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The City of San Marcos Electric Utility is completing manual meter readings at all customer addresses not automatically reporting into the billing software system to ensure exact usage numbers following our recent winter weather event.
Utility Rates
Many residents are concerned about spikes in utility rates due to stories being reported in the state and national media. San Marcos Electric Utility (SMEU) is a municipal utility owned by the City of San Marcos, and rates are set by City ordinance in coordination with the City budget process. There will be no increase in rates for SMEU customers at this time. However, customer usage will likely be much higher than normal due to the nearly two weeks of extremely cold weather we have experienced, which may result in higher than normal bills this billing period.
Customer Connect Usage Information
If your usage graph in Customer Connect shows usage on days when you had no electricity, please note that this is how the information is displayed during a power interruption, but you are not being charged for electric usage during those times. The San Marcos utility system retrieves information from your smart meter at regular intervals, and those daily readings can be seen in Customer Connect under the My Usage tab. During a power interruption, those readings may not be available so the system estimates your daily usage, which can produce imprecise results in Customer Connect.
The system used to provide daily readings on graphs in Customer Connect is separate from the City’s billing system. The billing system uses only the total actual Kilowatt hours used at your meter at the end of your billing cycle. SMEU is completing manual meter readings at all customer addresses not automatically reporting into the billing software system to ensure exact usage numbers following our recent winter weather event. This means that there will be no estimated usages for customers included in the first two utility billing cycles. Customers will only pay for the actual Kilowatts used during the billing cycle at their home or business.
Boil Water Advisory
Effective Sunday, February 21, 2021, the City of San Marcos has lifted the boil water advisory for all City of San Marcos water customers as testing has confirmed that our water is safe to drink.
As of February 20, 2021, all City water system repairs were completed and pressure within the overall water distribution system stabilized to a level that allowed water samples to be collected per Texas Commission on Environmental Quality requirements. These samples were then sent for laboratory testing and the results returned earlier today confirmed that no contamination had occurred.
Reporting Issues
As temperatures have warmed up, the City’s temporary winter weather call center has closed. If you need to report a water issue at your home or business, email Water/Wastewater or call 512.393.8010. To report a power outage email Electric Utilities or call 512.393.8313.
Winter Weather Event Utility FAQs \ Evento de Clima Invernal Preguntas Frecuentes Sobre Utilidades
The City of San Marcos knows our utility customers have many questions following the Winter Storm Event and the ERCOT-mandated rolling outages. The following frequently asked questions will help with answers about the electric outages, your utility bill, and how this event may affect utility rates. We’ll update our customers as new information becomes available in upcoming weeks.
La Ciudad de San Marcos sabe que nuestros clientes de utilidades tienen muchas preguntas después del Evento de Tormenta Invernal de la semana pasada y los cortes de energía obligatorios de ERCOT. Esta lista de preguntas frecuentes ayudara con respuestas sobre los cortes de electricidad, su factura de utilidades, y como este evento puede afectar las tarifas de utilidades. Actualizaremos a nuestros clientes en cuanto haya nueva información disponible en las próximas semanas.
- Who actually decided what areas lost power, how long they would be out, and when this would happen?
- ¿Quién decidió cuales áreas perderían energía, cuanto tiempo estarían sin energía y cuando sucederían?
- Why did some areas seem to have power on more often than others?
- ¿Por qué algunas áreas parecían tener energía con más frecuencia que otras?
- Why did some areas have longer outages than others?
- ¿Por qué algunas áreas tuvieron cortes más prolongados que otras?
- Why was my power off after the rolling outages stopped?
- ¿Por qué se cortó la energía después de que se detuvieron las interrupciones del servicio?
- Will our electric and water rates be increased because of the storm event?
- ¿Aumentaran nuestras tarifas de electricidad y agua debido a la tormenta?
- What will my electric bill look like because of this event?
- ¿Como será mi factura de electricidad debido a este evento?
- How could my winter electric bill be higher than my July or August bill?
- ¿Porque mi factura de invierno es más alta que la facture de Julio o Agosto?
- When I look at the usage charts on my Customer Connect account screen they show small power amounts during periods when I had no power. How can that be right?
- Cuando veo el uso de energía en mi cuenta de Customer Connect, refleja un uso chico de energía durante periodos cuando no tuve poder. ¿La información es correcta?