Utility Auditing
One of the advantages of the trend toward a paperless world is that almost all city-operated utilities and utility companies now allow you to have online access to your utility bills, generally for up to a retroactive 3-year period of time!
When speaking with many community managers, I often hear this: “We will just install water sub meters” in response to their ever increasing water and sewer utility costs. However, this choice is much more complicated and treacherous than is seems.
Even though the lawsuit against LADWP was finalized on July 7th, 2017, it doesn’t mean that the ongoing utility billing errors, overcharges, delayed bills, or estimated bills are gone. We have certainly not seen any decline in LADWP’s utility billing errors since 2014.
The Hidden Canyon Homeowners Association, located in Westlake Village, California, consists of 648 homes with 3 pools and 3 spas. Sarah Zemer of Ross Morgan & Company, Inc. contacted Pacific Utility Audit in 2016 to find out how a utility audit could benefit their client, Hidden Canyon Homeowners Association and help to reduce their ever-growing utility budget.
According to the U.S. Department of Energy, a utility audit is a formal review of a house’s energy use that provides recommendations for energy-efficiency measures such as weather-striping, caulking and insulation. But a different type of utility audit examines your utility use and whether you are being overcharged for your utilities. The first question to ask yourself is: Are you paying too much for utilities?