It has come to our attention that customers that utilize their bank to pay their electric bill have been missing the Light department discount. Customers only receive a discount if they pay their bill before the 15th of the month. On several occasions and particularly in short months like February, the Light Department does not receive the bank check until after the discount deadline.
Here are the reasons why we feel this is occurring. The payment request needs to be sent to your bank and then the bank needs to process the request and then mail the check to our office. With two mailings, the delays have been noticeable with the post office. This month most of the bank checks were not received in our office until February 27th . In addition, the bank holds all the checks until they can send the checks to us in a batch. It does not matter when they withdraw the money from your accounts, they save all the bank requests and send a batch of checks to us. Both actions we feel are causing the delays in our customers receiving their discounts.
MMLD would like to recommend to our valued customers the following remedy to resolve this issue. With Invoice Cloud, our new online billing system, you can sign up for autopay or pay online. You are guaranteed to have the funds withdrawn from your account on the 15 th and receive the discount. If you need assistance in setting up the online banking, please give us a call. The process is the same that your bank currently utilizes but without relying on the post office or waiting for batch of checks to mail one time. If you want you can try it yourself, go to www.merrimaclight.com and in the right-hand corner view/pay my bill. Put in your account number and it will allow you to register for autopay, paperless, online billing and so many more features.
We cannot tell you how to pay your bill. All we can do is offer you alternative ways. We hope you explore the options of paying online directly and never miss your discount again. If you want to call to discuss in greater detail, please call 978-346-8311.