Commercial Utility Bill Auditing—Find the Errors Your Team Never Sees
Most commercial organizations have billing errors in their utility accounts right now. Utilities are complex. Rate schedules change. Taxes are misapplied. We find what your team doesn't have time to look for.
What We Find in Commercial Utility Bills
Utility billing is more complex than most building owners realize. These are the six most common categories of errors we uncover on every audit.
Rate Misclassification
Your building is billed under the wrong rate schedule — often for years. Commercial, industrial, agricultural, and governmental tariffs carry significantly different structures. A single rate correction can mean tens of thousands in annual savings and years of retroactive refunds.
Demand Charge Errors
Peak demand is recorded at the wrong interval or traced to a single anomalous event that inflated your demand charge for months. We review interval data to determine whether demand readings are accurate and whether any demand ratchet clauses have been incorrectly applied.
Tax Overcharges
Utility and sales taxes are routinely applied to uses that qualify for exemption — manufacturing processes, agricultural operations, nonprofit facilities, and certain government accounts. These exemptions are often never claimed because no one on your team knew to look.
Idle Meter Fees
Service charges, customer charges, and monthly minimums continue to accumulate on meters connected to vacant spaces, demolished structures, or consolidated accounts. We identify every meter on your account and verify each one is still necessary.
Calculation Errors
Tiered rate structures, time-of-use pricing, fuel adjustment clauses, and power factor penalties all introduce opportunities for arithmetic errors in the utility's billing system. We verify the math on every line item using the current tariff schedules.
Duplicate Billing
The same meter or service point appears on multiple accounts. Common in portfolio properties and following utility system migrations, duplicate charges can go unnoticed for years when bills are paid by an accounts payable team without energy expertise.
How a Utility Bill Audit Works
A straightforward four-step process. You send us the bills. We do the rest.
Data Collection
Send 12–24 months of utility bills for all accounts. PDF copies or paper scans work. We can also help you request third-party data access directly from your utility.
Line-by-Line Review
Every charge, rate code, tariff reference, and tax line is verified against the current utility tariff schedules. We flag anything that doesn't match, including historical rate changes during the review period.
Findings Report
You receive a documented report of every identified error, including the math showing the overcharge, the applicable tariff language, and our estimated recovery amount for each finding.
Recovery
We prepare and file the refund claims directly with the utility on your behalf. We track each claim through resolution and confirm that credits or refund checks are correctly applied.
Building Types We Audit
Any commercial building receiving a utility bill from an investor-owned or public utility is a candidate. These are the property types we work with most often.
Not Sure If Your Building Qualifies?
Run our free pre-screening tool to get a fast read on your billing risk profile based on building type, utility spend, and occupancy. It takes about two minutes and costs nothing.
If the numbers suggest an audit is worthwhile, we'll reach out to walk you through next steps. If they don't, we'll tell you that too.
Run Free Pre-ScreeningAudit Options & Fees
Straightforward pricing with no hidden fees. For contingency engagements, you owe nothing unless we recover money for you.
Best for buildings with a single utility account or owners wanting a first-pass review.
Best for buildings with multiple utility accounts, high annual spend, or prior rate concerns.
Manufacturing, agricultural, nonprofit, and government accounts often qualify for significant exemptions.
Why a Professional Audit Matters
The opportunity cost of unchecked utility billing is not theoretical. These are findings drawn from real commercial audits.
Utility Audit FAQ
Everything you need to know before getting started. Have a question that isn't here? Reach out directly.
Ask a QuestionReady to Find Out What You've Been Overpaying?
Start with our free pre-screening tool to assess your risk profile, or contact us directly to schedule an audit. There is no obligation and no cost until we find something.