How To Select A Utility Bill Audit Company

Every year, commercial utility customers pay millions of dollars in utility expenses, including electric, water/sewer, gas, and telecom. Are you certain your organization is paying the correct amount? What if it isn't? Without an expert audit, you may never know if you are due refunds, savings, and credits from overcharges that appear in a surprisingly large percentage of utility bills. OVER 60% of commercial utility bills contains errors!!!

A whole business sector has grown to supplement your company's efforts and delve further into the highly specialized area of utility cost recovery to obtain funds on your behalf. The following is an objective look at whether this service is right for you, and a primer to help you make the best selection of an auditing firm.

The first thing you probably are wondering - what does a utility bill audit/review cost?

The cost depends upon certain factors:

Does the auditing company work on a contingency fee basis? Some companies charge a fee for their service, regardless of whether they effect savings. The benefit of this arrangement is you know what the cost will be. The downside is that you pay for the service whether you wind up saving money or not, and there is no financial incentive for the auditing company to dig as deep as possible to effect savings. They get paid the same amount of money whether they save you significant dollars or no dollars at all.

Many audititing firms performance fee based - they are paid only when they recover refunds, savings, and credits. In this case there is absolutely nothing to lose, with the potential - and their incentive - to secure significant savings.

The performance-fee based companies have two slight variants:
1)The company recieves some pre-negotiated share of the savings they identify for you for some period of time.  Example: 30% of your utility savings for 3 years, including a share of any intial refund/credit the obtain for you.
2)The company recieves the pre-negotiated share of only your initial credit/refund.  All future savings are your to keep.

We recommend looking for a company that is performance-fee based so that there is an incentive for the auditing company to identify and fight for corrections on your utility bill AND if they find no mistakes - you pay ZERO.  Also, enlist an audting company that only partakes in a share of the intial credit/refund because you don't want to have a 2-3 year relationship with this company continually billing you for their share of your savings.  Once is all it should be.

Is it too good to be true?

Absolutely not!  Especiallly if you work with the right company.  Do your due diligence; find out about the company you choose before selecting a utility auditing firm. Ask:

• What is their compensation structure?
• How knowledgable is their staff? What is their background?
• Do they look to recover funds and savings on existing structures as well as on future billings? What is their track record in each area of savings?
• Do they just recommend solutions, or do they implement them as well?
• How far are they willing to go? Would they appeal the utility companies' decisions?
• Who are their clients and how much have they saved them? Get references.
• Are there any other charges?
• How easy is it to cancel the agreement?

We recommend looking for a company that is performance-fee based, has staff with significant practical utility billing experience, has dealt with customers similar to your organization, and has a simple contract.  The best contracts we've seen are a page or two.  If it's more that that - it's too complicated.  Find another auditor!

Can't we do a utility bill review ourselves?

Most companies are not staffed with the correct staff to perform utility bill reviews. Utility bill auditing and analysis is a very complex, time-consuming, and specialized field. You need to be able to navigate through the bureaucratic environment that most utility companies operate in.  There are 100's of variables that impact your utility bill such as tariffs, rates, taxes, and regulatory rules. 

If you were staffed to do utility bill reviews you probably would not be on this website right now.  Or if you think you've done your homework on your utility bills, there is no harm in enlisting a performance-fee based company to come in and do an audit.  The only risk you run is they find an error you missed, but at least you start saving more immediately.  Get with a reliable reputable performance-fee based utlity bil review company today!

In Conclusion:

You have the potential to save tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars for your organization. The risk is either a fixed cost or no cost, and a small amount of time and effort on your part to provide the information and access necessary to allow the auditors to do what they do best. Utility auditing may be well worth a try for your company.

Don't delay - get your company's utility bills audited today!