On average, American consumers pay a total cost of $114.44 for their electric bills. This is a significant amount, considering the ravaging economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Businesses tend to pay even more. Since there’s no way to avoid paying an electric bill, the only option is finding a way to pay them as painlessly as possible. Conducting regular electric bill audits is a suitable solution for reducing or verifying your high electric bills.

In this article, we will discuss what an electric bill audit is, what you should look into with an electric bill audit, and how this can help your company. 

What Is an Electric Bill Audit? 

An electric bill audit reviews an organization’s electric bill invoices to catch disparities and errors that add extra dollars to your bills. These disparities include:

• Double demand charges
• Incorrect taxes
• Wrong kWh charges
• And other factors

Once a mistake has been caught, you can request that your utility company rebill you and send an adjusted statement. This equals money in your company’s account that you would have otherwise lost. 

What Should You Look for With an Electric Bill Audit?

Since now you understand what an electric bill audit is, the next step should be determining what to look for in this kind of audit. Here are four simple things that you should look at while assessing your utility bill for your company (or having a professional audit service do so on your behalf): 

1. Clerical Errors

It’s time to take out your calculator and do some math. Electrical bills contain mathematical operations prone to miscalculations, errors, and overlooked details. All you have to do is do a thorough calculation and compare your current charged fees and your contracted rates. You might be surprised to identify errors on the bill that you never knew about. 

It’s essential to keep records of all your electricity bills so you can check for recurring errors and report them to your utility company. 

2. Peaks and Valleys 

It’s normal for electricity bills to go up and down depending on the seasons. However, utility companies should inform their clients about any impending raise or lowering of utility bills. Even so, the best way to deal with any errors is by paying attention to these surges. You can always ask for clarification from the utility company about any charges you doubt. 

Please note some utility companies raise their electricity bills due to demand, competition, and cost. It’s essential to compare the price of your utility provider with others to determine whether it’s profitable to continue working with them. Maybe, all you need to do is switch your utility company to lower your bill. 

3. Rate Structures 

You should also expect your utility company to have various rates structures. Therefore, you can always review your rate structure and choose the best package for your company. Remember, some companies use specific rates to lure new customers. Once they’ve expanded, they may raise the rates once they’ve achieved their outcomes, becoming a financial burden to your company. 

Choosing a new electricity bill rate structure means that you’ll have new charges per unit. Therefore, it’s essential to continue doing future audits and comparisons to determine if it works best for your company. 

4. Tax Exemptions 

You deserve to enjoy tax exemptions for your electricity bills. But unfortunately, some utility companies and businesses overlook tax exemptions. Therefore, you must do thorough research on your final bill to determine whether your utility company has included applicable tax exemption on your electricity bills. 

How Does an Electric Bill Audit Help Your Company? 

The ultimate goal of an electric bill audit is to find cost-effective solutions to decrease your overall electric usage without impacting your business operations. Here are seven benefits of performing an electric bill audit on your company. 

1. It Reduces Your Expenses 

This is the most obvious benefit of an electric bill audit on your company. The more money you can save, the more money you will have for other aspects of your business that help in its growth.

2. It Identifies Issues With Your Energy Consumption 

An electricity bill audit can also help you identify issues with your equipment that might raise your energy bill. For instance, the auditor might identify leaks in the compressed air system that would be increasing your electricity bill. The energy audit can also help you decide whether to replace your old equipment with a more energy-efficient alternative to cut your overall cost. 

3. It Guarantees Your Employee Comfort 

While conducting your audit, you might learn about insulation and air sealing issues. Poor insulation and air sealing might raise your HVAC energy consumption. Therefore, by performing an electricity bill audit, you can adjust your HVAC settings and create a more efficient and cooled environment for your employees. 

In the long run, your employees will be more productive, which improves your company’s overall profitability. 

4. It Helps Protect the Environment 

This might seem minimal, but it also plays as a benefit for conducting an electricity bill audit. It’s expected that you’ll take the proper steps to become energy efficient once you’ve identified issues associated with your energy usage. This shows that you’re concerned about protecting the environment, and that can help you attract customers who love working with environmentally conscious businesses. 

5. It Improves Your Property’s Value

You can increase the value of your property by adhering to the recommendations of your energy auditors. For instance, adhering to recommendations for energy-efficient products like solar panels, high-efficient LED lighting, and weatherization procedures can contribute to a higher property value.

6. It Guarantees Longer Equipment Lifespan 

Your utility auditor might recommend that you update some of your equipment and adopt those with maximum energy savings. This will help you reduce your energy cost and ensure that your equipment lasts longer. Modern energy-efficient equipment lasts longer and provides better performance. Therefore, you won’t need to replace your future equipment as often. 

7. It Helps You Deal With Common Energy Wasters 

At times, high electric bills are a result of wasting energy. Some of the typical energy wasters are as follows: 

• Leaving your lights, computers, and equipment on 24/7 
• Air leaks in your HVAC equipment and connection 
• Poorly weatherized doors and windows 
• Using fans or heaters instead of an HVAC system 
• Using poorly performing air compressors 
• Use of outdated thermostats 

An energy auditor will help you identify these wasteful circumstances and adopt relevant measures that will help you cut down your electricity bill. 

What Now?

Performing an electric bill audit can help you highlight issues that raise your overall utility bill. In the end, you will adopt cost-saving measures that free up enough money to handle other aspects that help grow your business. 

It’s much easier to perform an electric bill audit through utility auditors. This helps you get detailed insight into your electricity consumption and find relevant measures that will help you save on your consumption. 

Meet Util Auditors. We are a professional auditing company that can help you identify errors and inefficiencies in your utility bill that might cause your high expenses. But there’s more! We audit all services, including financial, contracted, or HR services. Get in touch with us today, and let us help you improve your business through a thorough audit.