JOINT BASE ANDREWS, Md. –
Leaders of the 11th Wing and Liberty Park held a town hall meeting at the base theater recently to inform base residents on new rules and regulations affecting their entitlements.
In the near future, base housing residents will transition to a new system where a portion of their Basic Allowance for Housing will be allocated for utilities.
Beginning this month, housing residents will start seeing mock bills in their mail for utilities, outlining their overall usage and providing information on where the household consumption stands against the average for the unit-type.
"The purpose of this program is not to penalize community members," said Lisa Post, JBA client relations manager for Minol, the third party billing company responsible for metering the housing units. "It is true, that if you go over your allotted utility allowance, you may be required to make a payment however, if you conserve your energy usage, you can actually get money back."
The new utility allowance will be based off of the average utility usage for similar housing units on base with a 10 percent increase to act as a buffer in case of any unexpected overages.
"This new system was mandated by the Office of the Secretary of Defense in order to achieve energy efficiency and further conservation efforts in family housing," said Col. Bill Knight, Joint Base Andrews and 11th Wing commander. "It may take a little adjusting; we will be seeing another bill in the mail that we have to pay attention to, but if used right, there will be no cost to base residents."
Currently, 22 Air Force installations have begun the utility monitoring and billing system and 10 of them have completed the mock billing process and have begun live billing.
Post added that in addition to the 10 percent buffer, residents will not need to make a payment or receive a rebate for any utility bill that is $50 or less over or under their utility allowance.
"At other military installations, we have seen an 18 to 30 percent decrease in energy consumption after this program has been implemented," said Post. "The money saved is directly placed back into the housing program creating a nicer community."
For more information about the utility allowance and for specific information about individual dwellings, contact Liberty Park at 301-599-1418.