Found a rider error on an Ohio Edison account. The bill has a "Distribution Infrastructure Rider" at $0.0089/kWh. But that rate is the residential rate for that rider. The commercial rate is $0.0042/kWh. My client — a machine shop in Youngstown — has been paying the residential rider rate for at least 2 years. On 850,000 kWh/year, that's an overcharge of about $3,800/month. The base rate is correct, the customer class code appears correct, but somehow the rider rate is pulling from the wrong table.
Rider applied to wrong customer class — $3,800/month overcharge
This is more common than you'd think. The base rate and the rider rates are often maintained in separate tables in the billing system. The customer class code might be correct for the base rate but coded differently for the rider table. I've found rider rate mismatches on AEP Ohio and FirstEnergy accounts. The fix is straightforward — show the utility the tariff rider schedule for the commercial class and compare to what's being billed. But catching it requires checking rider rates individually, not just the total bill.
Derek nails the cause. Rider rate mismatches are one of the most profitable but least-checked error types in utility bill auditing. Most auditors check the base rate and move on. But a single rider coded to the wrong customer class can cost more than the base rate error. My recommendation: for every audit, list every rider on the bill, look up the tariff rate for that rider for the customer's specific class, and compare. It adds 15 minutes to the audit and catches errors that nobody else finds.
Filed the claim with Ohio Edison. They corrected the rider rate and issued a 24-month refund — $91,200. Biggest single rider error I've found. My fee on this was $27,360. That one line item on the bill was worth more than most entire audits.