Dave from Savannah. Had a client willing to give me access to 10 years of utility bills for a comprehensive historical audit. Most engagements I only look at 2-3 years. The difference in findings was significant — found a rate class error that started in year 4 and an equipment change in year 7 that should have triggered a reclassification but did not. The 10-year review recovered over $60,000 total. Anyone else push for longer lookback periods?
What I found reviewing 10 years of bills vs. just 3
Tina from Omaha. I now ask for 5 years minimum on every engagement. The incremental effort is small once you have the billing data and the additional recoverable period often more than justifies it.
Rosa from Des Moines. The challenge is getting clients to locate and share that much historical data. Some have it digitally, others have filing cabinets full of paper bills. I offer to handle the data collection from the utility directly if the client signs a data authorization.
Dave here. The utility provided a digital billing history going back 12 years at my request once they had the LOA. Took one phone call. Client did not have to do anything.
Tina again. That is the right approach. Clients almost never know they can request their own full billing history from the utility. I do it routinely now.
Donna from Oklahoma City. The other benefit of a long lookback is catching rate class changes that the utility made mid-period that the client never noticed. A utility-initiated reclassification that lowered the rate is fine, but one that raised it without justification is a separate finding.
Donna I found exactly that in year 6 of my 10-year review. Utility had reclassified upward citing a demand increase that was actually a one-time anomaly. Recovered two years of overcharges on that finding alone.