Multi-site
Managing utility cost across several sites
One record.One calendar.One comparison.
The short answer
Controlling utility cost across several sites starts with one record: every site, every supply number, the contract each supply sits on, its end date, the meter type and who occupies the site. Until that record exists, comparing sites is guesswork and errors sit unnoticed for years. Once it exists, the work is maintenance rather than investigation. The first review across your invoices costs nothing.
This page sets out the losses that are particular to estates, how sites are compared fairly, what the work covers, what it cannot do, and what it costs. If you would rather just send us a site list and an invoice set, that is the fastest way to get an answer.
The losses particular to estates
Errors that a single-site business rarely has, and that an estate accumulates simply because no one person holds the whole supply list.
Supplies still billed at sites you have left
A lease ends, the supply stays in your name, and it is billed at deemed rates until somebody checks the list against the property record.
Duplicate standing charges
Several supplies at one site, each carrying its own fixed charge, where fewer supplies would serve the same building.
Capacity set for a former use
Agreed capacity inherited from an earlier occupier or fit-out, still charged every month long after the demand changed.
Renewal dates scattered across the year
The estate is never tendered as one volume, so each site is negotiated alone and some quietly roll onto out-of-contract rates.
Meters that belong to somebody else
A neighbouring occupier's supply billed to your account, which can run for months because no single person holds the full supply list.
One error repeated across many sites
A rate loaded incorrectly or a levy applied wrongly is rarely limited to the invoice that revealed it, so every confirmed finding is tested against the rest of the estate.
Water and waste water lines nobody reads
SPIDs for closed sites, assessed reads left running, and drainage charges resting on an assumption about the site that nobody has tested.
What the work covers
Build the supply record
Every site, every MPAN, MPRN and SPID, the contract and end date on each, the meter type and the occupier. One list, held in one place, checked against the property record rather than against last year's list.
Reconcile the list against the invoices
Supplies billed that are not on the list, and sites on the list that nobody is billing, are both findings. This is usually where the vacant and neighbouring supplies appear.
Compare sites on a fair basis
Consumption per square metre, per bed, per cover or per opening hour, whichever unit reflects how the site is used. Raw cost per site only tells you which site is biggest.
Read the base load at each site
The consumption that continues when the site is closed. Two similar sites should have a similar overnight floor, and where one sits well above the other the difference is visible in half-hourly data without a visit.
Set one renewal calendar
End dates held together so the estate can be tendered as one volume where that helps, and so no site reaches its end date unattended.
Keep it current
Invoices read against the contract each period, exceptions listed with a status, and every change of occupancy reflected on the record in the month it happens.
What it cannot do
Worth reading before you start, so the result is not a surprise.
- A comparison between sites cannot explain a difference on its own. It tells you which site to open first; the reason is then found in the data, the plant or the operating pattern.
- Sites on different meter types cannot be compared at the same depth. A half-hourly site gives interval data; a non half-hourly site gives readings, and the base load question cannot be answered from readings alone.
- Where floor areas, bed numbers or opening hours are not recorded, the fair comparison cannot be built until you supply them. We will not estimate them.
- Bringing renewal dates together usually means one or more sites signing a shorter or longer term than they otherwise would, and that trade-off is set out before anything is agreed.
- Consumption that is genuinely used is not an overcharge. Reducing it is separate work with its own costs and payback.
What it costs and how to start
The first review across your invoices costs nothing. You see the supply record we can build from what you hold, and what reconciles against the contract, before any fee is discussed.
Where you then appoint us, whether to hold the record and validate invoices each period or to tender the estate, the fee and how it is calculated are set out in writing and agreed before the work begins. We are paid either by a margin on the unit rate or by a fixed fee, and which one applies is stated before anything is signed.
To start, send a list of your sites with the tenure of each, a recent full invoice per meter, the contracts or agreed rates, and a signed letter of authority so we can put questions to suppliers on your account.
Questions
Start with one record of every site and every supply, with the contract, end date, meter type and occupier against each. Reconcile that record against the invoices, then compare sites on a basis that removes size, such as consumption per square metre or per opening hour. Hold all renewal dates in one calendar, and check each period's invoices against the contract so exceptions are caught as they arise rather than at renewal.
Not necessarily. A single agreement across the estate simplifies administration and lets the volume be tendered together, but it also means every site takes the same term and the same price date. Where sites have very different demand profiles or uncertain tenure, keeping some separate can be the better answer. The comparison is made on your actual sites rather than as a rule.
Compare consumption against a unit of activity rather than against cost. Per square metre, per bed, per cover or per opening hour, depending on the trade. Then compare base load, meaning what continues overnight when the site is closed. A site that is high on both is usually a controls or plant question rather than a behaviour one.
Send the invoices and the date you handed the site back. A supply left in your name after a lease ends is normally billed at deemed rates, and the correction depends on evidencing the change of occupancy to the supplier. That is raised with the clause and the dates behind it, and any credit is recorded on the file when it lands.
No. The supply record, the invoices, the contracts and the meter data are enough to build the comparison and find the billing errors. A visit is only needed where a finding points to plant or controls and somebody has to look at the equipment.
The first review across your invoices costs nothing. You see what reconciles against the contract and what does not before any fee is discussed. Where you then appoint us, the fee and how it is calculated are set out in writing and agreed before the work begins.
A recent full invoice for each meter, the supply numbers, the contracts or agreed rates, a list of sites with the tenure of each, and a signed letter of authority so we can put questions to suppliers on your account.
Invoices each period, so an error is caught in the month it appears. The site ranking is usually enough quarterly, and the renewal calendar should be reviewed at least as often as your shortest remaining contract allows time to tender.