Utility Cost and Tariff Bundle

Make utility bills understandable, catch errors, and identify the biggest cost levers (rate plan vs demand vs behavior).

Run the OperationBundleBundle90 min to 2 weeks

Disclaimer: Educational only. Tariff rules vary by utility and jurisdiction. Use this as a directional operational bundle, not a regulatory determination.

Outcome

By the end of this bundle you will:

Compute a clean baseline from utility bills: blended $/kWh and demand share
Identify common billing errors and process gaps that create avoidable cost
Prioritize the biggest levers: billing fixes, demand management, and rate/tariff optimization
Establish a repeatable monthly bill review routine with evidence links

Who this is for

•Facilities/operations teams — that manage utilities
•Finance/AP teams — paying utility bills and handling disputes
•Sustainability teams — building Scope 2 datasets and evidence binders
•Anyone — trying to reduce "utility bill surprises"

Time to implement

90 minutes

One high-cost site (one bill period) end-to-end

2 weeks

Standardize for top 10 sites by spend and create a monthly routine

What you'll need

•6–12 months of bills for at least one site (PDFs or portal exports)
•Utility account identifiers (account number, service address, meter ID if available)
•A stable evidence folder (so bills and exports are not trapped in email)
•Optional but helpful: knowledge of the site's major loads (HVAC, process, EV charging)

Step-by-step sequence

1Secure access + evidence storage (do this first)

If you can't consistently retrieve bills, you can't improve anything.

• Confirm portal access owner and backup owner
• Create a standard folder path for this site/account
• Store the bill PDF/export for each month

(If access is messy, use the Utility Account Access & Inventory Playbook.)

2Turn the bill into simple metrics

Use the Blended Electricity Rate & Demand Share Calculator to compute:

• Blended $/kWh
• Demand share %
• Energy share %
• Other charges %

Goal: separate "this is a demand problem" from "this is a rate/energy problem."

Open Blended Electricity Rate & Demand Share Calculator

3Run the Billing Error Checklist (fast ROI)

Check for common, high-frequency issues:

• Wrong customer class / rate schedule
• Billing period overlaps or missing days
• Duplicate charges or estimated reads repeated
• Unexpected riders/fees that need explanation
• Late fees driven by internal AP process gaps

Log issues and track resolution.

4Identify the top levers (prioritize)

Use your calculated outputs to choose the correct lever:

If demand share is high (often >20–30%):

Peak management and load shifting likely matters (go to the Peak Demand Bundle)

If blended $/kWh is unusually high:

Rate schedule evaluation and TOU strategy likely matters (tariff optimization)

If "Other" is unusually high:

Investigate riders, taxes, fees, penalties, and billing mistakes

5Build a repeatable monthly bill review routine

Minimum routine:

•Every month: compute baseline metrics and store evidence link
•Every month: flag anomalies (spikes/drops) and log issues
•Monthly or quarterly: review top 10 sites by cost and decide actions

Included assets

Tools (do the math now)

Blended Electricity Rate and Demand Share Calculator Demand Charge Savings Estimator(use if demand share is meaningful)

Core resources (how-to)

Utility Account Access and Inventory Playbook Energy Tariff and Rate Optimization Playbook Peak Demand Management and Load Shifting Playbook Metering Strategy Playbook Data QA and Anomaly Detection Playbook

Recommended "evidence discipline"

• Store each bill and/or usage export with a stable link
• Record billing start/end dates (not just "month name")

Templates (copy/paste)

• Utility bill review log
• Billing error checklist
• Top levers (per-site action list)
• Monthly utility review agenda

↓ See templates section below

Templates (copy/paste)

1) Utility Bill Review Log

Site	Utility provider	Account #	Period start	Period end	Total $	Total kWh	Blended $/kWh	Demand $	Demand %	Other $	Issue found	Action	Owner	Due	Evidence link
—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—

Beginner note:

If you don't have demand $ broken out, leave it blank for now. You can still compute blended rate and start tracking.

2) Billing Error Checklist (operational)

Billing Error Checklist

Rate / classification
- Does the rate schedule/class match the site type?
- Any recent changes that need explanation?

Period integrity
- Billing period dates present?
- Overlaps or gaps vs prior bill?

Charges
- Demand charges present and consistent with expectations?
- Any unusual riders/fees?
- Late fees or penalties? (process issue)

Reads / usage
- Estimated read repeated?
- Usage spike/drop without explanation?

Evidence
- Bill PDF stored with stable link?
- Key fields captured (dates, kWh, $)?

3) Top Levers (per-site action list)

Utility Cost Levers (per site)

Fast fixes (0–30 days):
- billing dispute / error correction
- rate schedule/class verification
- AP process fix to eliminate late fees
- secure portal access and evidence storage

Operational levers (30–90 days):
- schedule enforcement (hours of operation)
- peak management and load shifting
- basic setpoint and sequencing tuning

Tariff/rate levers (90+ days):
- TOU strategy improvement
- rate schedule change (where eligible)
- interval data strategy for deeper optimization

4) Monthly Utility Review Agenda (20 minutes)

Monthly Utility Review (20 min)

1) Top 5 cost sites this month (5 min)
2) Any major anomalies? (5 min)
3) Demand share leaders (peak targets?) (5 min)
4) Billing disputes and actions status (5 min)

Outputs:
- Updated utility bill review log
- Owners + due dates for actions
- Sites escalated to Peak Demand Bundle or Tariff review

Proof and KPIs

•# sites reviewed per month
•% sites with evidence-linked bills for the period
•$ recovered from billing errors (track where possible)
•blended $/kWh trend (portfolio and top sites)
•demand share trend (where available)

Common pitfalls

•No portal access owner (data gaps persist)
•Comparing bills with mismatched periods
•Ignoring demand charges because they "seem complicated"
•Fixing one-off bills without creating a routine (problems repeat)
•Storing bills in email threads instead of evidence folders

Next bundles to run

Peak Demand Bundle

If demand share is meaningful

Coming soon

Scope 2 Data to Claims Bundle

If reporting/claims are a priority

Coming soon

Change log

v1.0 (2026-01): Latest release