Bureau Services for Smarter Energy Management and Billing
A lack of precision in energy monitoring and reporting presents challenges for many businesses, resulting in potentially costly inaccuracies. Nicoleta Sandu suggests a way to ensure smarter energy management and avoid overpayments.
In today’s challenging financial climate, where over half a million UK companies are considered at significant financial risk, enhancing financial precision has never been more critical. Accurate budgeting is essential, especially for businesses navigating financial hardship. This is where bureau services can make a significant impact.
So how can technology help improve this situation? Whether it's by enhancing billing accuracy, managing and preventing unexpected errors, or providing clear direction for business operations, bureau services unlock hidden potential when it comes to managing energy usage. In this article, we’ll explore three ways a bureau service can support smarter energy management and consumption.
1. Eliminating Inaccurate Billing
Inaccurate billing undermines the accuracy of budgets. Whether businesses are overpaying or underpaying for energy consumption, the root cause typically lies in outdated or incorrect usage data. This not only leads to unreliable financial records but also disrupts month-to-month financial planning.
Energy and utilities usage can vary widely between businesses, but most rely on one of two types of meters for billing: Half Hourly (HH) meters or Non Half Hourly (NHH) meters. HH meters automatically send readings to data collectors, while NHH meters require businesses to submit readings themselves. In cases where readings aren’t provided regularly, estimated bills are issued, which often leads to inaccuracies. Even with HH meters, billing errors can occur due to miscommunication with data collectors. Our analysis reveals that over 60% of NHH meter bills last year were based on estimates. This is a significant challenge both financially and environmentally.
A bureau service addresses this by enabling businesses to automatically identify and correct billing inaccuracies. By monitoring KVA (kilo-volt-amperes) consumption against the set KVA for each meter, we can ensure that businesses only pay for the energy they actually use. This approach eliminates the risk of ongoing inaccurate billing, thereby improving the accuracy of financial planning.
2. Recovering Overpayments and Saving Time
Recovering any overpayments is essential for maintaining financial health. When discrepancies arise in energy and utility bills during the validation process, a bureau service quickly identifies errors in contracted rates, taxes, and levies. What’s more, our bureau service can be tailored to meet the specific needs of each business, whether they use more gas or generate more waste. By adjusting bills to reflect these variables, we ensure that businesses recover any overcharges.
Our bureau service takes the lead in liaising with suppliers to confirm charges and recover overpayments. The value of these recoveries can be substantial. For instance, we’ve identified over £286,000 in overcharges and have already recovered more than £245,000 for our clients. We continue to pursue these recoveries until the full amount is recouped.
But it’s not just about recovering overpayments. A bureau service also saves valuable time for accounts payable teams. Currently, about 10% of bills are more than a year old, and resolving discrepancies within the accounts payable process can be time-consuming. Inefficiencies in this process have led to 25% of time being spent on managing exceptions. By using a bureau service to automatically identify and resolve discrepancies, businesses can streamline this process, saving both time and resources.
3. Enabling Better Planning and Energy Management
Effective planning is crucial for businesses aiming to optimize their energy and utilities management. To achieve this, a comprehensive understanding of a business’s energy usage, payment history, and carbon calculations for electricity and gas is necessary. A bureau service provides this information through a monthly report pack, which supports more informed decision-making and enhances financial precision.
Additionally, as the demand for ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) reporting grows, businesses are under increasing pressure to invest in better energy and utilities management. A bureau service is becoming indispensable, covering energy usage, waste, water, fuel consumption, and even vehicle usage within an organisation.
A Clearer Picture
In conclusion, a bureau service is an invaluable tool for businesses seeking to reclaim costs on their utility bills, save time, and plan more effectively. By providing better insights into energy management and enhancing financial precision, businesses can benefit significantly. As financial pressures persist, considering how a bureau service can support your operations is a wise move for any business today.
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