Most people who work at utility companies are hardworking folks who are deeply committed to their company’s missions. Frankly, it’s a miracle that these utilities are able to consistently balance supply and demand for energy on the grid at all times. This is easy to take for granted when you don’t experience the brownouts and blackouts that other nations deal with frequently.
That being said, being a legally enshrined monopoly with an overwhelming amount of responsibility can lead to mistakes being made. Many utilities struggle to update their legacy billing systems, which affect millions of people. Here in the DC area, many of us remember in 2016 when Washington Gas failed to send out ebills for a period of 6 months. Ratepayers were then hit with huge bills, many including erroneous late charges, for which they may not have budgeted.
Those aren’t the only types of billing errors that occur frequently among utilities. Commercial accounts are charged a certain rate class based on their power demand. If that demand changes, the company must file a petition to pay the lower fees, as opposed to the utility proactively notifying them. Additionally, many types of businesses, especially non-profits, are exempt from certain taxes and fees. However, few realize they have to apply for the exemption to omit the charges. Finally, there is simple overbilling. Utility bills are comprised of a myriad of different charges and it’s nearly impossible for any individual ratepayer to determine if each charge is what they should be paying.
Thankfully, Honeydew’s Utility Rate Auditing service makes avoiding such overcharges very easy. All we need is a recent electric, natural gas, water, or telecom bill and our automated platform will meticulously comb through 2-3 years worth of utility data. We find significant errors in our clients’ favor 80% of the time equaling an average of 8% of their total utility expense. That adds up! If we don’t find any errors in your favor, you are not charged a dime. If we do, we then fill out the paperwork and file a petition with the utility on your behalf. Any money that is returned to you will then be shared with us 50/50. Of course, if we find that the utility has underbilled you, we’ll keep that secret between us :)
There is nothing to lose by going through this process, and a lot to gain. Take it from one of our favorite clients, “Honeydew first found and removed erroneous charges from our electric and gas bills and helped process a refund of $10,598 for taxes we’ve been paying to the utility companies as a tax exempt entity. To save even further, Honeydew Energy Advisors proposed to lock in a low electric and gas supply rate in order to continue saving and protect ourselves from rising utility rates in the future. They saved us $37,534 for the first three years starting in 2019, and recently signed us up with even lower rates.”
What could your business do with an extra $48,000?