Utility Bill Auditing

Utility Bill Auditing
©2013 EnergyCAP, Inc. @energycap #energyleader www.EnergyCAP.com
Steve Heinz, PE, CEM
Founder & 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 Auditing
This 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 Audits
Usually 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 Audits
Usually 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 Audits
Due 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 Audits
entry error
10.Cost but no usage. Is meter inactive?
11.Highest use/day in the last 12 months. Reasonable?

Usage Audit Results

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

Cost Audit Results

Demand Audits
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 Audits
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 Audits
20.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 Audits
This 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 University
A 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 Info
Almost 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

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