Beth H from Jacksonville, FL. JEA territory. Client has 5 JEA accounts across 3 service addresses. Should I prepare one LOA listing all 5 accounts or 5 separate LOAs? I have been doing separate LOAs for each account but it is a lot of paperwork.
One LOA covering all accounts or separate LOA per account
Beth, one LOA covering all accounts is standard practice and every utility I have worked with accepts it. List all account numbers on the LOA with their corresponding service addresses. The only time you might need separate LOAs is if the accounts are under different legal entities — for example if the client has accounts under both a personal name and an LLC. In that case each entity needs its own LOA.
I always do one LOA per legal entity. If a client has 15 accounts all under the same LLC, one LOA covers all 15. I also include the language Frank mentioned earlier — all current and future accounts at the listed service addresses — so new accounts are automatically covered.
That saves so much time. I have been making my clients sign 5 separate LOAs when one would have covered everything. Simplifying my process immediately.
One warning: some utilities — ConEd being the worst offender — require a separate authorization for each account number even if they are all under the same entity. It is maddening but it is their policy. When in doubt, call the utility before you have the client sign. Better to find out the utility requirement in advance than to have 5 LOAs rejected because they wanted 5 separate forms.