I have a riddle for you. What happens when you take
increasing utility costs and a drought and cross it with a group of managers? Don 't know yet?
You get Pacific Utility Audit.
Who are they? They are a dedicated
company whose founders were originally property managers themselves.
During the drought in 1989 – 1992 they saw the trend of increasing utility costs for associations, properties and 
businesses and they responded to that need by starting Pacific Utility Audit. They've been in business since 1989 and they serve the California, Washington, Oregon and Nevada region . They are members of CAI and CACM.
The services Pacific Utility Audit offers are the auditing of water, sewer, refuse, gas, trash, telephone and electric utility bills to find errors and overcharges billed by the utility companies, as well as the least expensive utility rates available . “If nothing is found, the utility audit is free!", says Erin Kelly, who is Director Of Operations for the company.
When asked how their company has changed since those early days, Erin says, "We have set many legal precedents with West Coast cities, counties and utility companies by successful court cases for our clients, in order to obtain utility overcharge refund monies for them." “Also, we started auditing trash bills when the states mandated recycling and started to franchise trash contracts, whereby the customer does not have the option to choose their trash vendors.”
Pacific Utility Audit also offers on-site field surveys for all its clients, whereby on-site meter and utility-use inspections are a part of every utility audit. This is a unique service for utility auditing companies, and no other utility audit company provides this service.
“Most utility billing errors cannot be located unless an onsite inspection of the property is part of the utility audit, and most utility billing errors we find are found onsite”, says Erin. “How else can you verify that a 2” water meter service fee is actually for a 2” water meter?” One particular client, Spring Valley Homeowners Association, was paying for extra 3-yard trash bins that were not located on their property. They received a refund check from Waste Management Company for $89,900.14. If no onsite inspection of their property had been conducted, this billing error would have gone undetected!
"We are the only utility audit company that per forms on-site meter and utility-use inspections for every client at no charge," says Erin . This is what sets Pacific Utility Audit apart from other companies in the same field.
Finally, what would be the one thing that Pacific Utility Audit would inform managers and community association board members about? "After 25 years of utility auditing, nine out of 10 clients are being overcharged for one or more of their utilities! There is no risk to find out. Call us for a proposal package!"
And there you have it. A company that is dedicated to saving you money is definitely a company worth looking into – wouldn't you agree?