have with Advance Pay. You create a payment plan that fits your budget and make the payments on your own timetable. You can purchase enough electricity for 1 day, or one month or any amount of time.
I have a traditional account. Can I switch to Advance Pay?
Yes! You can switch to an Advance Pay account even if you already have service with Tri-State EMC. Any existing security deposit will be credited to your current account balance, and if you decide that Advance Pay is not for you, we’ll review your account and tell you how you can switch back to a traditional account.
OK, I’m ready. How do I sign up?
If you’d like to try Advance Pay, or ask more questions, please click here to email us or call 706-492-3251.
