The questions we get asked before anyone sends us a bill
Most of them come down to three things: is my information safe, can this backfire on me, and how does the money actually reach me. Here are the answers.
Is my information secure?
Your account number is encrypted and shown with most of its digits hidden, to you and to our own staff. Every file you send is virus-scanned before anyone opens it, and your data sits in its own space that no other customer can reach.
We don't sell it, share it, or send you marketing you didn't ask for. You can download everything we hold or ask us to delete it, from your account settings, whenever you want.
Can this get me in trouble with my utility?
No. You are asking your utility to check its own math against its own filed rate. That is a normal billing question, handled by the same group that issues corrections every month, and it has no effect on your service, your deposit or your standing.
Bill reviews are ordinary commercial practice. Larger companies have been doing this for decades with in-house staff. You are allowed to check your bill, and you are allowed to have someone check it for you.
Is what you're doing legal?
Yes. Your utility's rates are filed with your state's utility commission and it is required to bill them as filed. Asking it to correct a bill that departs from them is the process your state built for exactly this.
You sign a one-page letter naming us as the people who may discuss your billing with that utility. That is a standard authorization, the same kind you'd sign for an accountant.
How do I actually get paid?
Your utility either credits your account or sends you a check. The money goes straight to you. We never receive it, hold it, or route it through an account of ours.
After it arrives, we invoice you for 30% of it. So you have the money before you have the bill, every time.
What exactly am I signing?
Two things, and you can read both first. A fee agreement that says 30% of what's recovered and nothing otherwise. And the one-page authorization letter for one named utility.
That letter does not let us switch your supplier, change your service, open or close an account, or agree to anything on your behalf. It covers billing questions for the account you name, and you can cancel it in writing whenever you want.
30% sounds like a lot.
It is a big share of the money. It's also 30% of an amount you would not otherwise have, and 30% of nothing is nothing. We don't charge for the audit, the time, the filing, or the months we spend chasing your utility.
If you'd rather do this yourself, you can. Your utility's rates are public, your bill is yours, and your state has a process. We're selling the reading, the math and the persistence.
Why hasn't anyone caught this already?
Your utility's billing system charges the rate it was set up with. Nobody there recalculates your bill from the rate book each month, and rate cases change the rules underneath it.
Your bookkeeper checks that the bill got paid, not that the rate was right. Those are different jobs, and the second one needs the rate book open.
Is my utility covered?
Maybe, and we'll tell you in about a minute. We build each utility's rate book by hand, so our coverage is real but limited. Send a bill and the first thing you'll learn is whether we can audit it.
If we can't, we'll say so and tell you roughly when we could. We won't take your authorization and figure it out later.
The fine print, up front
Is 30% negotiable?
It's the same rate for everyone, which is the point. You aren't getting a worse deal than a bigger customer. Your rate is set in your agreement before anything is filed and it never changes partway through a claim.
How do I get invoiced?
One invoice per confirmed recovery, payable by bank transfer or card, due in 30 days. You'll see the recovered amount, our fee and your net in your account before the invoice arrives.
Do you ever touch my money?
No. Your utility credits you or pays you directly, and we invoice separately. We don't want custody of client funds and we built it so we don't have it.
What about lower bills going forward?
If fixing your rate lowers future bills and that's in your agreement, the term is a set number of months with a cap on the total. It is never an open-ended share of your utility bill. Ask anyone in this business for that in writing.
Can I cancel?
Any time, in writing. Claims already filed run to the end and the fee applies to what they recover. Nothing new gets filed after you tell us to stop.
I have several sites.
Same fee, one agreement, and one authorization per utility. If you manage a lot of accounts we do a single intake for all of them instead of one per site.
Nothing to decide yet. Send one bill.
You don't sign anything until you've seen what we found and what it's worth.