It’s true that people use an outsourced energy bureau to maximise their cost recoveries. Our customers recover five times more on average than the cost of the service.
A typical service that we provide includes managing, checking and processing your utility bills, verifying your energy data, and negotiating with utility suppliers for cost recoveries. But there are times when our customers face out of the ordinary scenarios and we are here to help.
Defending aged claims
Recently, a water supplier contacted one of our customers to seek payment for historic invoices dating back as far as 8 years. We were able to ensure that all the correct information was presented and highlight factors that helped eliminate our customer’s responsibility for the debt. Beyond our experience in dealing with large volumes of missing bills and our vast network of industry contacts, we are very knowledgeable about aged debts. When situations like these come out of the blue, our team of experts can help you collate the right evidence to present a case against aged debts. In this case, the supplier was unable to claim the debt and removed all charges from the account. This saved the customer paying a bill of £76,000.
Clocking issues
We have been designing and building bill validation and error detection software for more than 20 years, during which time we have developed a broad and trusted range of validators.
There are cases where suppliers create bills where meter reads have “clocked”. This is when the supplier has billed to the digits on the meter going round the clock rather than a standard advance. Meter clocking issues can result in dramatically inflated bills and the validation we have in place can easily spot these unusual discrepancies amongst thousands of different invoices.
Over estimations
When checking invoices for another one of our customers, we were able to highlight to the supplier and meter operator that the reads were incorrect based on the information the customer could provide. This information showed that the meter was programmed to an incorrect site and was providing data for another meter. This was a complex scenario and, by having conversations with all parties, we were able to get £20,000 rebilled to our customer. In situations like these, our Bureau experts can help ensure that customers meters are being read and serviced regularly and in-line with the Service Level Agreement that is in place.
We also have the capability to reconcile your energy estate’s database; this will help us build a picture of your organisations energy to try and mitigate any hidden surprises.
These out of the ordinary scenarios can be challenging to manage for energy departments who may not have the expertise or time to deal with them. In many cases, this could be the first time the situation has arose. Our team of recovery experts are no stranger to the characteristics of unusual billing. With access to good quality data, a network of contacts and practical knowledge of legislation and rights, our Energy Bureau can offer security and peace of mind, on top of an efficient bill validation and data management service.