Payment Options

What is Budget Billing?

If you’d like your residential electric bill to be about the same amount each month, try Keys Energy Services’ Budget Billing Program. Budget billing levelizes your electric bill, so customers no longer experience seasonal high and low bills.

With Budget Billing, you can:

• avoid seasonal monthly peaks and valleys on your electric bill.
• budget for your electric bill, knowing that the fluctuation will be minimized.
• withdraw from the program at any time if you decide that it does not work for you.

Any residential customer is eligible if they:

• have 12 continuous months of billing history at the same address, or
• have 24 continuous months of billing history with Keys Energy Services
• have no penalty charges or returned items.

Here’s how it works: For customers on budget billing, your monthly bill will be an average of the actual current bill and the bills from the past 11 months. The average is determined by adding the current bill to the sum of the past 11 months’ actual bills and then dividing by twelve. As the illustration shows, there will be a deferred balance each month, which shows what you owe or what Keys Energy Services owes you. A “true up” will only become necessary when you discontinue service or withdraw from the program.

Customers are billed on a rolling twelve-month average of electric costs instead of the actual current electric cost. With this levelized amount, customers may find that when they consume more electricity than usual in the summer months, their budget bill is less than their actual bill. During the winter, when customers usually consume less electricity, the budget bill is more than the actual bill.

To sign up for Budget Billing, call one of our Customer Programs Representatives at (305) 295-1080, stop by our office at 1001 James Street, Key West, or complete the following form and select the SUBMIT REQUEST button to email your request to us.

*Denotes Required Fields

Keys Energy Services offers you a fast and easy way to pay your monthly electric bill. The Electronic Debit Program automatically deducts your electric bill from your checking/savings account or credit/debit card monthly. You save the time of preparing your monthly payment and sending it in.

You can authorize Keys Energy Services and your bank to automatically debit the amount of your electric bill from your checking or savings account. Each month, the money is transferred from your account to our account about 2 business days before the due date on the bill.

You can also authorize Keys Energy Services to debit the amount of your bill from your credit/debit card (Visa, Mastercard, Discover, or American Express). Please note that applicable Transaction Fee charges will apply.

You’ll know the program is in place on your account when you see the statement “Do Not Pay” in the PAYMENT TYPE field on your bill.

To be eligible for the Electronic Debit Program, your account must be free of any returned items for insufficient funds for the last 12 months. 

Additionally, for those customers signing up for residential electric service, if you sign up for the Electronic Debit Program simultaneously, your initial deposit fee will be waived.

How to Sign Up for Electronic Debit Program

To sign up, you can submit the Authorization Form online, by mail, or visit our office.

The following forms are available online. You may type directly into the form fields from your computer, then submit, save and/or print the form.

Electronic Debit Program Authorization

If you would like to request a paperless monthly energy bill, please complete the following form and select the SUBMIT REQUEST button. You can also call one of our customer service representatives at (305) 295-1090 or stop by our offices at 1001 James Street, Key West, to request to go paperless. Once processed, you will begin receiving your monthly energy bill via e-mail.

If you want to access the customer portal, please create your online profile/account today!

*Denotes Required Fields.

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Online

You can pay your bill securely online HERE.

By Mail

When paying your bill by mail, please send it to the address listed below:

Keys Energy Services

P.O. Box 279038

Miramar, FL 33027

By Phone

For those customers who are not comfortable paying their bills online, KEYS’ TELELINK telephone system lets you pay your monthly bill securely by phone whenever it is convenient for you. Call (305) 295-1000 to get started. Please note that applicable Transaction Fee charges will apply.

Help KEYS maintain your current account information. The TELELINK system works best when the telephone number you are calling from to report an outage or pay your bill by phone is the same as the one that is reflected in your account.

Electronic Debit Program

Keys Energy Services offers you a fast and easy way to pay your monthly electric bill. The Electronic Debit Program automatically deducts your electric bill from your checking/savings account or credit/debit card monthly. You save the time of preparing your monthly payment and sending it in.

You can authorize Keys Energy Services and your bank to automatically debit the amount of your electric bill from your checking or savings account. Each month, the money is transferred from your account to our account about 2 business days before the due date on the bill.

You can also authorize Keys Energy Services to debit the amount of your bill from your credit/debit card (Visa, Mastercard, Discover, or American Express). Please note that applicable Transaction Fee charges will apply.

You’ll know the program is in place on your account when you see the statement “Do Not Pay” in the PAYMENT TYPE field on your bill.

To be eligible for the Electronic Debit Program, your account must be free of any returned items for insufficient funds for the last 12 months.

Additionally, for those customers signing up for residential electric service, if you sign up for the Electronic Debit Program simultaneously, your initial deposit fee will be waived.

How to Sign Up for Electronic Debit Program

To sign up, you can submit the Authorization Form online, by mail, or visit our office.

The following forms are available online. You may type directly into the form fields from your computer, then submit, save and/or print the form.

Electronic Debit Program Authorization

In Person

KEYS will accept your payment by check, money order, cash, or major credit card when you visit KEYS’ offices at 1001 James Street. FREE customer parking is available off Grinnell Street on the building's north (back) side. Please note that applicable Transaction Fee charges may apply.

• Monday 8:00a-5:00p
• Tuesday 8:00a-5:00p
• Wednesday 9:00a-5:00p
• Thursday 8:00a-5:00p
• Friday 8:00a-5:00p

In addition to paying your bill online or by phone, you can pay using our bill pay kiosk or payment drop boxes. Click here for more information on the bill payment kiosk. Payment drop boxes are available for your convenience at 1001 James Street or in front of the Shops of Ships Way in Big Pine Key. You may drop your payment stub and check or money order in the drop boxes 24 hours a day. Cash should not be deposited.

For customers who are having difficulty paying their monthly energy bill, the following programs and agencies may provide some assistance – pending qualification.

KEYS offers a Senior Citizen’s/Disabled American Veteran’s discount. To find out if you are eligible for this discount, visit https://www.keysenergy.com/discount/ or contact KEYS’ Customer Programs department at (305) 295-1080.

Monroe County Social Services may be able to help if you are having trouble paying your energy bill. They administer LIHEAP (Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program) and EHEAP (Elderly Home Energy Assistance Program). To find out if you are eligible, call (305) 292-4408. This program is open to income-qualified families and individuals who need help paying their utility bills, depending on funding availability. To find out if you are eligible, call (305) 292-4408 or visit their website at www.monroecounty-fl.gov/146/Community-Support-Services. Please click here to access the LIHEAP Application Packet.

Non-profit Agencies:

• Aids Help: Call (305) 296-6196
• American Cancer Society: Call (800) 227-9954
• Cancer Foundation of the Florida Keys: Call (305) 294-7300
• Catholic Charities: Call (305) 292-9790 in Key West
• Domestic Abuse Shelter: Call (305) 294-0824
• Salvation Army: Call (305) 294-0478

Please note that all agencies have different and specific qualification criteria.

Keys Energy Services is committed to providing a website that is accessible to the widest possible audience, regardless of technology or ability. If you require any functionality or specific accommodation which you find is not immediately provided for on the website, please contact us so that we may promptly address your individual needs.

Monthly Electric Bill: Frequently Asked Questions

How is my monthly electric bill calculated?‍

There are several components that comprise Keys Energy Services’ (KEYS) monthly electric bill.

If you are a residential customer, they include: the Energy Charge; the Power Cost Adjustment; the Customer Charge; the Storm Surcharge and the Gross Receipts Tax.

If you are a small commercial customer, they include: the Energy Charge; the Power Cost Adjustment; the Customer Charge; the Storm Surcharge, the Sales Tax and the Gross Receipts Tax.

If you are a large commercial customer, they include: the Energy Charge; the Demand Charge; the Power Cost Adjustment; the Customer Charge; the Storm Surcharge, the Sales Tax and the Gross Receipts Tax.

All customers are charged a Storm Surcharge.

‍For all other rate classes, please refer to KEYS’ Billing Tariffs.

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What is KEYS Energy Charge (also referred to as the Base Rate)?‍

The Energy Charge is a fixed charge and is the cost to provide service to customers.

The Energy Charge for each class of customer is:

• Residential – $0.1107 per kilowatt-hour* (kwh)
• Small Commercial – $0.1287 per kilowatt-hour (kwh)
• Large Commercial
• $0.1287 per kilowatt-hour (kwh) for the first 5,000 kwh
• $0.1069 per kilowatt-hour (kwh) for all additional kwh
• Large Commercial Primary – $0.0965 per kilowatt-hour (kwh)

For all other rate classes, please refer to KEYS’ Billing Tariffs.

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What is the Demand Charge?

Large non-residential customers are billed for their demand for electricity along with the kWh used. Demand is measured in kW. The demand is the highest amount of electricity required at any one given time. Billing Demand is not applicable to residential and small commercial customers.

The Demand Charge for Large Commercial Customers is:

• $0.00 per kW- First 20 kW
• $12.50 per kW- All additional kW

The Demand Charge for Large Commercial Primary Customers is:

• $13.00 per kW

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What is the Power Cost Adjustment (PCA) Charge?

The actual cost of power does not always match the cost of power built into the Energy Charge.  When power costs fluctuate above or below the cost recovered by the Energy Charge (currently $62.20/1,000 kwh), KEYS passes the increase/decrease along to customers via the PCA.‍

Visit the following page to view KEYS’ current PCA.

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What determines the PCA rate?

KEYS purchases all of its power from the Florida Municipal Power Agency (FMPA). Power costs from FMPA fluctuate month-to-month with the cost of energy and with the “true up” from the previous month.  Your power comes from a variety of generation sources, including natural gas, coal, nuclear and solar.  As a result, the PCA does not directly correlate to change in any specific fuel market.

Who sets the Energy and PCA charges?

The Utility Board sets the rate structures of both the Energy Charge and the PCA. The Florida Public Service Commission (FPSC), which regulates all electric utilities in Florida, then reviews and approves the rate structure. The Energy Charge is set by the Utility Board following Public Hearings, and the PCA is set by KEYS’ General Manager & CEO based on past, present and projected power costs.

What is the Customer Charge?

The Customer Charge is a fixed amount charge to recover costs incurred regardless of energy consumption. These costs include operation and maintenance costs of transmission and distribution systems, tree trimming, meter reading and customer service.

The Customer Charge for each class of customer is:

• Residential – $28.00
• Small Commercial – $37.50
• Large Commercial - $95.00
• Large Commercial Primary – $275.00‍
• For all other rate classes, please refer to KEYS’ Billing Tariffs. 

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What is the Storm Surcharge?

The Storm Surcharge is a $1.35 charge per 1,000 kWh of consumption assessed to all customers monthly to fund KEYS’ Disaster Reserve and Mitigation Fund. By resolution, the Disaster Reserve and Mitigation Fund was established to fund liabilities incurred as a result of a disaster, such as a hurricane.

What are Gross Receipts Taxes?

A 2.56-percent tax on the gross receipts of electric, gas, and telecommunications utilities in the State of Florida and is recovered from all customers, regardless of tax-exempt status. Gross Receipts Tax revenues are used for public education capital outlay funding (chapter 12B-6, Florida Administrative Code).

What can I do to reduce my monthly electric bill?

Take steps to conserve energy and reduce your consumption, log on to www.KeysEnergy.com and click on the “Growing Greener Every Day” icon for ideas to get started.

*A kwh is a common unit of electric energy consumption, and the basic unit of electric energy. For example, ten 100-watt light bulbs burning for one hour use one kilowatt-hour.

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Transaction Fee Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Transaction Fee?

A flat-rate processing fee of $3.75 added to all credit card payments. This is a pass-through cost that does not benefit KEYS nor is it retained by KEYS. This fee is charged by the payment processor, Paymentus Corporation, to cover transaction costs.

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Which methods of payment are not assessed a Transaction Fee?

KEYS offers several free payment options:

• Cash or check payments made in person (1001 James Street or the Big Pine Key Branch of First State Bank)
• Check payments that are mailed in
• Check payments dropped off at a KEYS’ drop box (1001 James Street or Outside the Shops at Ships Way on Big Pine Key)
• Check payments made online or by phone
• Payments made via KEYS’ checking or savings account electronic debit program
• Or utilizing your own bank’s online check paying feature

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Why did KEYS implement a Transaction Fee?

In 1998, KEYS began accepting credit card payments from customers and absorbing the associated transaction fees. As the program grew in popularity so did the cost of transaction fees. KEYS surveyed other municipal electric utilities in the State and discovered that all utilities assess a transaction fee so as not to incur the expense of processing payments – a cost that is then shared by all customers, including those that do not use credit cards to pay their monthly bills.

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Why is the fee a flat rate and not a percentage of my payment?

The fee structure is mandated by credit card companies who require a set, flat rate rather than a percentage payment.

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Why do I have two Transaction Fee charges?

Credit card transactions will be capped at $1,000. In the event your payment exceeds the cap, customers will have to make multiple transactions, and will be assessed a transaction fee for each.

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Isn’t it illegal to charge a fee for the use of credit cards?

In a retail environment (i.e.: grocery store, clothing store, etc), a transaction fee is charged to the merchant whenever a customer makes a purchase using a credit card. Merchants (i.e. store owners) are prohibited by credit card companies from passing on this transaction fee to the customer who uses the credit card, so merchants typically include this fee in the price of their goods or services. Thus, all customers bear the burden of the fee. This is appropriate because merchants have control over the price of their goods and customers are making voluntary payments (i.e., they are not required to make the purchase). In contrast, in most governmental organizations like KEYS, fees are set by ordinance, statute, or in KEYS’s case tariff and 100-percent of the fee must be collected by the governmental organization, which leaves no room to budget the transaction fee. In addition, governmental organizations yield “involuntary payments,” that is, the citizen does not have the choice to make the payment. In the 1990s governmental organizations began talks with the major credit card companies arguing that individuals who choose to pay their governmental bills by credit card should pay the cost of the transaction.

Individuals who choose another form of payment should not pay the transaction fees of those who use credit cards. In the late 1990s major credit card companies created an exception to allow governments to charge a “transaction fee” to customers who pay by credit card.