Utility Billing
Day in the Life at Baca Water - March 21, 2023
#Utility Billing
Blog Post by Jennifer Jenkins
In June of 2022, when I was interviewed for a job as Administrative Assistant at Baca Water, I could have never imagined what the job (and everyone’s job here) entails. One day, while driving home, I started to mentally catalog the various things that I’d done at work that day, and how many people I had come into contact with, either over the phone, via email, or in person. It was a lot!
The front office staff at Baca Water not only handles all front-line calls, requests, payments, handles disputes, etc., but in between, creates and dispatches work orders, creates final bills for property sales/transfers, organizes Board meeting materials, does the billing, accounts receivable, accounts payable, keeps Standard Operating Procedures up to date, monitors data on the website for accuracy, creates content for customer email blasts and newspaper articles, and completes special projects, like our District elections and training. We are in constant contact with customers, title companies, the county assessor’s website, the POA, the Town of Crestone, US Fish & Wildlife, and several others. Prioritizing and coordinating are necessities because usually everything is thrown at us all at once.
Sometimes, we put on our detective hats and utilize account notes, maps, county deeds, and the parcel viewer to try to forensically piece together what happened in a land sale 20+ years ago. There are times when we have broken pipe emergencies and spend hours answering the phone calls from concerned customers while also making calls to affected customers as quickly as possible. On other days, if we have time, there are always special projects waiting in the wings. Yet even at our busiest times, when customers come in to the office to pay a bill or ask a question, they are greeted with a smile, some candy, a dog treat, and our full attention.
From the front office staff to Operations to the District Manager and Board of Directors, teamwork is key. There’s no way we would be able to accomplish everything in a timely manner without it. And luckily, we have a great team who agrees that providing fast, friendly, and competent customer service is number one.
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Utility Billing Cycle
March 15, 2023
#Utility Billing
Blog Post by JJ
This month’s blog post is dedicated to answering some questions about the Baca Grande Water & Sanitation District’s monthly billing cycle.
As a general rule, your monthly bill is always due on the last day of the month. This means that we bill at the beginning of the following month for the previous month and you have until the end of that month to pay the bill. We also allow a 15-day grace period before charging a late fee.
Many questions from the community stem from the fact that we bill for the previous month, which means we do our meter readings at the end of every month, then bill on the first business day of the following month. Here’s an example of how it works:
Using the table below, in the 12/31/2022 column is the December 2022 water and sewer usage ($80.78.) December usage was billed on January 2nd and is due January 31st. Under the 1/31/ 2023 column is the January 2023 usage ($88.86). We billed on February 1st and this bill for January usage was due February 28th. In the 2/28/2023 column is the February 2023 usage ($88.86.) That was billed on March 1st and is due March 31st. As you can see, March 2023 usage has not been billed yet.
Regarding late fees, there is no penalty assessed until the 16th of the month, after the due date has passed. So for the bill you received at the beginning of March 2023 (for February usage), you have until April 15th to pay and not get charged a penalty.
Hopefully this short post has made it easier to understand your monthly bill. As always, we are here to support the community, so if you still have questions, please reach out to us.
