It was the way their system blindly reacted to the inability to read a lot of the meters. Instead of issuing NO bill, it issued a (very stupidly, in this case) “estimated bill.” These were NOT fixed-payment plans as two here have already asserted without reading the linked article.
Actually LIPA only reads meters bi monthly in any case. My reading was supposed to be actual but half the customers were due for an estimated bill. Given LIPA’s failures it was not surprising that they couldn’t get the meters read. As t2/3rds of cutomers use balanced billing where the o issubill is spread equally over 12 months. The two weeks of no electric and in most cases no natural gas usage will be registered over the ing a no bill mailing, well over following months.