Just got the check — $312,000 refund from Georgia Power for a paper mill in Savannah. The mill had been on Schedule PL (Power and Light) for 12 years when they should have been on Schedule TOU-PL (Time of Use Power and Light). Their load profile was perfect for TOU — 80% of their consumption was off-peak because they run three shifts and the heaviest production is overnight. The TOU rate would have saved them roughly $6,500/month. Georgia Power agreed to a 4-year lookback. My contingency fee on this one was $93,600. Best single audit of my career.
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$312,000 refund — my biggest find ever
That is a monster find. Congrats Derek. Did Georgia Power push back on the 4-year lookback or did they agree without a fight?
They initially offered 2 years. I pushed back citing the discovery rule — the mill had no way of knowing a TOU rate existed without tariff expertise. Went back and forth for about 3 months. Eventually settled on 4 years. Having the load profile data to show exactly how much the client would have saved under TOU for each historical month made the case airtight.
Outstanding work. This is a perfect example of why load profile analysis matters. Without the interval data showing the off-peak concentration, this finding would have been impossible. And Derek's persistence on the lookback period nearly doubled the recovery. The lesson for everyone: don't accept the first offer on the refund period. Push back with documentation and be prepared to escalate.
Wow. $93K in fees from one client. That pays for a very good year. Congratulations.
Incredible find. Love hearing these. Motivation for all of us.