We had a prospective customer give us the most baffling concern the other day.  We explained the process of what we do, and that there is no upfront cost to the audit, that we only charge if we can find savings, etc., and he said the following, “I just don’t think you will find anything.”

Well now, I’ll be honest, we don’t find something all the time.  In fact about 3 out of 10 we won’t find any mistakes.  But since we also don’t charge anything to those 3 out of 10 either, I thought that was a funny reason not to try to find the mistakes.

But as I probed further, he said something that is just plain counter-intuitive, “I just don’t think the utility companies make that many mistakes.”

Well, I will have to beg to differ on that one.  We have made quite a nice business out of the mistakes utility companies make.  But as that customer really caught my attention, I decided to find some examples, not just our clients, of some mistakes.  Click on the links below to different stories.

http://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2010/05/15/Bill-error-catches-up-with-Texas-woman/UPI-50631273941354/

http://www.wzzm13.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=121299&catid=216

http://www.smdailyjournal.com/article_preview.php?id=131516&title=SmartMeter%20trouble

http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20100511/ARTICLES/100519877?Title=PG-E-admits-problems-with-SmartMeters

There really are too many to post.  I really like this last one about the Smart Meters not being so smart.  Anyway, I wish I would’ve had these stories when I talked with that guy.  Maybe he will read this blog and realize that the utility companies are always making mistakes.  Don’t be the sucker that just writes out the check every month without calling us to check them.  And since it doesn’t cost anything to have them audited, there really is no excuse…

Whenever our sales department says the word “Free”, they are usually met with skepticism.  “Nothing is free,” is usually the response.  And it is true, we are not a charity, and we aren’t paid by the internal satisfaction and feeling of accomplishment by doing utility bill audits, so yes, it isn’t really “Free”. 

However, like in anything, you pay for what you get.  So, if we do the audit, and find nothing, we charge nothing—you get nothing, we get nothing—and the work is at our cost.  And if we can recover money or lower the bills by finding errors, we will both share the savings.  It is that simple. 

And a word about how we share the savings—we only charge after our client has saved the money.  If we don’t save, again, we don’t charge.  So if a client goes out of business, moves locations, shuts down a plant, and it negates the savings because the meter is no longer being used—there are no charges from us.  As a Utility Bill consultant, we have to prove our value to our clients in order to be successful.  And the way we do that boils down to saving money.

If you are curious about what we might find on your bills, call us and talk with an auditor—you got it—for FREE!

We now have a short (15 minute) web presentation available that explains the process and benefits of a utility bill audit from Discovery Energy.  The presentation discusses what a utility bill audit is, what kinds of errors we usually find, and even how we get paid.  Since few people we contact have even heard of a utility bill audit, and usually confuse one with an energy audit, we thought it might be beneficial to give a forum where people could learn enough to know if a utility bill audit is right for their organization.  To see the presentation, go to “contact”, fill out the information requested and we’ll call and set up the presentation to be viewed right on your computer.

With U6 unemployment over 17% and the US economy mired in recession, times are challenging for manufacturers.  Local governments are in a cash squeeze and donations to non-profits are also down across the board.  CFO’s everywhere have much on their plates, even though plants have slowed and production is depressed, money is in short supply.  A utility audit can uncover savings overlooked from past good months (36  in many states) and allow you to make changes to reduce utility bills as your business recovers in coming years.  This can mean cash now and future savings as your business rebuilds.   Each month that goes by without knowing the results of a utility audit is one month (36 months ago)  less that can mistakes can be audited and recovered.  Each current month that lapses is a month that a corrected billing will not be in effect.  Since obtaining bill histories and anaylsis is done by Discovery, very little time is required of CFO’s and staff to complete an audit and implement the findings.  This is one simple and easy thing that can increase cash flow and cut expenses.  We just completed an audit for a national bottling company that resulted in a $70,000.00 in rebates and $2,000.00 savings per month, beginning January 2010!  Let us get started on your company today!

We just finished up a successful trade show at the Indiana State Fairgrounds in Indianapolis, IN.  We were new to the Farm Equipment Show, and to the agriculture trade shows in general, but we found it to be a good venue to discuss utility audits with farmers, grain suppliers, and equipment manufacturers.

It suprised me that not too many people had heard of utility audits, and most were new to the general concept of cost recovery auditing to help efficiency.  In fact, we were tracked down by a couple of radio stations that serve the agricultural market in the midwest to do interviews on what we do and how we can help today’s farmers.  It brought such attention that we made their top story on their website as well.

Read the Story: http://www.hoosieragtoday.com/wire/news/00026_electricaudit_222919.php

Listen to the Interview: http://hatchat.net/?p=1222

Everyone seemed to be receptive to the idea of having an audit done without any upfront cost.  And about half of them were big enough energy users to qualify.  We also met some industry experts who helped us understand the energy use in the industry.  Gary Apel at National Starch was lucky enough to have a booth close to ours, which made it really easy for us to scatter him with question after question about the industry.  Gary was a lot of help in pointing us in the right direction.

We’re glad we made the trek out to wintry Indianapolis for the show and hope to have the same success next year!

On October 1st, 2009, Discovery Energy purchased Edison Cost Management, a utility auditing firm out of Santaquin, Utah.  The move bolstered Discovery’s experience in several auditing disciplines, in order to better serve its client base with cost recovery audits.

Edison had been in business for 5 years under the managment of Joseph Bigler.  Edison mainly served Utah, Colorado, Wyoming, and had a handful of clients in Flordia and Indiana.  All employees have now been transitioned to Discovery Energy, and all clients are now being serviced by Discovery as well.

“The move just made sense,”  remarked Discovery CFO Gunther Fischli, “Discovery’s clients will benefit from Edison’s experience, and Edison’s clients will benefit from Discovery’s experience and expertise.  Once a client experiences collecting savings from one audit, they want to participate in all audits for which they qualify.  This merger helps us offer them more opportunities for savings.”

For more information on the transaction.  Please contact Discovery’s home office.

Discovery Energy Media Department

We are pleased to announce that along with our complete line of Utility Audits and other Cost Reduction Audits, we are now offering a complete audit of your Worker’s Compensation premiums.  New expertise has joined our team in order for us to offer our clients a full product line of cost reduction audits. 

Workers Compensation Audits will be performed just like our Utility Audits–100% performance based.  The minimum spend to qualify for a performance based WC audit is $100,000 per year in premiums.  But the best part is–our auditors have a refund average of $30,000, with a 69% success ratio!!

So tell your friends–with that kind of refund, they will owe you more than dinner!  We now not only reduce your energy bills, but your insurance costs will now also fall victim to Discovery Energy’s Cost Recovery Audits.

2nd place team

Our first trip to the annual FICAP (Florida Independent Concrete & Associated Products) Accociation golf tournament at Southern Dunes Country Club in Haines City, Florida yielded us a second place finish, and more importantly, a host of companies eager to save money and reclaim refunds on their energy usage.

We were bested by one stroke for 1st place, but our team had the best shot in the tournament.  Bill Edwards took out his putter 50 yards from the green, and rolled one within 8 feet of the hole.  I’ve never seen a putter out of the bag for a long shot like that.  Amazing.

We have saved the association members thousands of dollars already, and we are working on a few more we met at the golf tournament.  All in all, it was a great trip.  We look forward to next year’s outing.

Hello everyone.  This is our maiden post on our new blog.  We thought we might keep everyone updated on different areas or industries we are auditing, as well as any upcoming projects or announcements we might have.  I’m sure we’ll also add some comedic relief as we come across it.

We had our research team (Gunther) update our auditing statistics, and I thought you might be curious of what they turned out to be, so here they are:

• Audits that resulted in savings — 68.4%
• Average size of refund — 67.2% of monthly utility expenditure
• Average size of ongoing savings — 9.4% of monthly utility expenditure
• Average total savings — 14.8% of monthly expediture
• Closing ratio of client appointments to clients sold — 83.9%

We have more, but I guess those are the most interesting.  As an account rep, I’m the most proud of the 83.9% closing ratio.  Although, it is a pretty easy sell when you are selling something on a contingency basis that doesn’t hardly require much work at all on the clients part.  We have a guy in the office who sold life insurance in a previous career, and he tells us the horror stories of walking uphill both ways in the snow to sales appointments.

Anyway, I’ll keep you posted with anything interesting that we come across…