STC Energy provides utility invoice validation and management services that help organizations save money and reduce processing time. Their services involve electronically validating invoices for errors, making copies of paper invoices available online, and giving customers a single portal to view invoices from all suppliers. Using STC has helped customers recover over £130m by finding billing errors. Their dedicated staff are experienced at thoroughly checking invoices and balancing statements.

1. and validate these invoice files
provides a much more efficient way
of processing utility invoices. Once
validated, invoices can be included
onto a consolidated accounts
payable file that can be imported
to most accounts software. This
process will further reduce the time
internal staff spend processing these
invoices and will also ensure that
you only pay for what you use and
do not pay any duplicate invoices.
Some organisations have staff at
remote sites that are responsible
for energy budgets at site level
and prefer to see a copy of the
original paper invoice. At STC we
accommodate this by making copies
of original invoices available on our
online web portal alongside the
billing data. These can be viewed
and downloaded with just a few
clicks.
Another advantage of having a
bureau service provider is the ability
to view invoices from all suppliers
on one web portal. This includes all
fuel types such as electricity, gas and
water.
STC have the only supplier
integrated online query
management system that provides
utility suppliers direct access to
queries, and we find that this
achieves a quicker resolution.
Since 2005, STC have recovered
over £130m worth of utility
billing errors for its customers.
Apart from direct cost saving
opportunities, STC’s bureau services
are also proven to create many
intrinsic benefits throughout an
organisation. A dedicated bureau
service will inevitably find more
billing errors as experienced staff
regularly check a wider range
of invoices and will guarantee
continuity of service. Access to
accurate energy data can provide
significant efficiency gains
and reports can be produced
for different audiences, such
as accounts, procurement and
facilities departments, and promote
greater engagement with energy
management at all levels. These
reports provide the basis for capital
expenditure business cases and
allow the effectiveness of energy
efficiency projects to be accurately
measured.
Imagine not having to process any
more paper utility invoices or deal
with complicated invoice queries and
still have the peace of mind that you
are only paying for what you should.
A
s well as introducing
energy-saving products
and behavioural controls,
savings can also be made
by fully validating utility
invoices.
Suppliers’ tariffs and invoices
can be very complex and difficult
to understand. As a result it is
inevitable that some billing errors
will be missed. With flexible and
energy only contracts becoming a
more popular way of buying energy,
additional validation is required to
balance reconciliation statements
from suppliers and check third party
charges.
Traditionally, the processing of
utility invoices has been a manual
process, where paper invoices
are entered onto a spreadsheet
or energy management software
system before being passed to the
accounts payable department.
If any errors are found in these
invoices, the suppliers will have to
be contacted to resolve the errors
found. Some of these errors can be
complex and difficult to explain.
The accounts payable department
must then enter the same invoices
into their accounts software so that
they can be paid on time.
It is also usual to withhold any
invoices with errors from the
Making savings on energy expenditure is always on the agenda in finance
and energy departments. Alan Little looks at the benefits of fully validating
utility bills and streamlining invoice processing
Keep an eye on
the invoices
34 | ENERGYINBUILDINGS&INDUSTRY | october 2015
payment process, which then leads
to reminder bills and sometimes
disconnection notices to be received.
Invoice validation does not
only require rigorous checks
against contracted rates, network
charges and taxes, but also relies
on consumption comparisons and
benchmarking against comparable
sites.
Changedbillingsystems
Validation of utility invoices has
become even more important since
two of the top six energy suppliers
changed their billing systems last
year, which left many of their
customers with either incorrect
invoices that may have been paid
without realising, or no invoices
at all. For some organisations, not
receiving billing for a long period of
time can cause internal issues with
budgeting and accruals, especially if
these charges need to be included in
service charges.
STC have been processing
utility invoices for over 20 years
and estimate that between 3 and
5 per cent of utility expenditure
can be saved by fully validating
supplier invoices. Further savings
can be achieved by reducing time
spent by internal staff dealing with
utility issues. These savings can far
energy procurement
For further information onSTCEnergy visitwww.energyzine.co.uk/enquiriesand enter ONLINE enquiryNo.145
Alan Little is business
development manager
at STC Energy
“Changing to
electronic billing
and using a system
that can import and
validate these
invoice files
provides a much
more efficient way
of processing utility
invoices”
outweigh the cost of the energy
bureau service cost. A typical bureau
cost should be less than 0.5 per cent
of the utility expenditure.
The utility invoice management
process can be dramatically
improved by using a specialist
energy bureau service that will act
as a “back office” on your behalf,
offering the software and expertise
to find and resolve utility billing
errors. A good bureau service
provider should also have good
relationships with suppliers and
have a dedicated account manager
to deal with any issues.
Changing to electronic billing
and using a system that can import