Utility Bill Benchmarking
Discover Billing Errors & Recover Refunds
Another important step towards achieving energy savings is utility bill benchmarking. This is a solution where our team will analyze your utility billing data, tariff schedules, and sales tax payments. The analysis aims to identify errors, overbillings, and potential savings opportunities. This is an important part of a comprehensive energy strategy as it ensures you are paying the correct amounts for energy consumption. It also allows us to benchmark usage quantities based off individual motors in your facility.
Utility Company Tariffs
Our audits focus on utility tariffs seek to ensure that businesses or consumers are being billed under the most appropriate rate structure for their specific usage patterns. By comparing current tariffs to actual consumption data and needs, these audits can identify potential savings through rate adjustments or highlight instances where alternative tariff options may be more economically advantageous.
Energy Consumption Data
Utility bill audits that concentrate on energy consumption data aim to analyze the billed usage patterns to ensure they accurately reflect the actual consumption of resources like electricity, gas, or water. Discrepancies between recorded and actual usage can provide opportunities for cost-saving adjustments and optimization strategies. This also allows us to identify energy efficiency opportunities.
Billing Data
Utility bill audits focused on billing data aim to scrutinize the accuracy of the charges applied, including rate structures, fees, and any additional costs that appear on a utility statement. By thoroughly reviewing historical and current billing records, these audits can identify inconsistencies or errors that may result in a financial adjustment, ensuring that consumers or businesses are only paying for what they actually use.
Meter Readings
Utility bill audits that examine electric meter read errors aim to identify inaccuracies in the measurement and billing of electrical consumption. By comparing historical usage data with current meter readings, these audits can uncover discrepancies that may lead to refunds or adjustments, ensuring that businesses or consumers are billed correctly for their actual electricity use.
Sales Tax
Utility bill audits also focus on sales tax to ensure that businesses are not overpaying taxes on their utility expenses, such as electricity, water, and gas. By closely examining utility invoices and applicable tax regulations, these audits can uncover inaccuracies or exemptions that may result in refunds or future savings on sales tax.
The Many Benefits Of Utility Bill Benchmarking
A utility study is critical to your energy savings strategy. Some of the key benefits of a utility bill analysis include:
Uncover billing errors and obtain refunds
Certain discoveries may result in refunds from utilities or state tax departements.
Ensure accuracy in billing tariffs
If nothing is identified in the audit, our clients rest assured knowing their bills are accurate.
Identify lower-cost rate schedules
Moving to a more cost-effective tariff can help you to reduce monthly costs.
Benchmarks for projects
Utility data can help us to verify the effectiveness of efficiency projects
Frequently Asked Questions
Utility bill audits can be an enlightening and financially beneficial exercise for commercial and industrial customers. By understanding your consumption patterns and how you’re billed, you can make informed decisions to save money and make your operations more sustainable.
A utility bill study or audit is a detailed examination of a company's utility bills, typically covering electricity, gas, and water. The aim is to identify any billing errors, overcharges, and opportunities for cost savings. For commercial and industrial clients who consume large amounts of energy, even a small percentage of savings can translate to significant financial benefits.
Utility bill audits scrutinize the rates, tariff classifications, meter readings, and taxes levied on the utility bills. Any discrepancy, like incorrect meter readings or being on an inappropriate tariff, can lead to unnecessary expenditures. An audit can pinpoint such issues, allowing you to correct them and potentially secure refunds or credits.
The frequency can depend on the size of the company, changes in utility rates, and shifts in operational practices. However, an annual audit is generally recommended for most commercial and industrial customers to ensure they are not overpaying and to adapt to any rate or tariff changes.
You would typically need to provide utility bills for the past 12-24 months. The more data available, the more accurate the audit. Bills should include all utility-related charges—electricity, water, gas, and any other utilities that apply to your specific industry.
Absolutely. In addition to identifying overcharges or errors, a utility bill audit can highlight areas where consumption is higher than industry norms. This information can be used to make targeted changes in your operations to reduce your environmental footprint.
The outcomes can range from identifying billing errors leading to refunds, to actionable insights for reducing energy consumption. The audit can also recommend more suitable tariffs or utility plans, and it often provides a better understanding of the organization’s energy use patterns, enabling more effective energy management strategies.
Why FES?
We’re here to help! FES is a boutique engineering firm offering customized solutions that are specific to the needs of your building and personnel. After a thorough on-site evaluation, FES will provide a list of recommended energy efficiency measures available for implementation with internal resources (at your own pace), or you can choose to let us manage the project from start to finish. Our identified solutions will allow for more efficient building operation with improved reliability while reducing your overall utility costs.
