Utility Auditing Services
Stop Overpaying for Utilities — Recover 3-5% from Billing Errors & Overcharges
P3 Cost Analysts uncovers hidden billing errors and tariff misapplications in electric, water, gas, and sewer services. Through our P3 proprietary utility benchmark database and deep industry experience, we help you recover refunds and lock in lower costs — with zero risk.
Incorrect or Outdated Tariffs
Duplicate or Hidden Fees
Charges for Inactive Services
Estimated or Faulty Meter Readings
What Is a Utilities Audit?
A utilities audit is a forensic review of your energy and utility bills, including electricity, natural gas, water, and sewer. At P3, we combine tariff knowledge, forensic auditing of your bills, and our proprietary benchmark database (across hundreds of utility accounts) to detect anomalies.
We validate usage, demand, ratchets, and more; detect billing miscalculations; and identify refunds and structural savings — all without disrupting your service. Most clients recover 3-5%+ in overcharges or savings — and we monitor ongoing bills to make sure costs don’t creep back in.
What We Audit
Our utility audit covers all elements of your utility program:
Electric & gas usage and demand
Verifying actual vs. estimated usage
Tariff & rider analysis
Applying the correct rate schedules, riders, or alternative rate options
Meter & billing errors
Hours used, meter multipliers, and metered demand resets
Contract compliance
Ensuring you are not billed in violation of the contract
Water & sewer review
Examining ratio billing, sewage percentages, meter accuracy, and tier structures
Benchmark comparison
We measure against our proprietary benchmark database to spot outliers
Why Utility Costs Creep Up
Utilities are heavily regulated, but the complexity of tariffs, riders, and meter rules allows many errors and overcharges to persist unseen. Common culprits include:
Hours-used errors:
Usage metrics exceeding the possible hours in a billing period (an impossibility)
Automatic tariff default errors:
When tariff class changes should apply but don't
Load-factor or ratio errors:
Miscalculated efficiency percentages >100%
Water/sewer misbilling:
Sewage charged as if 100% of water use returns to sewer — even when it doesn’t
Estimated demand mistakes:
When utilities use estimates instead of actual readings and misapply them
Meter reading or transcription errors:
Mis-entered data in reading systems
Misapplied demand ratchets:
Locked-in charges forcing customers into higher tiers unnecessarily
Contract non-conformance:
Vendor neglecting to apply contractual terms or failing to opt you into opt-outs
How Our Audit Works 4-Step Process
We gather invoices, contracts, and a signed LOA.
We cross-check every line item against contract
terms, tariffs, and competitive benchmarks.
We present identified overcharges, contractual
risks, and savings opportunities.
We implement the savings with utilities, and each month, we audit new bills to catch vendor violations and overcharges
Benefits You Can Expect
Recover past billing errors (refunds)
Reduce future utility spend structurally
Better usage visibility and trending analysis
More predictable utility budgeting
Benchmark-backed confidence via P3’s proprietary utility database
Zero-risk structure — you pay only from savings
Who We Help
- Manufacturing & industrial operations
- Healthcare & lab facilities
- Universities & Education Campuses
- Data centers & tech infrastructure
- Local governments & public institutions
- Large commercial real estate portfolios
- Anyone spending more than our category minimums
Frequently Asked Questions
What does a utility audit cost?
There are no upfront fees or charges. We only bill based on implemented savings, that are easily quantifiable. These are easily seen comparing the charges we achieve for you on the new invoices, vs the old invoices.
Then we simply share in the savings each month for a finite period of time (12-60 months depending on the level of service our clients want).
What data do you need from us to get started?
We need 12 months of the most recent invoices and a signed LOA. We can often get these invoices via online login portals our clients already have set up. We need the signed LOA to communicate with vendors on your behalf to perform our audit. No changes are made without client approval.
Our utilities are in a closed market, how can you help us?
We work in both open and closed markets nationwide. In open markets the process is more about finding the best rates available, and the best supply agreements. While there can be errors and overcharges in those markets as well, that is the name of the game.
In closed markets you have tariffs that govern what the utility can charge you. These tariffs are highly complex, and there are often dozens to choose from. Determining which ones are most beneficial is no small task. Furthermore, the utilities make errors all the time (some of them listed below). A thorough audit is the only way to understand if you’re bills are accurate and cost effective.
How far back do you review bills?
Depending on what we identify as problems we could go as far back as the state statue of limitations allows (typically 36 months, or even back to the point of error). We have had some refunds go back decades. It depends on the type of error as to what we are allowed to go after for our clients.
What types of errors do you find most often?
Incorrect or outdated tariffs, duplicate charges, hidden/misc. fees, charges for inactive services, and estimated or faulty meter readings, default rates, above market rates, the list goes on [link to white paper]
Will you negotiate with providers?
What does “risk-free” mean here?
Our service is contingency-based—there’s no upfront cost, and fees are tied to verified savings. If we don’t find you savings, that don’t hit your bottom line, there is no fee. It’s that simple.
How long does a typical audit take?
We aim to deliver our initial findings within 30 days and deliver savings within 90 days to your bottom line.
I have people on my team that handle this/I handle this myself, why would we need you?
If you work for a business or own one, you’ve been managing these expenses since the beginning. We still find savings 90% of the time for businesses and organizations we look at.
However, if the answer to all of the following is true, you may not need our help.
- Is the person who is managing this expense category, only managing that expense, and has no other duties?
- Are they incentivized to save every dollar on a performance basis in that particular expense category?
- Do they have over 10 years (minimum) of sole focus on this particular expense category, doing nothing else each day?
- Do they have access to thousands of other comparable data points across industries, organizations, and peers outlining comparable costs (at a line-item level) of this particular expense category?
- Do they have deep knowledge of the utility industry and understand the hundreds of tariffs that apply to your business?
If the answer to all of those is ‘yes’ then we would concede a cost reduction audit by category experts may not yield results. However, given we only charge if we find savings, it’s certainly worth a shot and we are happy to invest our time and resources on our client’s behalf.
Related Services
Utility Auditing (Electric, Water & Gas)
Telecom Auditing(Phones & Internet)
Waste & Recycling Auditing
Merchant Processing Auditing
Uniform & Linen Auditing
Managed Print Auditing
Small Parcel Shipping
Maintenance Contracts
Ready to stop overpaying electric, gas, water, and sewer?
Schedule your free Utilities Audit today.
No upfront cost. No obligation. Just clarity, recovery, and control — powered by P3’s
benchmark-backed intelligence.