A system of for profit private schools with a large main campus and 20 satellite schools across the U.S and plans for an international expansion was founded on a set of core principles that focused on innovation, sustainability, and student centered teaching.

School leaders suspected that the system’s utility usage and spend was significantly higher than average for the industry and it’s campus locations. They wanted to take a closer look at the utility accounts across their 20 sites to find discrepancies and opportunities for savings, and they turned to our EMS Solutions for help.

The EMS team began by auditing past bills and payments. We partnered with the school system to collect master data from all locations, including processed historical bills, and create a comprehensive inventory. The team analyzed that data for patterns and recommended validations that included: contract rate vs. billed rates; the impact of weather and production data; meter changes and estimated billings; and penalties, including power factor and late fees. We also looked at invalid and unauthorized charges; demand charges and rate audits; and past due and deposit payments.

Among the discoveries were three construction meters that had been disconnected for more than five years, but for which the utility continued to invoice. School system leaders expected to receive a vendor refund of up to $250,000 as a result.

We also provided the client with a one stop solution for bill payment (all utilities) and reporting that allows the school system to analyze bills and compare each account’s history, capturing each line item and identifying possible saving opportunities. The solution updates the master data frequently in order to open and close accounts at each site depending on demand and ensures savings are maximized through rate audits. With a highly customized approach to budgeting and accruals and weather normalized data, we were able to enable the school system to proactively drive cost savings and facility efficiencies and obtain an Energy Star certification, unlocking further rebates.