Utility bill auditing & recovery.

What is a utility bill audit?

A utility bill audit is a line-by-line review of a business’s electric, gas, water, and sewer invoices to identify billing errors, incorrect rate classifications, and unnecessary charges. The goal is twofold: recover money already overpaid through refunds or credits, and correct the account so the same errors don’t recur on future bills. Utility bill audits are typically performed by a specialized third-party firm rather than an internal accounting team, since they require detailed knowledge of utility tariffs, rate structures, and billing rules that most finance departments don’t track day to day.

Utility companies bill millions of accounts across constantly changing rate schedules, tariffs, and tax rules, so billing errors are common rather than rare. A utility bill audit exists to catch what an internal accounting team, focused on paying bills on time rather than auditing their accuracy, typically doesn’t have the bandwidth or specialized rate knowledge to catch.

Standard audit vs forensic audit

A standard utility bill audit is a routine check of recent invoices for basic errors. A forensic utility bill audit is a deep, historical investigation that scans years of complex data to recover hidden overcharges.

The difference decides how far back a refund can reach. A standard review corrects what is wrong on the current bill. A forensic review pursues errors that have been repeating for years, and the refund for the whole period. UtiliSave’s audits are forensic.

Who typically needs a utility bill audit

• Hospitals and healthcare facilities, with complex, high-usage accounts across multiple meters and rate classes.
• Hotels, whose 24/7 usage patterns utilities frequently misclassify against the wrong rate schedule.
• Manufacturing and industrial facilities, heavy power users eligible for industrial rate classes and power-factor corrections that are often billed incorrectly.
• Multifamily and commercial real estate portfolios, where high account volume across many meters increases the odds that at least some are billed incorrectly.
• Government and institutional facilities, with round-the-clock operations and complex, multi-account utility structures.

How it is paid for

Rate & tariff analysis

Every utility account is billed under a specific rate class, and the wrong one can go unnoticed for years. UtiliSave uses proprietary regression analysis to compare each account’s usage and demand against its billed rate class, flags accounts that appear to be on the wrong rate, and pursues the correction and recovery directly with the utility on your behalf.

• For one of New York City’s largest residential landlords, multivariable regression analysis helped identify more favorable billing rates, recovering $240,004.
• A healthcare and nursing facility had been on an incorrect billing rate for years. UtiliSave presented case law the utility couldn’t refute and secured a five-year retroactive refund with interest, plus additional discounts - $45,000 recovered.
• A large non-profit medical center had never been moved to the favorable rate its own demand levels required. A retroactive audit produced a $700,000 adjustment, even after the utility first rejected the claim.

Related services: utility meter asset recovery · water & sewer allowance recovery · tax exemption reviews