When is the last time you really looked at one of your business utility bills? At home, you probably monitor these pretty closely. A high water bill indicates a leaky faucet or a running toilet. A high electric bill can trigger a mad dash for more energy-efficient light bulbs. A high cell phone bill makes you wonder if you’ve been playing too many data-rich games during your downtime. But when was the last time you looked that closely at the utility bills coming into your business?
Most business owners don’t take the time to troubleshoot their utility bills. Unless there is a glaring error, they simply accept those bills as the costs of doing business. It makes sense, of course, because you need your utilities to operate a successful business. A single day of “lights out” can make your profits plummet. The sad reality is that some utility companies use these oversights as an excuse for lazy bill-making.
Consider, for a moment, how your customers would feel if you guessed about how much of your products or services they’d used. If you low-balled them, then they might accept your new pricing strategy. But if you guessed high, they probably wouldn’t take you at your word. If you guessed high week after week, month after month, so your customers are paying far ahead of what they’d used, then you’d probably have a lot of angry customers on your hands–maybe enough to shut your doors for good. After all, that’s not a fair way to price your products and services.
If it would be inappropriate for you to treat your customers this way, then why do so many business consumers accept similar treatment from their utility companies? The answer is simple. Most businesses don’t have the spare resources they’d need to watch-dog their business utility bills. Most businesses are so busy being in business, doing the work that generates the revenues that make their business profitable, neither owners nor employees have the free time to monitor their business utility bills and compare those numbers to the utility usage. Most businesses just pay the bills.
Now, consider how much water your business uses each day. Consider how much electricity your business uses each day. Think about all the utilities your business uses each day and how that adds up to the bills you pay each month. Now, round up. Think about how much more you might end up paying if your utilities providers round up a little each month.
The actual cost of a little rounding will vary depending on the size of your business, your hours of operation, and the amount of utilities you actually use. For some businesses, it may mean the cost of a ream of paper. For others, it may look more like a forest full of trees. For most businesses, the difference between actual usage and the “guesstimates” the utility companies make will likely fall somewhere in between. The unnecessary, inaccurate costs incurred over a full year could very well be quite substantial. But you’ll never know unless you monitor your utilities closely.
Clarus Communications offers a different solution. The Utility Management professionals at Clarus Communications can take the guesswork out of your business utility bills by ensuring your utility accounts accurately reflect your usage and pricing agreements. In addition to auditing services, these professionals can also help to minimize these necessary costs by finding ways to save money now and into the future with comprehensive utility management services.
Visit Clarus Communications here or call us at 855-801-6700 to speak with one of our knowledgeable staff so we can work with you on finding the right service for your business at the most affordable rates. Our goal is to ensure high levels of customer service plus building and maintaining a system that enables your business to run well.