Utility Bill Auditing

Utility Bill Auditing

©2013 EnergyCAP, Inc. ▪ @energycap ▪ #energyleader ▪ www.EnergyCAP.com

Steve Heinz, PE, CEMFounder & CEO

EnergyCAP, Inc.


Presented by EnergyCAP, Inc.EnergyCAP is used by organizations that receive many utility bills for bill processing, energy reporting and analytics

Industry leader for 30+ years; first release in 1982. (The predecessor software was FASER Energy Accounting).

Web-based and on-premise versions.

Financially secure. No debt. No VC funds.

EnergyCAP software is all we do—we don’t sell hardware, retrofits, consulting, bill payment outsourcing, procurement.

Five years running

1,500 organizations use EnergyCAP.City Government (San Francisco, Baltimore, Sacramento, Virginia

Beach, Tampa, Denver, Jacksonville, Oklahoma City, Cleveland)

County Government (Orange, Riverside, Santa Barbara CA; Loudoun, Fairfax, Chesterfield VA; Miami Dade, Charlotte FL)

Federal (USMC, Smithsonian, U.S. Dept of Energy Labs)

Commercial (Ryder, Equity Residential, Forest City, BJs Wholesale Clubs, Burlington Coat Factory, Northrop Grumman)

Education (800+ school districts, SUNY system, Univ of CA system, UCF, Univ of Kansas)



Utility Bill AuditingThis session assumes a working knowledge of utility bills.


20 valuable utility bill audit tests that can help you spot problems and save you money.


Date AuditsUsually due to data entry errors, although sometimes due to billing errors, date errors create problems with analytics (average daily usage, average daily cost).

1. Billing period length, abnormally long or abnormally short

2. Start/End Dates (meter read dates) overlap with another bill

3. Gap between last End Date and current Start Date


Date AuditsUsually due to data entry errors, although sometimes due to billing errors, date errors create problems with analytics (average daily usage, average daily cost).

4. Due Date or Statement Date is too long after End Date

5. End Date is later than today

6. Due Date or Statement Date is before End Date

Date Audit Results



Usage AuditsDue to faulty meter, faulty meter read, billing error or data entry error

7. Use per day varies from average of last two months*

8. Use per day varies from same month last year

9. Use per day is exactly the same as the prior month (or two). Is it estimated?


Usage AuditsDue to faulty meter, faulty meter read, billing error or data entry error

10.Cost but no usage. Is meter inactive?

11. Highest use/day in the last 12 months. Reasonable?

Usage Audit Results



Cost AuditsDue to faulty meter, faulty meter read, billing error or data entry error

12.Cost per day or Unit Cost varies from average of last two months*

13.Cost per day or Unit Cost varies from same monthlast year

14.Highest Cost per day or Unit Cost in the last 12 months. Reasonable?

Cost Audit Results



Demand AuditsDue to faulty meter, faulty meter read, billing error or data entry error

15.Abnormal load factor (over 100%). Use too high, demand too low, or days too low.

16.Abnormal load factor (.1% to 15%). Use too low, demand too high, or days too high.


Demand AuditsDue to faulty meter, faulty meter read, billing error or data entry error

17.Billed demand varies from same month last year

18.Highest billed demand in last 12 months. Reasonable?

19. Exact same Billed Demand multiple months in a row. Demand ratchet in effect?

Demand Audit Results


Demand Audit Results


Max Theoretical Usage = 28 days x 24 hrs/day x 265 kW = 178,080 kWh

How could billed usage be 1,517,040 kWh?


Other Audits20.Possible duplicate bill indicated by Pay Amount and

start or end or due or statement date is equal to an existing bill.

21.Rate audits (bill recalculation)

Audit Results



Rate AuditsThis is most important!

Understand what rates your accounts are on and what alternative rates are available to you.

You can find the rates posted on the vendor website or at the U.S. Dept of Energy’s OpenEnergy Info.

Rate Audit Results



Filters Needed

Filters Prevent False Alarms

Resources to Learn More




Energy UniversityA free service of Schneider Electric. Click on the link at www.FreeEnergyManagerTools.com. Both of these video courses, about 30 minutes each, are excellent.



Open Energy InfoAlmost 30,000 electric rate schedules. A free service of the U.S. Dept of Energy. Click on the link at www.FreeEnergyManagerTools.com.



EnergyCAP Help: docs.EnergyCAP.com


Thank you for attending this presentation!

Utility Bill Auditing

Technology

Transcript of Utility Bill Auditing