Frustrating situation - working on a 5-year audit for a manufacturing client and Entergy is missing 8 months of detailed billing data. They can provide summary totals but no breakdown of demand charges, fuel adjustments, etc. Anyone dealt with similar record retention issues?
Dealing with incomplete utility records
Janice, most utilities are required to keep records for 7 years but sometimes they're just hard to locate. Have you tried contacting the regulatory affairs department instead of customer service? They usually have better access to archived data.
Kenneth's right about regulatory affairs. Also try requesting the data through the state PUC if Entergy won't cooperate. Utilities take record requests more seriously when they come through official regulatory channels.
Good suggestions. I'll try regulatory affairs first. The client does have some of their own records but they're incomplete. Missing most of the demand and power factor data which is where the big money usually is.
If you can't get the detailed records, you might be able to estimate some charges based on the client's load patterns and the applicable tariffs. Not perfect but better than nothing. I've had to do that for a couple of hurricane-damaged accounts where records were lost.
Lisa's approach works but document your methodology thoroughly. Utilities will challenge estimated calculations more aggressively than actual billing data analysis. Make sure your assumptions are conservative and well-supported.