Welcome to Utility Management Services, Inc.

General Questions How will Utility Management Services help my company save money? How much can I save? How much does it cost to have my accounts reviewed? What type of customers do you serve? How do I sign up to receive your services? It sounds too good to be true. What's the catch? Billing Errors How common are utility billing errors? How does RateMaster find billing errors? What type of meter reading errors do you find? What type of metering errors do you find? What do you do when you find a suspected billing or metering error? Rate Changes/Savings How many commercial or industrial rates are available? What is involved in performing a rate analysis on my electric accounts? Will I need to change my operations or purchase special equipment to save? Will you change my electric utility supplier or impact my service quality? How will Utility Management Services help my company save money? We will contact your utility provider to obtain at least two years of your historical billing information. We will the use a sophisticated computer program called RateMaster to search for suspected billing, metering, or meter reading errors and other savings opportunities. If savings opportunities are found, we will investigate and negotiate with your utility to ensure that you receive a full refund or begin saving. We continue this process with your ongoing billing. Click here to view some our savings examples. How much can I save? Some customers can save more than 20%. Many customers can save 10% to 15%. Click here to view some our savings examples. How much does it cost to have my accounts reviewed? Nothing. We operate on a contingency basis. If there are no savings, there is no bill. If there are savings, we bill you for 50% of the verifiable savings. Therefore, your total costs can go down but they can't go up. How common are utility billing errors? Very common. The Consumer Project, created by Ralph Nader, is investigating utility billing errors because of the high error rates on these bills. According to Cost Recovery Associates, an auditing firm operating in California, "4 out of 5 commercial or industrial customers are over billed by the utility at some point". Click here to learn more on billing errors. How does RateMaster find billing errors? RateMaster compares your demand, usage, and load factor for each month to all other months. RateMaster identifies spikes in demand or usage and unusual seasonal variations that could indicate a metering or meter reading error. RateMaster compares your peak demand to the capacity or your main electrical panel and the capacity of the utility transformer to ensure that you aren't being charged for more than your equipment could physically carry. Click here to learn more on billing errors. What type of meter reading errors do you find? The most common are errors in reading the KW or "demand" from the meter or typographical errors when entering this reading into the billing system. These errors can be especially costly since most utility rates require the customer to pay a monthly "minimum billing demand" that is a percentage of the highest demand during the year. Therefore, if the demand is incorrect one month, it can increase the bill for 12 months. Click here to learn more on billing errors. What type of metering errors do you find? Utility meters for commercial and industrial accounts measure only a small percentage of the total consumption. The utility billing system then uses a "multiplier" to determine the peak demand and total usage. The multipliers can range from a low of about 40 to over 1,000. If the multiplier being used on your account does not correspond to the metering equipment at your facility, your bills are incorrect. Errors of this type can cause significant over billing for years. We recently found $15,000 of billing errors for a car dealer. Click here to learn more on billing errors. What do you do when you find a suspected billing or metering error? In some cases, all that is needed is to point out the problem to the utility. In other cases, we may perform an inventory of your electrical equipment to demonstrate to the utility that you couldn't have established the demand for which you were billed. We will perform whatever follow-up is needed to ensure that you receive a full refund for any over billing. Click here to learn more on billing errors. How many commercial or industrial rates are available? A typical utility provider has over a dozen rates. Also, utilities have "riders" that are used in conjunction with the rates to increase or decrease billing for specific applications Most customers are eligible for three or more rates and one or more riders. It is up to the customer to select the best rate and rider combination for his level and pattern of usage. Click here to learn more on the different rates available. What is involved in performing a rate analysis on my electric accounts? We will enter the historical billing data from your utility, into RateMaster to project your annual billing under each of the available rates and riders. If your total bill is projected to be lower under a different rate, we will have your utility switch you to that rate so you begin saving. Also, we take the risk out of your utility rate making decisions. Click here to learn more on rate changes/savings. Will I need to change my operations or purchase special equipment to save? No. Your actual usage will be reviewed to determine if savings are possible with no change in usage patterns or equipment. We may also be able to provide you with simple suggestions that can increase your savings. It is up to you whether or not to implement those suggestions. Will you change my electric utility supplier or impact my service quality? No. We cannot and will not change your utility or impact the quality or reliability of your electric service. You will continue to receive electric service and bills from your utility. Click here to learn more on rate changes/savings. What type of customers do you serve? We serve commercial, industrial and municipal customers in the Southeastern United States. Click here to learn more on our references. Click here to view some our savings examples. How do I sign up to receive your services? Complete the service agreement and mail it to us. Click here to view our simplified service agreement. It sounds too good to be true. What's the catch? There is no catch. Please read the service agreement carefully. You will find it is written with you, the customer, in mind. Also, call us at our toll free number, 1-888-UMS-3230, if you have questions or need additional information. Click here to contact us or request more information.