Just closed a church audit in Columbus that was paying Duke Energy under Schedule GS-3 instead of the religious organization rate. They were pulling about 45kW demand, 12,000 kWh monthly. Turns out they qualified for Schedule REL which has no demand charge and lower energy rates. Total refund came to $28,200 over 4 years. Client is thrilled - that's a lot of money for a small congregation.
Church account - found $28K error over 4 years
That's a great catch Arnold! Churches are goldmines for this stuff. Half of them don't even know special religious rates exist. Did you have any trouble with Duke accepting the rate change application? Some utilities get picky about the religious exemption documentation.
Duke was actually pretty smooth about it. Had to provide their tax-exempt certificate and a letter from the diocese confirming it's primarily used for religious services. Took about 6 weeks to process but no pushback. The finance committee was over the moon when that refund check showed up.
Nice work! I need to start targeting churches more actively. Do you find them through cold calling or referrals? Religious organizations can be tough to crack into but sounds like the savings potential is solid.
This one was a referral from another client. But I'm thinking about reaching out to local church accounting firms - they handle multiple congregations and might be interested in bringing value to their clients. Worth exploring anyway.