Rate Setup Examples

Here are some step-by-step examples to get you started setting up your own rates.  For technical details refer to the previous sections.

The examples below assume you still have the default pick lists, as seen in the demo or a new database -- naturally if you've changed the pick lists for Transaction Categories, Site Types, or Discounts, or if you've changed the available Reservation Attributes, then your choices may be different.  Actually we recommend changing those Pick Lists to reflect your needs -- so do that first before setting up your rates.  In particular, check the Transaction Categories pick list to see if it covers all of the things you need (e.g. you may want separate categories for RV rent vs. Cabin rent, or you may need to add a Seasonal category, etc.)

For each example, it's assumed that you're already in Maintenance / Park Setup / Rates.

Basic Daily Rate

To set up a $20.00 per day rate for Normal RV sites:

1. Click Add rate definition.

2. Enter "Basic daily rate, Normal RV" in the Description field.

3. Click the Charge button.

4. Select (click on) "Daily Rate" from the drop-down category list.

5. Press the Tab key to change to the Item Description field, and change it if you want (e.g. "Normal RV, daily").  You can just start typing to replace it entirely, or press F2 to enter editing mode.  The Item Description is what will show on the customer's receipt.

6. Press the Tab key twice to get to the Each field (no Qty is necessary).

7. Enter the daily amount, not including taxes, for instance "20".  No dollar sign or decimals are needed (assuming it's a round dollar amount)

8. Press the Tab key to accept the amount.

9. Check the boxes for one or more taxes under Auto-add tax, if they apply.

10. Select "Days" from the drop-down list after Rate is per 1 (# of).

11. Verify that the Resv Types shown is "Normal, Group, Monthly" and that the boxes are checked by Multiply by # periods and Multiply by # sites.  These are the defaults and will probably be correct unless you have special cases.

12. Click the Site Types button, select "Normal RV" from the list, and click OK.

13. Click the Save button -- you're done with your first rate!

This shows how to set up a rate for a single site type, "Normal RV".  You probably need to set up separate rate definitions for each of your site types, or at least each group of site types for which you charge one rate (if you charge the same for 2 or more types, then simply include all of those types in step 12 above).  Repeat each of the steps above for each of your site types or rate groupings (likewise for other rates below) .  This can quickly turn into a large list of rates, but that's normal.  It's tedious, but not difficult -- especially using the Copy function as described below.

Weekly and Monthly Rates

To set up a weekly rate of $120 (for instance if they get the 7th day free, you would simply charge them for 6 days on a weekly stay):

1. Make sure the daily rate added above is selected, and click Copy Selected Rate(s).  This will make a duplicate rate definition so we don't have to do everything over again.

2. Select the new copy (click to highlight it), then click Edit rate definition.  (Or you can just double-click on it to edit it.)

3. Change the Description field to "Basic weekly rate, Normal RV".

4. Select (click on) "Daily Rate" under the Category for the charge, then click on the drop-down arrow and select "Weekly Rate".

5. Press the Tab key to change to the Item Description field, and change it if you want (e.g. "Normal RV, weekly").

6. Press the Tab key twice to get to the Each field.

7. Enter the weekly amount, not including taxes, for instance "120".  No dollar sign or decimals are needed (assuming it's a round dollar amount)

8. Press the Tab key to accept the amount.

9. Select "Weeks" from the drop-down list after Rate is per 1 (# of).

10. Everything else is the same, so click the Save button.

11. This rate should still be highlighted in the rates list, so click the Move Up button so that it's above the daily rate.  This is important so the weekly rate takes precedence over the daily rate.  If they stay extra days, it will use the daily rate for the additional days.

To set up a monthly rate, follow the same steps above, substituting the appropriate descriptions, category, and amount, and select "Monthly" in the Rate is per... field.  Or if you charge per 30 days instead of calendar months, enter it as Rate is per "30" (# of) "Days".

Then in the last step, move it twice so it's above the weekly rate.  Again, the monthly rate will be used first, then the weekly for extra weeks, and/or the daily rate for extra days.

Monthly Pro-rate

If you pro-rate the days when they stay a month or more, then you wouldn't want it to use the weekly and daily rates as mentioned above.  So to add a fixed amount per day when they stay 1 month (we'll assume 30 days) or more:

1. Make sure the Basic daily rate is selected, and click Copy Selected Rate(s).

2. Select the new copy (click to highlight it), then click Edit rate definition.  (Or you can just double-click on it to edit it.)

3. Change the Description field to "Daily pro-rate, Normal RV".

4. Select (click on) the Item Description field, and change it to "Normal RV, daily pro-rate").

5. Press the Tab key twice to get to the Each field, and enter the amount (e.g. "10").

6. Press the Tab key to accept the amount.

7. Enter "31" in the Applies if >= .... Days field.  This will force this rate to be skipped unless they're staying more than 30 days (see below).

8. Everything else is the same, so click the Save button.

9. This rate should still be highlighted in the rates list, so click the Move Up button until it's above the weekly rate but below the Monthly rate.  This is important so the monthly rate takes precedence, and if they stay extra days it will use this rate for the additional days instead of the normal weekly or daily rate.

Note that we're using 30 days as the definition of a month here, so technically this would only work correctly if you defined your monthly rate to always be for 30 days instead of a calendar month.  It would also work OK for calendar months as long as you still want to charge a fixed amount per day for extra days (regardless of the length of the month), except for February, because it will skip this rate if they stay 29 days (Feb 1st to March 1st).  

If you use calendar months for your monthly rate, then you will need to set up a separate pro-rate rate for February.  You would duplicate this rate, change the Applies-if days to 29, and enter "3/1 to 3/30" in the Season dates applicable field.  Why enter March dates?  Because if they stayed the full month of February, the extra days would be in March so this rate must apply to those days, not the February days.  Note that if they stay the full month of March, it would apply the monthly rate for March anyway.

Alternatively, you may want to use a pro-rated amount that's based on the number of days in the month -- e.g. for a 31-day month, divide the monthly rate by 31 instead of 30.  In this case you'll need to create 3 separate Rate definitions for 28, 30, and 31 day pro-rates.  In each one, you'll need to set the Season Dates Applicable field for the dates that rate applies to (e.g. "2/1 to 2/28" for the 28-day month pro-rate, "1/1 to 1/31, 3/1 to 3/31, 5/1 to 5/31, 7/1 to 7/31....", etc for the 31-day months, and so on).

Add-on for 50A service

To set up a $2.00 per day extra charge for all RV sites (not just Normal RV):

1. Click Add rate definition.

2. Select "Add-On" in the Rate Type field.

3. Enter "Add-on for 50A" in the Description field.

4. Click the Charge button.

5. Select (click on) "Electricity" from the drop-down category list.  (You might want to add a more appropriate category for this, which would be done in Maintenance / Pick Lists / Transaction Categories).

6. Press the Tab key to change to the Item Description field, and change it if you want (e.g. "50A service, daily").

7. Press the Tab key twice to get to the Each field (no Qty is necessary).

8. Enter the daily amount, not including taxes, for instance "2".

9. Press the Tab key to accept the amount.

10. Check the boxes for one or more taxes under Auto-add tax, if they apply.

11. Select "Days" from the drop-down list after Rate is per 1 (# of).

12. Verify that the Resv Types shown is "Normal, Group, Monthly" and that the boxes are checked by Multiply by # periods and Multiply by # sites.

13. Click the Site Classes button, select "RV's" form the list, and click OK.  Note we're simply selecting the RV site class, not a site type.  You could have selected multiple Site Types if you preferred.

14. Select "50A" from the Applies if reservation field drop-down list.  Additional fields will appear, and in this case we just keep the default "True" selection.

15. Click the Save button.

The key items in this rate are the fact that it's an Add-on (so it can be added to the rental rate), and the 50A selection so the program knows that it only applies if you've selected that option on the reservation.

Add-on for Extra Adults

To set up an add-on charge of $3 per extra adult after the first 2 adults:

This will be another add-on rate, so follow the first 13 steps from the add-on rate above (with appropriate changes in the description, category) and for the Each amount enter the $3 amount per extra adult.  You might select different Site Classes also, for instance if the additional adults charge also counts for cabins and tents.

In step 14, select "# Adults" for the Applies if reservation field.  Since this is a numeric field, different options will appear.  Enter "3" for is >= entry, check the Per each more than box, and enter "2" after that.  Thus if they have 3 or more adults, it will charge $3 for each one except for the first 2.

Extra Children or Extra People

You can create another rate like the one above for extra children, if you have separate allowances for adults vs. children or if you charge a different amount for each.  However if you just charge per person, and allow for instance 4 people regardless of whether they're adult or children and charge a fixed amount per each person above that, then you can simply select the combination "# Children + # Adults" in the rate above (or it may show the other way around, "# Adults + # Children").

Discount for Good Sam

If you give discounts for organizations like Good Sam, you need to set up completely separate rate definitions that apply to the selected discounts.  So first you need to make sure the discounts you accept are in the Discounts Pick List (Maintenance / Pick Lists / Discounts).

There are a couple ways you can set up discount rates, depending on how you want the customer's receipt to show it -- either as a separate line item showing the discount amount, or simply as a reduced amount for the basic charge.  We recommend separate line items, not only for the customer's benefit, but because this also allows you to see the discounts on transaction reports.

For now we'll assume that the Good Sam discount only applies to the daily rate (since a discount is already built into weekly and monthly rates).

To set up a Good Sam rate of 10% off:

1. Make sure the basic daily rate is selected, and click Copy Selected Rate(s).

2. Select the new copy, then click Edit rate definition.

3. Change the Description field to "Good Sam daily rate, Normal RV".

4. Click the Discount button (the one next to Charge), to add a discount transaction.

5. Select "Daily Rate" from the drop-down category list.  You could leave this as "Discount", or you could set up a specific category, but in this case assume we want to include it in the Daily Rate category for accounting reasons (it will simply reduce the total income shown for the Daily Rate category ).  We'll still be able to get a report showing the discount amounts if we want, because the Type is Discount.

6. Press the Tab key to change to the Item Description field, and change it if you want (e.g. "Good Sam 10% discount").

7. Press the Tab key twice to get to the Each field (no Qty is necessary).

8. Enter the daily amount of discount, not including taxes.  We can't enter a percentage, but we know the amount will be $2 because we know the normal rate is $20, so just enter "2".

9. Press the Tab key to accept the amount.

10. Click the Discounts button (the one below Sites), select "Good Sam" from the list, and click OK.

11. Everything else is the same, so click the Save button.

12. This rate should still be highlighted in the rates list, so click the Move Up button so that it's above the Basic daily rate, but below the basic weekly rate.  This is important so the weekly rate takes precedence over the discounted daily rate, but the discount rate will be applied if you select Good Sam as the discount used for the reservation.  Otherwise it will skip this one and use the basic daily rate.

If you offer more than one type of discount, you would repeat the above process for each discount you offer.  You would also repeat this for any Add-on rates that the discount should apply to -- so you might end up with many copies of daily rates and add-on rates, one for each type of discount.

However there's a shortcut if you offer the same amount of discount, e.g. 10%, for several different organizations.  Make the following changes in the steps to make one rate apply to multiple discount types:

In step 6, make the item description "Discount".  When the program sees that the description is the same as the Type, it will add the discount type on the receipts and it will show up like "Discount : Good Sam".

In step 10, select as many different discount types as needed (hold the Ctrl key down when clicking to select more than one).

Now you have one rate that will apply to multiple discounts.

Weekend vs. Weekday Rates

Setting up separate rates for weekdays and weekends is very simple.  It's just a matter of setting up two separate daily rates and selecting the appropriate days of the week for each one.  Of course this could be expanded to a separate rate for each day of the week if needed.

First you need to make sure the Rates fields for the days of the week are all enabled.  If you don't see the checkboxes for them at the bottom of the window when you edit a rate, they've been disabled -- go to Maintenance / Data Field Definitions / Rate Fields, and enable the "Unavailable.." fields for the days of the week.

When you set up the daily rate for weekdays, just remove the check marks from the days of the week that the rate should not apply to.  Keep in mind that these are actually "nights", not "days" -- so if the weekday rate should apply to Sunday night through Thursday night, uncheck the Fri and Sat boxes.

Copy that rate, edit it to change the descriptions and amount accordingly for weekends, and now uncheck all boxes except Fri and Sat.

Since they're mutually exclusive (they can't both apply to the same day of the week since they have different days checked), the order in the list with respect to each other won't matter.  Make sure you don't have a third basic daily rate still in the list -- it shouldn't be needed since these two cover all days of the week, and it could cause confusion.

Naturally if you also have discount rates, this will have to be repeated for each discounted daily rate.

Special Season or Holiday Rates

Creating special rates for holidays, peak seasons, etc. is similar to defining weekend/weekday rates.  You'll need to duplicate each rate that will be different for the special dates, and enter the appropriate dates for which each one applies to.

This is usually done with the Season Dates Applicable field and the Special Dates Not Applic. field.  While the Special Dates Applicable field can be used in some cases, you should ignore this one for now.

As a simple case, lets say that you have a special rate for July 3rd and 4th:

1. Duplicate the Basic daily rate (using Copy Selected Rate(s)).

2. Edit the new one, and change its descriptions as appropriate to indicate "July 4th rate", and of course change the Each amount.

3. In the Season Dates Applicable field, enter "7/3 to 7/4".  Note that the year isn't needed since it's the same days every year.  (If you have special cases like long weekends where you need to include an extra day, then you would have to include the year for those cases.)

4. Click Save.

5. Move that rate above the normal rate (Basic daily rate), so it will apply first if the reservation is on those dates.  Note that it will only apply to those two days, and the regular rate will be used for the remainder of the days if the reservation is longer.

That's basically it.  You can repeat as needed for other dates -- or if all holidays are the same rate, just include all of the holiday dates in the Season Dates Applicable field, separated by commas. For instance: "7/3 to 7/4, 5/28/05 to 5/30/05, 12/24" to include Memorial weekend in 2005 only, and Christmas Eve every year.

Naturally for any year-specific dates, you'll need to remember to adjust the dates every year.  Be sure to leave in the old dates for awhile just in case you still have active reservations covering those dates, to prevent it from recalculating them incorrectly.

We mentioned the Special Dates Not Applic field but we didn't use it yet.  Technically the right way to do it would be to also enter those same dates into the Special Dates Not Applic field in the Basic daily rate, to keep the normal rate from applying on the holidays.  However if you make sure the holiday rate is above the normal rate so it will always be applied first, then you could skip this step.  This reduces the maintenance needed each year, and also speeds things up a tiny bit.

Creating seasonal rates works basically the same way, simply with a larger date range.  This often applies to monthly and weekly rates as well, so you would have to make seasonal copies of those rates also.

One thing to watch out for when entering seasonal dates is the end-of-year wraparound.  If you don't include the year in the date range, it won't understand that "10/1 to 3/31" is supposed to wrap around the end of the year (and in fact it will think you entered it wrong, automatically changing it to "3/31 to 10/1").  So if a season wraps around the end of the year, enter it as two parts like "10/1 to 12/31, 1/1 to 3/31".

Special Reservation Types

So far the examples assume that all of your reservations are just general reservations ("Normal"), or variations on those that don't really affect the rate you charge ("Monthly" or "Group").  The Resv Types selection in the example rates has always been left with these defaults.  You could change the monthly and pro-rated rates to only apply to "Monthly" reservation types if you prefer, to help keep things separate.  Of course you would need to remember to set the reservation type appropriately for the reservations themselves.

You might also have special types of reservations like Seasonal that need separate rates (see below), or special cases that have no other easy way to qualify the rate it should use like a "Grandfathered" rate for certain people, or a special rate for "Online" reservations.  It's often best to create special Reservation Types for these (see the Pick Lists), which not only lets you specify appropriate rates but also allows more detailed reporting.  

Once you've created the special Reservation Types needed, you can define rates that apply to only those reservation types.  This is simply a matter of selecting the appropriate Resv Types in the rate definition.  

Be sure to check all of your rates to make sure there's no missing Resv Types that should be selected, or accidental overlap (rates applying to reservation types that it shouldn't) -- and remember that if the Resv Types selection is blank, the rate will apply to ALL reservation types.

Seasonal Stays

If you have a one-time fee for the entire season, regardless of how long they actually stay, then you may have to handle this differently because most Rental Rates are based on the length of stay.  The best way to handle these is to first create a "Seasonal" Reservation Type through the Pick Lists as described above, and of course you'll need to select that Resv Type for any reservations that fall into this category.  

Once you have the Seasonal reservation type added, you can set up a rental rate for seasonals (or more than one rate if there are other circumstances creating different seasonal fees).  You need to select "Seasonal" in the Resv Types as mentioned above, but most importantly you also need to uncheck the Multiply by # periods option.  This will cause it to charge the rate one time for the entire reservation, regardless of its length.

Rates for Fixed Fees

If you have a fixed fee that should reservations regardless of the length of stay, then you can do it as an add-on rate.  This can be used for things like a reservation fee, a key deposit, or other one-time charge.  It doesn't necessarily have to apply to everyone (you can qualify a key deposit to just cabins, for instance), just modify the steps below if needed to make it apply to the appropriate cases.

To set up a $5.00 fixed fee that applies to all stays:

1. Click Add rate definition.

2. Select "Add-On" in the Rate Type field.

3. Enter "Fixed reservation fee" (or whatever it is) in the Description field.

4. Click the Charge button.

5. Select (click on) "Misc Extras" from the drop-down category list (or whatever category you might have added for this).

6. Press the Tab key to change to the Item Description field, and change it if you want (e.g. "Service charge").

7. Press the Tab key twice to get to the Each field (no Qty is necessary).

8. Enter the amount, not including taxes, for instance "5".

9. Press the Tab key to accept the amount.

10. Check the boxes for one or more taxes under Auto-add tax, if they apply.

11. Remove the checkboxes for Multiply by # periods, Multiply by # sites, and Ask for other quantity.  Of course it this should apply multiple times for multiple sites, leave that box checked.

12. Select any Resv Types, Site Types, etc. that this charge should apply to.  If it applies to everything, make sure these selections are cleared out.

13. Click the Save button.

That's it -- this rate will be added to all reservations matching the selected Applies-only-to criteria.

Merchandise Rates

If you have the Point of Sale option, you probably won't want to enter merchandise here.  Otherwise, you can set up any number of rates that are actually merchandise items.  This saves time when entering sales of fixed-cost items like RV supplies and dump services, or fixed-rate things like propane.  

Once you have Merchandise rates set up, all rates with this type will be shown in Select Rates when you choose the "Merchandise" rate type at the top of that dialog.  In addition, when you open Unbound Transactions, for instance by clicking the cash register icon in the toolbar, it will show all merchandise rates by default.  This makes it easy to pick the selected rate end enter a quantity.

Setting up a merchandise rate is similar to setting up a fixed fee rate.  To add Propane as a merchandise item at $1.299 per gallon:

1. Click Add rate definition.

2. Select "Merchandise" in the Rate Type field.

3. Enter "Propane" in the Description field.

4. Click the Charge button.

5. Select (click on) "Propane" from the drop-down category list (or whatever category you might have added for this).

6. Press the Tab key to change to the Item Description field, and change it if you want (e.g. "Propane per gallon").

7. Press the Tab key twice to get to the Each field (no Qty is necessary).

8. Enter the amount per unit, not including taxes, for instance "1.299". Notice that you can include the fractional cents as added decimal places.  It will show up to 4 places in the dialog, but the number will actually be stored and used for calculations exactly as you enter it.

9. Press the Tab key to accept the amount.

10. Check the boxes for one or more taxes under Auto-add tax, if they apply.

11. Click the Save button.

This is a simple example but should cover most merchandise issues.

Electric Meter Rates (also Water and Gas Meters)

Rates for meters are handled in a special way by Campground Master.  They are used automatically when entering batch meter readings, and if you select a meter rate from Select Rates, it knows to ask for a reading.  There are also some special parameters for meter readings so that you can handle things like tiered electricity rates or exclude a certain minimum amount that's included in their rent.

One key thing to know about meter rates is that when it's applying the rates automatically, it can apply one or two rates. One must be a variable rate, which is multiplied by the number of units used.  The other one, if present, must be a fixed rate that's not multiplied (for instance a base service charge).  If more than these two rates are found that apply to a given reservation, or if no variable rate is found that applies, it will show an error message.

As with rental and add-on rates, you can use any of the "applies-only-to" qualifying fields to create separate rates for different seasons, different reservation or site types, and so forth.  You would create multiple sets of rates to handle each situation as needed, just like for rental rates.

This first example is the simplest case -- a single per-kwH rate for electric use, with no special filtering:

1. Click Add rate definition.

2. Select "Electric Meter" in the Rate Type field.

3. Enter "Electric meter" in the Description field.

4. Click the Charge button.

5. Select (click on) "Electricity" from the drop-down category list (or whatever category you might have added for this).

6. Press the Tab key to change to the Item Description field, and change it if you want (e.g. "Metered electric").  Keep in mind that the current and previous readings will automatically be added to this description on their receipt, for instance "Metered electric (2500-2200)".

7. Press the Tab key twice to get to the Each field (no Qty is necessary).

8. Enter the amount per unit, not including taxes, for instance ".0623". Notice that you can include the fractional cents as added decimal places.  It will show up to 4 places in the dialog, but the number will actually be stored and used for calculations exactly as you enter it.

9. Press the Tab key to accept the amount.

10. Check the boxes for one or more taxes under Auto-add tax, if they apply.

11. Notice that the box Ask for meter reading will be checked automatically, and some other entry fields will appear.  In this simple case, leave these as they are.  (As a simple variation, you could enter "100" in the Meter allowance field if the customer gets the first 100 units for free and should be charged for the remainder of his usage, if any.)

12. Click the Save button.

Now if you go into a reservation's transactions, click Select Rates, and select "Electric Meter" for the rate type, this rate will appear.  If you click this rate and Add, a window will appear showing the previous meter reading and asking for the new reading.  Simply enter the new reading and it will do the rest, including updating the last reading the in the Site Details.

Electric Meter - Base Charges

Sometimes a base service charge must be added every time the meter is read.  This would be in addition to the per-unit charge, so you need to add a separate rate for it.  So after adding the meter rate above, add another rate, let's say for a $4.50 service charge:

1. Click Add rate definition.

2. Select "Electric Meter" in the Rate Type field.

3. Enter "Electric meter service charge" in the Description field.

4. Click the Charge button.

5. Select (click on) "Electricity" from the drop-down category list (or whatever category you might have added for this).

6. Press the Tab key to change to the Item Description field, and change it if you want (e.g. "Meter reading charge").

7. Press the Tab key twice to get to the Each field (no Qty is necessary).

8. Enter the amount of the charge, not including taxes, for instance "4.5".

9. Press the Tab key to accept the amount.

10. Check the boxes for one or more taxes under Auto-add tax, if they apply.

11. Remove the check in the Ask for meter reading box.  This must be removed to indicate that it's a base rate, not a per-unit rate.  If you don't do this, you'll get an error because multiple per-unit rates exist.  Two other fields will still be shown below this because it's a meter rate, but leave those blank in this case.

12. Click the Save button.

Now when you meter charges, this rate will be added in addition to the per-unit charges.  This will happen each time you enter a meter reading, no matter what the actual usage is or how often you do it.

As an additional note, remember that you're not limited to one transaction in a rate definition.  For instance if you need to indicate more than one base charge like a service fee and separate meter reading fee, you can't create two separate base rates so just add the two Charge transactions into the one base rate.

Electric Meter - Tiered Rates

This is where it can get a little complicated, primarily in figuring out the amounts to enter for the rate charges.  Remember that only one per-unit and one base rate can apply for any set of conditions -- this is solved by using the extra fields for Applies if >= ... units and Applies if <= ... units, which were ignored in the simple examples above.

The general process is to create a pair of rates for each range of units that define a different electricity rate.  (If there is no base charge then the lowest range will only need the per-unit rate, but that's the only exception.)  So we need one per-unit rate and one base rate for each range, and set the applies-if parameters accordingly for each pair of rates so that only one pair applies for any given meter reading.

As an example, lets say the rate is $.06 for the first 200 units, $.07 for 201 to 400 units, and $.08 for any usage above 400.  In addition, there's a service charge of $10.00 per month (presumably the same as per reading).  The per-unit portion of the rates in each range is simple enough, but you need to figure out how much the fixed, or base, part should be for each range.

•For 200 and under, the base is just the $10.00 service charge.

•For 201 to 400, we need to add the total amount for the first 200 units of usage (because the per-unit rate will only calculate the $.07 per unit above 200 units).  So $.06 x 200 = $12, plus the $10 service charge = $22.

•Likewise for 401 and above, we need the total amount for the first 400 units.  This would be the $22 above (which includes the first 200 units), plus $.07 x 200 = $14 for the next 200 units (201 to 400), for a base charge of $36.

Now we're ready to create the rate definitions.  Rather than go through each step for every rate, we'll just show a table below with the appropriate entries for each rate.  Hopefully by now you know the basic mechanics of adding rates.

Rate 1: Base rate, up to 200 units

 Each amount: $10.00 (service charge)

 Ask for meter reading checkbox: NOT checked

 Meter allowance field: (blank)

 Applies if >= field: (blank)

 Applies if <= field: 200

Rate 2: Per-unit rate, up to 200 units

 Each amount: $.06

 Ask for meter reading checkbox: CHECKED

 Meter allowance field: (blank)

 Applies if >= field: (blank)

 Applies if <= field: 200

Rate 3: Base rate, 201 to 400 units

 Each amount: $22.00 (service charge + 200 units)

 Ask for meter reading checkbox: NOT checked

 Meter allowance field: (blank, doesn't matter)

 Applies if >= field: 201

 Applies if <= field: 400

Rate 4: Per-unit rate, 201 to 400 units

 Each amount: $.07

 Ask for meter reading checkbox: CHECKED

 Meter allowance field: 200

 Applies if >= field: 201

 Applies if <= field: 400

Rate 5: Base rate, 401 units and up

 Each amount: $36.00 (service charge + 400 units)

 Ask for meter reading checkbox: NOT checked

 Meter allowance field: (blank, doesn't matter)

 Applies if >= field: 401

 Applies if <= field: (blank, no upper limit)

Rate 6: Per-unit rate, 401 units and up

 Each amount: $.08

 Ask for meter reading checkbox: CHECKED

 Meter allowance field: 400

 Applies if >= field: 401

 Applies if <= field: (blank, no upper limit)

Notice that the Applies-if fields define the 3 pairs of rates.  Make sure they are mutually exclusive to separate each pair -- for instance don't put 400 in rates 5 and 6, or else two sets of rates would apply to exactly 400 units.