Just started auditing a school district — 14 buildings on Ameren Illinois. Something weird is happening with summer bills. The schools are mostly empty June through August but the bills barely drop. A few buildings actually show HIGHER usage in July than in April. The facilities director says nothing is running. What am I missing?
School districts — summer billing anomalies
HVAC systems left running over summer. Happens all the time with schools. The building automation system is either programmed wrong or nobody changed the schedule for summer break. I audited a school district in Broken Arrow on PSO and found that 6 of 11 buildings had the AC running 24/7 all summer with the thermostat set to 72 even though the buildings were empty. That was $28,000 in wasted energy over one summer. Not a billing error per se but a huge operational savings finding that the district was grateful for.
What Ed described is extremely common in school districts. But also check for actual billing errors. Schools have a unique load profile — high usage September through May, very low June through August. Some utility billing systems estimate summer bills based on winter usage if the meter reader can't access the property. I've seen estimated reads overstate summer usage by 40-50%. Check whether the meter reads are actual or estimated. If you see "E" on the bill instead of "A" next to the meter reading, those are estimates and they may be wildly wrong. The catch-up bill when actual reads resume in September can create additional confusion.
Checked and you're both right. Three buildings have estimated reads all summer and two others have the HVAC running around the clock. Going to present both findings — the billing estimates as audit findings and the HVAC scheduling as operational recommendations. This district is going to love me.