New approach I'm trying — instead of going through the LOA and data request process, I'm asking clients to just add me as an authorized user on their utility online portal. EPB here in Chattanooga lets account holders add additional users pretty easily. I can then log in, download 24 months of billing, pull usage graphs, even see payment history. No waiting for the utility to process an LOA. Is anyone else doing this and are there downsides I'm not seeing?
Getting added to a client's utility online portal — easier than LOAs?
I do this with AEP Ohio and FirstEnergy whenever the client is willing. It's so much faster than the paper LOA process. Downsides though: some portals only show 12 months of history, not 24. The bill images in the portal might be missing pages or details that the paper originals had. And if the client changes their password you lose access with no warning. I still get a signed LOA as backup even when I have portal access, because sometimes I need to call the utility directly about a specific charge and they won't talk to me without one on file.
I tried this with MLGW and their portal is terrible for auditing purposes. You can see current bill and maybe 6 months back, but the detail level is useless — just total amounts, no line item breakdown. I still need the actual invoice PDFs. Georgia Power's portal is much better, you can pull detailed PDFs going back 24 months and export usage data to CSV. It really depends on the utility. Duke Energy is somewhere in the middle — decent portal but the bill detail varies by rate class.
Good points all around. So the portal approach works great as a supplement but not a replacement for LOAs. I'll keep getting the LOA signed but use portal access when available to speed up the initial data pull. One more thing I've noticed — when I have portal access I can monitor the account in real time. So after I've gotten a rate correction approved, I can check the next month's bill immediately to make sure the utility actually applied the change correctly.
That monitoring angle is underrated. I had a client with Alabama Power where we got a rate reclassification approved from LPL to LPM. First bill after the change, Alabama Power applied the new rate to the demand charges but left the old rate on the energy charges. If I hadn't been checking the portal I wouldn't have caught it for another month. The utility fixed it but only because I called within days. So yes, portal access is worth having for ongoing monitoring even after the audit is done.