Property owner in Tampa has 12 small retail spaces, each around $800-1200/month electric bills. He pays all utilities then bills tenants back. Should I propose auditing them as individual accounts or try to package deal the whole thing? Some are restaurants, some retail, mix of rate schedules. What's the best approach here?
Strip mall owner with 12 units - aggregate or individual?
Pete, I'd definitely package that as a portfolio deal. Twelve accounts gives you volume to justify lower per-account fees while still making it worthwhile. You'll probably find common issues across multiple units - wrong rate classes, missing discounts, maybe some on residential rates by mistake. Set your minimum savings threshold lower for the package deal but higher total recovery target.
Randy's spot on. I did something similar in Jacksonville with an 8-unit strip. Found three restaurants on wrong rates, two retail stores missing small commercial discounts. Total recovery was about $18K over 3 years. Individual accounts wouldn't have been worth my time, but as a package it worked great.
That's exactly what I was thinking. Thanks Randy and Carla. I'll pitch it as a portfolio audit with economies of scale pricing. Should be a win-win.