Prepayment Agreement

New Members: Pay Your Way accounts set up in conjunction with a new membership must pay a $25.00 Pay Your Way set-up fee and a $25.00 initial energy purchase.

Existing Members: Existing post pay accounts can be converted to a Pay Your Way account at any time. Any existing deposit (if applicable) will be applied toward outstanding balances and any remaining credit (if applicable) will be applied to the Pay Your Way account. If an outstanding balance remains after applying existing deposit, a debt recovery agreement may be established for the remaining balance whereby any payment received will be divided with 50% applied to the debt and 50% applied to the prepaid account.

Calculation of Charges: Pay Your Way accounts are billed at the same energy rate and base rate as residential post pay accounts, although all charges are billed on a daily basis. The daily rate includes a daily proration of the monthly residential base charge plus a charge for any energy used in the past 24-hour interval.

Payment Extensions: Pay Your Way accounts are not eligible for extensions of credit. Failure to keep your account in a credit balance will trigger an automatic disconnect.

Account Balance and Alerts: Pay Your Way accounts may receive low balance alerts whenever the account balance falls below a credit balance of $25.00. MEC is not responsible for messages which are not received by members. It is the member’s responsibility to notify MEC of any change to their contact information. Missoula Electric Cooperative is not responsible for any data charges associated with Pay Your Way account notifications.

Payments: Payments may be made in person in our office located at 1700 W. Broadway in Missoula Monday through Friday between 8 am and 5 pm. Payments may be made 24 hours a day using the SmartHub internet site by visiting our website at www.missoulaelectric.com or on your smartphone by downloading the mobile app free of charge. Payments may also be made 24 hours a day using our payment hotline at 888-477-7340. There are no transaction fees associated with payment.

Disconnects and Reconnects: The Cooperative will attempt to notify members of low balances as described above via e-mail and/or telephone, but it is the member’s responsibility to maintain a credit balance on their account to avoid any disconnection of service. A Pay Your Way account may be subject to disconnection any time the account does not have a credit balance, including weekends, holidays, or during severe weather conditions. If a service is disconnected outside normal business hours, payment may be made using one of our electronic payment options listed above. Once disconnected, a minimum credit balance of $10.00 must be re-established for service to be reconnected. Once a $10.00 credit balance is re-established a command will automatically be sent to restore electricity to the service.

Returned Payments: Any payments made to a Pay Your Way account which are not honored by the member’s financial institution will be deducted from the members Pay Your Way account along with any applicable non-sufficient funds fees. If the removal of a payment causes the credit balance to $0.00 or below, service will be disconnected on the same business day.

Meter Tampering: Any tampering related activity will subject the account to immediate disconnection and any relevant tampering fees must be paid before service is reconnected. Service will be reconnected only between the hours of 8:00 am and 5:00 pm, Monday through Friday.

Billing: Pay Your Way accounts will not receive paper billing statements. All relevant usage and account balance information can be accessed by reviewing the SmartHub online or mobile account management site, or by calling or visiting the Cooperative’s office during normal business hours.

Inactive Accounts: Any Pay Your Way account will be considered inactive after the account has been disconnected for 10 days. Once disconnected, members who fail to make sufficient payment to reconnect their service, will be removed from the Pay Your Way program, and the member will be mailed a final bill to the address on file. To reconnect service, inactive Pay Your Way members will need to re-enroll in Pay Your Way and pay a new $25.00 setup fee and a $25.00.

Termination of Service and Final Billing: A full settlement will be made when participation in the Pay Your Way account service ends and the account is sent a final bill. Service terminated at the member’s request will receive a full refund of any remaining credit balance on the account. (Please allow 4 weeks processing time for reimbursement after service has been terminated).

Conversion to Post-paid billing: A Pay Your Way member may elect to convert the account to postpaid billing at any time. The Cooperative will require full payment of any security deposit as a condition of continued service. The deposit will be based on member’s credit risk score as determined by an online utility credit check. Deposits will be calculated based on the total of two times the highest monthly bill at the service location during the preceding 12 months of active service or $150.00 whichever is greater.

Medical Necessity: Pay Your Way program is not available for any meter serving a household which due to medical necessity requires uninterrupted electric service to prevent the occurrence of a medical emergency.

Indemnification: Notwithstanding any other provision of this Agreement, the member shall assume all liability for and shall indemnify Missoula Electric Cooperative, Inc. and its members, trustees, directors, officers, managers, employees, agents, representatives, affiliates, successors and assigns for – and shall hold them harmless from – any and all claims, losses, costs and expenses of any kind or nature to the extent they relate to the Pay Your Way program, participation in the Pay Your Way program, disconnection of the Pay Your Way account, restoration of service to the Pay Your Way account and interruption of service to the Pay Your Way account, including but not limited to damages or losses from:

a. personal injury or death;

b. property damage;

c. damages for financial or monetary losses allegedly due to disconnection of electric service, interruption of electric service or restoration of electric service to the Pay Your Way account;

d. inconvenience or discomfort from disconnection of electric service, interruption of electric service or restoration of electric service to the Pay Your Way account;

e. health problems asserted to be related to disconnection of electric service, interruption of electric service or restoration of electric service to the Pay Your Way account;

f. costs, expenses or attorneys fees incurred for a claim or lawsuit relating to disconnection of electric service, interruption of electric service or restoration of electric service to the Pay Your Way account;

g. any and all obligations asserted by or on behalf of third parties arising out of or resulting from the Pay Your Way account;

h. any and all property damage, personal injury or death related to the restoration of electric service to the Pay Your Way account after a period of disconnection;

i. any consequential damages related to the Pay Your Way account. Member specifically assumes as his/her sole responsibility safety for all electrical appliances and operating systems (on the member’s side of the meter) (i.e. such as stoves, heaters, heating systems, irons, hair dryers, etc.) which had been operating at the time of disconnection and which may then be re-energized at time of reconnection. Member indemnifies Missoula Electric Cooperative, Inc. from any damages whatsoever (personal injury, property damages, business losses, consequential damages, third party damages) related to restoration of electric service to the Pay Your Way account.

I acknowledge I have read and understand the terms and conditions of Missoula Electric Cooperative’s Pay Your Way prepaid metering program. By signing, I agree to above terms and conditions associated with the program.