Why is my bill so high?

Published on September 03, 2026

All Department of Public Utilities customers should have received their first bills under the Time of Use (TOU) and Demand rates.  

“To say this transition has been rough would be an understatement. It’s been hard on staff to work through issues and manually verify and adjust accounts, and we know it’s been incredibly hard on our customers,” said Philo Shelton, Utilities Manager.  

DPU would like to clarify some items customers are seeing on their bills. Visual examples can be found under the “What’s on your bill?” tab at https://ladpu.com/pay.

• Check the dates of the “Service Period” under Account Summary. Cycle 1 (White Rock) included 4 weeks of service, Cycle 2 (Eastern Area & Townsite) included 5 weeks of service, Cycle 3 (Western Area toward North Community) included 6 weeks of service, and Cycle 4 (Mesas) included 7 weeks of service. This extended time of service will only occur for the August 2026 billing period as all customers are realigned to a new meter read date schedule. The September bills will return to the regular 4 weeks of service period.
• The graphs at the bottom of the utility bill reflect the extended times in the billing period as well. For Cycles 2-4, the “CURR” bar will display 5-7 weeks of consumption data versus the 4 weeks of consumption shown in the previous months. 
• DPU is finding the water usage for customers in Cycle 3 and Cycle 4 is often defaulting to the Tier 2 and Tier 3 rates given the extended service periods in these billing cycles. The finance team is working to adjust these bills for September’s bill. If you believe your bill is one of these, please reach out to Customer Care.
• Customers are charged for up to five services (electric, gas, water, sewer, refuse) on one utility bill, which very few other utilities do. When comparing bills with friends and family in other service areas, please evaluate the individual utility charges instead of total amount due.
• DPU has also requested software updates to the Automated Metering Infrastructure (AMI) portal to increase the ease of use; however, the timeline for this upgrade has not been established.
• An issue with the billing software calculation of GRT on the TOU and Demand rates was found with the billing of Cycles 1 and 2. These two cycles did not have the appropriate GRT calculated and will be billed the remaining GRT on the September bill.  
• All utility bills will have “Solar KWH” listed as a line item under the Electric section of the bill. If a customer is not a solar customer, the usage will always be “0” and have no charge or credit.
• There have been several rate changes, outlined in the table below. For simplicity, only the residential rates are listed. All rate changes can be found at https://ladpu.com/rates.

The natural gas rate ordinance was passed by County Council on August 25 and went into effect on September 1. There are additional monthly adjustments made to the commodity rate for gas, which are calculated and posted by the 8^th of each month.

The proposed water rate ordinance passed the Board of Public Utilities on September 2 and will go before a public hearing at County Council on Tuesday, September 29. This includes a monthly service fee increase from $16.69 to $18.03 for most residential water meters and a non-peak water commodity rate increase from $7.53 per kgal to $8.13 per kgal. Additional proposed water rate information can be found at https://ladpu.com/rates. If this water rate ordinance is approved by County Council, the water rate will go into effect October 1, 2026, at the start of non-peak water rates.

Any customers with questions or concerns about their utility bill should reach out to the Customer Care Center at 505.662.8333 or CustomerCare@losalamosnm.gov. DPU recognizes that these extended billing periods can create financial strain on our customers. There are a variety of options for customers to consider for additional assistance. Support for the Utility Assistance Program has been increased to reflect the recent increases in rates. Learn more at https://ladpu.com/Assist.