Why Would Any Business Neglect to Verify the Extra Little Charges on These Bills?

We all get these bills. You can't live or work anywhere without getting these bills. With our absolute dependence on these bills, why are they almost universally incomprehensible? It seems to me that if we all need to pay these bills to live or work, there should be a way to understand them. Almost all of the CPAs, CFOs, Controllers, accountants or book keepers can not even make heads or tails with all the little extra charges on these bills. Why do you think any reasonable business would send out invoices to all of us for payment without explanations about the extra little charges in these bills? I can only imagine... As I do not have any good answer to give you to this very seemingly simple question. Why send out these bills to millions upon millions of consumers and businesses without giving us any way to decipher "the secret code"? Are we all just doomed to be left out in the dark when it comes to understanding these bills?

These bills that are so illusive to almost all of us, are our utility bills. I am talking about the gas and electric, water and sewer, telephone, internet and wireless bills. It seems like all the little extra charges on these bills are unending. Ever wondered what all those extra little charges appearing numerously on our utility bills are for? If you where to ask the utility provider to explain these little extra charges to you, the answer would leave you still asking yourself "huh", "come again","slow down, so I can understand you" or just a plain "never mind, sorry I asked".

For the average consumer these extra charges are not that big a deal in the grand scheme of your utility costs. But for a business of any size, these little fees, tariffs, surcharges add up to some pretty big numbers, and they are the determining factor for the amount that is paid for the rest of the utility bill. I wish I had better news for the good old American consumer, but the truth is I do not. It is very time consuming and costly to unravel "the secret code" on utility bills.

Most businesses were in the same boat as consumers, because until just recently only the Fortune 500 companies could afford the services of utility auditing firms. But now there is fantastic news for small to medium businesses! There are utility and telecommunication firms that will decipher "the secret code" and then reconcile these figures with the amount that your utility providers are legally allowed to charge. There are audit companies who will not only make sure your invoices are accurate, but will only charge if errors and overcharges are found. They will do the audit off campus, so as to not disturb the workplace. They will do over 99% of the work and will negotiate with the utility providers. The best audit firms will also give you unbiased cost saving recommendations for the future. We are like great big utility cops of the workplace writing out tickets for violations of the utility commissioner's code of ethics. The utility companies will get huge fines if they do not make the corrections with the audited figures and refund your company the over paid amount.

But there is not an absolute "get out of jail" card. Your business only has three years to catch these mistakes. If you own your own business of any size, you need to get your utility and telecommunication invoices verified with a reputable auditing company, asap. After a complete and thorough audit, the great big utility cop of the workplace may deliver to you, a huge fix it ticket with your business' name written all over it. Now, doesn't that gives you and your business a whole new appreciation for cops writing out tickets for unlawful violations?

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Why Would Any Business Neglect to Verify the Extra Little Charges on These Bills?