Hi everyone — I've been reading this forum for probably two years now without posting. Brenda J from Kansas City, MO. I work for a property management company and started auditing our portfolio's utility bills about 18 months ago. Found over $60,000 in overcharges across 14 properties. My boss was so impressed he made it an official part of my job description. Finally decided to introduce myself and start contributing.
Longtime lurker finally joining
Welcome, Brenda J! No judgment on the lurking — a lot of members did the same before posting. $60K across 14 properties is solid work. Are these mostly rate classification errors or are you finding a mix? — Randy D
Ha — glad you finally jumped in! I lurked for about six months before my first post too. What types of properties are in your portfolio? — Felix A
Welcome aboard, Brenda! $60K is nothing to sneeze at. Are you handling the utility company disputes yourself or does your company have legal support for that? — Mike D
Nice to meet you! Kansas City has both KCP&L and Missouri Gas Energy territory. Are you working with both? — Jim W
Lurkers unite! I did the same thing. Read for months before posting. The forum is even better when you participate though. What's your biggest single finding been? — Sarah M
Thanks everyone for the warm welcome. To answer a few questions: mix of retail, office, and a couple of light industrial properties. Mostly KCP&L territory. Biggest single finding was a 47,000 sq ft office building that had been on a small general service rate instead of large general service for about 5 years. That one was worth $28,000 by itself. The utility was surprisingly cooperative once I showed them the tariff language.
$28K on a single rate class error — that's a textbook case. Did they backdate the refund the full 5 years? Some utilities push back on anything beyond 2-3 years. — Walt D
Good question, Walt. They gave us 3 years back which was their policy. I've heard some members here have gotten longer lookbacks. Any tips on pushing for the full period?
Depends on the state. Missouri actually has a 5-year lookback provision in their statutes, but KCP&L's internal policy caps at 3. You might want to file a complaint with the Missouri PSC to get the remaining 2 years. I've done it twice with Ameren and won both times. — Terry M
Terry's right about the PSC route. I'd also check whether there's a specific tariff provision about utility error vs customer error. If the utility made the classification mistake, the lookback should be longer. — Phil G
This is exactly why I should have started posting sooner. You all just saved me potentially $19,000 in additional recovery that I was going to leave on the table. Filing with the PSC this week.
That's what the forum is for! Keep us posted on how the PSC complaint goes. And welcome again — looking forward to your contributions. — Randy D
Will do, Randy. And thanks again everyone. Already feeling like I should have done this two years ago instead of just reading. You all are incredibly generous with your knowledge.