Utility Audit
Manufacturing companies spend large amounts of money on electricity and natural gas in their operations. Managing these expenses can be a key factor to whether a company is profitable or not. Utility companies are not necessarily over charging their customers on purpose, but they don’t have any incentives to make sure their clients are getting the best deal possible either. Therefore, by working with a utility bill auditing and consulting company, manufactures can save money on their utility bills.
You might ask yourself if hiring an auditing company is necessary. Having been in this industry for several years, I would tell you that it is critical. There are so many variables to what you are charged. There are different rate or meter schedules. There are discounts that apply to certain types of industries or businesses. There are different times of day that bring different charges. By working with a utility consultant, you are tapping in to expertise that you simply don’t have the time or interest to obtain.
The beauty of the utility consulting industry is that many of the companies in this sector will work on a performance basis. What does this mean? Well, if the utility consultant is unable to save you money by getting you refunds or reducing your bill, they simply do not charge you anything. This gives you a great opportunity to have a no risk audit done of your utility bills. If a way is found to save you money, then it ends up being a win-win for you and the company you hired. If no savings are found, it does not cost you anything and you end up with peace of mind that you are not being overcharged by your utility providers.
You might ask what kind of money can be saved through a utility audit. Surprisingly, it can be quite substantial at times. Over the last several years, I have been involved in analyzing hundreds and maybe into the thousands of bills. I have seen some situations where our utility consulting firm was able to save companies as much as 50%. The average is probably more in the range of a 10% savings. Either way, this is overhead that these companies were able to cut with very little effort on their part and no out of pocket expense.
If you have a manufacturing or industrial type company with large utility bills, I would highly recommend having an audit done by a utility bill consultant. You simply have nothing to lose and potentially a lot to gain.
