MidAmerican Energy Company

What about power outages? When severe weather or other circumstances cause a power outage, you'll still call MidAmerican Energy's electric outage number, 800-799-4443, regardless of the supplier, because MidAmerican remains responsible for maintaining wires and delivering electricity. Your service will be restored in accordance with MidAmerican's existing outage restoration procedures, without regard to your choice of supplier. Fallen power lines also should be reported by calling the same phone number.

Changes in billing – Unless a meter service provider is chosen, MidAmerican will continue to read your electric meter. If a different supplier is chosen, expect changes in how you are billed. A supplier may offer:

		One-Bill (or Single Bill) Option: MidAmerican will provide billing and usage information to the new supplier, who will then send you a consolidated electric bill, which will include the supplier's charges along with MidAmerican's electric delivery service charges. (If you also receive other services from MidAmerican, such as natural gas, you'll continue to receive a separate bill from MidAmerican for those services.)
		Two-Bill Option: MidAmerican will provide usage information to the supplier. You will receive one bill from the supplier for your electric supply charges and one from MidAmerican for electric delivery service charges. (Charges for other services received from MidAmerican, such as natural gas, will be included in the MidAmerican bill.)

The electric bill charges could include:

		A generation charge for the production of electricity.
		A transmission charge for the transportation of electricity from the generation source to the electric utility company.
		A delivery service charge for the distribution service, which keeps the transmission and distribution systems functioning reliably, provided by the electric utility company.
		A customer charge to cover the costs of billing, equipment and service line maintenance.
		A meter service charge to cover the costs of the meter and meter reading.

Change in meter service providers – Customers who choose an alternate retail electric supplier are eligible to select an alternate meter service provider. Customers who do not choose an alternate electric supplier will not be eligible to receive metering service from a meter service provider.

Meter service providers will install metering on your premises, read the meter and provide the meter readings to your supplier and MidAmerican for billing purposes. Meter service providers must obtain your written authorization to switch your service from your current meter service provider (under bundled service, MidAmerican provides metering services). Meter service providers must meet the same requirements as retail electric suppliers, including certification with the Illinois Commerce Commission, registration with MidAmerican, and disclosure of customer terms and conditions.

Meter service providers certified by the Illinois Commerce Commission and registered in MidAmerican's service area: NONE

A list of certified meter service providers also is available on the Illinois Commerce Commission's Web site or on the Customer Info link on this page.

What about MidAmerican Energy's current bill payment options? Under a two-bill option, you will continue to be eligible for billing options on bills received from MidAmerican (for natural gas service or electric delivery service). These options include Budget Billing, Automatic Payment Plan and E-bill. To learn more about billing and payment options, visit the for your home or for your business section of MidAmerican's Web site, or call:

		Residential customers – 888-427-5632
		Business customers – 800-329-6261, Monday-Friday, 7 a.m. - 6 p.m.

Ask the supplier about available billing options for supply charges.

In a one-bill option, ask the supplier what billing options are available. Outstanding Budget Billing or payment agreement balances owed by an electric-only customer of MidAmerican who switches to a one-bill option supplier are due to MidAmerican at the time of the switch.