I've landed a contract for auditing 40 locations across PSE&G, ConEd, and National Grid territories. Similar to managing any large portfolio project but utility audits have unique challenges. How do you structure workflows when dealing with multiple utilities and tight deadlines?
Time management for large portfolio audits
Diana, I'd group by utility first, then by rate schedule within each utility. Much more efficient to work all PSE&G accounts together since you'll be referencing the same tariffs. I use separate spreadsheets for each utility with standardized column layouts.
Agreed on grouping by utility. I also prioritize by account size - hit the biggest potential recoveries first in case you run into time constraints. A $50K recovery on a large account is worth more than ten $500 recoveries, even though the small ones might be easier to find.
For 40 locations I'd definitely invest in some automation tools. Excel macros for repetitive calculations, automated tariff lookups if possible. The upfront time investment pays off when you're doing the same analysis across multiple similar accounts.