Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Past Due Amounts Climb In Cycle One

Same song, second verse for the August first cycle with the Prescott Electricity Department.

While the number of overdue accounts dropped, by one, the amount again rose. This time by $1,547.77.

However, this is due to one new overdue account having a balance due of $10,185.69. Otherwise, the figure would have been $8,637.92 less than for the first billing cycle in July. The least owed on an overdue account was $39.09.

Six of the larger amounts owed could be traced to commercial customers, all being 90 or more days late. In all, though, there were 11 accounts 90 days or more past due.

Another eight were 60 days late, while 30 are simply new accounts with people not getting their payments in on time.

On the other hand, 11 accounts were paid off .

Four commercial accounts have been more than 90 days late since April, when the Picayune first began looking into this problem.

There is a commercial account always late with its payment, but never much more than 30 days.

Five of the 11 accounts being 90 days overdue are confirmed as being residential accounts, with one totaling $1,477.39.

In April there were 67 overdue accounts in the first billing cycle owing $38,114.31.

This figure dropped to 52 late accounts in May, with $25,615.09 being owed.

June saw a drastic increase in overdue accounts as the number climbed to 78, with the amount also rising to $27,531.65.

But, the late customer count dropped to 50 by July, though the amount owed by those late paying their bill rose significantly at $34,845.80.

The increase in amounts owed during the summer months can be attributed to the warmer weather and more electricity being used for air conditioning.

However, the city still offers no reasons why efforts aren't being made into collecting on any of the chronically overdue accounts.

For the July billing cycle alone there were 279 accounts past due owing a total of $270,193.76.