Utility Bill Seems Too High?

If your Utility Bill Seems Too High, the following information may provide some answers.

Communities provide many essential services to their residents. The communities must pay the providers for these services in full and then bill their residents directly to recoup the costs. Because this can be time consuming and often difficult work, many communities hire Oates Energy to manage this process. We bill and collect payments on behalf of thousands of communities to allow them to focus their attention on more important matters associated to managing their communities and assisting their residents.

To determine the costs for major utilities such as water and sewer, gas, and electricity utilities, Oates Energy reviews your community’s master utility bill from the utility provider and calculate the exact cost being charged to the community based on the charge per kilowatt, gallon, etc., for each respective type of utility. If your rental unit, (apartment, condominium, mobile home, etc.) has a water, electric or gas submeter, we use the meter readings to bill your rental unit for your exact utility usage . If your rental unit does not have utility submeters and your community has chosen to use a RUBS, (Ratio Utility Billing System) formula, utility charges are billed to each unit using a formula that is often based on the size or total square feet of your rental unit, the number of occupants and sometimes other factors such as the number of bathrooms. When a community does not have utility submeters and chooses not to use a RUBS method to recover utility costs, the costs are usually fixed and added to the rental rate of the unit, and referred to as “Included with your rent”.

One reason an invoice may appear high is because of base fees. Utility providers often charge base fees to keep the services turned on in the community’s name, and then charge the community separately for actual usage. We model the monthly resident invoice to reflect this, listing base fees separately from usage. This means even if your rental unit has little or no usage, the invoice will still have base fees, again that are charged to the community by the utility provider and passed through on your rental unit’s utility bill.

An invoice could also seem high compared to a previous invoice from a different community or home. While houses are billed residential rates, apartments are considered a business and billed commercial rates, which are almost always higher. This causes the residents and tenants of apartment and condo communities, mobile home communities and commercial properties to experience higher utility rates than home owners. Rates also vary by city and location within cities.

Oates Energy is often hired by communities because their former billing companies were not billing in a way that fully reimbursed them for the costs of the utilities and services they were providing to residents. We review rates charged by the utility provider quarterly to assure that any increase or decrease in rates are passed through to the residents as accurately as possible.

Another reason a water utility invoice may be high is due to high usage. The national average consumption for water is 2,400 gallons per month per person. We often see our residents consume less with the help of our water consumption tip handouts and the tips we share on our Facebook page. If your usage is drastically more than 2,400 gallons per person, there is a good chance you may have a leak or running toilet. Please call our customer service team at 800-717-9811 for some basic tests you can run or abnormalities to look for.

We can also bill for other services communities provide to their residents, such as rent, electric, gas, cable, Internet, pet fees, and garage fees for example. The invoice may seem high because your bill actually includes charges for multiple utilities and multiple services.

If you are a resident and think your bill seems higher than it should be, please call our customer service team so they can review your charges and look for any aberrations, and also provide a full explanation of your invoice. Our number one goal is to have happy and educated communities and residents and would appreciate the opportunity to speak with you!