Why should we buy our utilities from you?
Why should we use you to manage our utilities?
Will you give me a written agreement?
Why should I use BCC instead of another utility consultant?
Why should I pay you a fee to help me find cheaper utility services?
What happens if I am tied into a contract with my existing utility supplier?
How would I pay BCC for these services?
What is covered in the audit you carry out?
What resources do BCC require from clients?
To save money. Typical reductions on utility costs are 5% to 20% on energy, 5% to 50% on water and 10% to 50% on telecoms.
To save time. We do all the work associated with the audit of your existing utility costs, the analysis, the report, the implementation of our recommendations and the ongoing monitoring of your utility costs, giving you time to focus on other key areas of your organisation.
Some consultants simply offer advice to their clients on a one-off basis, whereas BCC will continue to manage all of your utilities; we will check all your incoming utility bills, track your energy and telecoms profiles, deal with any queries on your bills and provide an independent source of information.
We also continue to ensure that you are getting the best deal possible after the initial audit by regularly reviewing your utility costs and putting contracts out to tender.
The utility markets are volatile and complex. Every week there are changes to the tariffs, technologies or suppliers in these markets. Often our services effectively cost you nothing since the savings we achieve are normally more that the cost of our fees. In addition, we can save you and your team a great deal of time by dealing with your utility queries for you.
We will check your contracts thoroughly and establish that:
Should either of these not be the case, we shall endeavour to correct them or to find a legitimate way out of your existing contract. We will then recommend a more suitable tariff and/or provider for your needs.
Whilst waiting for your supply contract to come to an end, we can save you time and perhaps money by carefully checking your utility bills and negotiating rebates with suppliers who have overcharged you.
Often we can achieve immediate savings by identifying ways of reducing your bills, without changing suppliers. We will normally audit your utility costs for the last 12 months. During the initial audit we often find errors in the utility bills.
We can also help you to accrue accurate figures by locating undercharges. This can avoid unexpectedly large bills at the end of your contract, as the supplier catches up on any undercharges.
We can also help you to budget by predicting your forthcoming utility costs.
The main objective of our audits is normally to identify possible cost savings in your water, gas, electricity and telecom costs. However, some clients take us on simply to help them win disputes with suppliers.
Among other things, your audit will include:
A fully comprehensive report is submitted to each new client, giving expert recommendations as to where your savings can be made, and how substantial those savings will be.
You are entirely free to pick and choose which recommendations you wish to have us implement. You are under no obligation to accept any of them.
Initially we only need about 20 minutes of your time. From the information you provide, we can ascertain if savings are possible. If you want to proceed we will ask you to sign an agreement so that we both understand our responsibilities.
During our initial audit, we require access to relevant documents such as invoices and contracts. To save you time and to keep any disturbance to a minimum, we usually ask clients to send us copies of those documents. Thereafter, as part of our ongoing monitoring service, we will ask your utility suppliers to send all your bills to us for checking. We then scan the bills into our computer and send the originals to you for payment, as normal.
We do all of the work associated with the audit, analysis, implementation and ongoing monitoring. That includes dealing with queries on your utility bills which have been raised by you, by the supplier, or by ourselves.
After we have submitted our report to you we will meet with you to discuss our report and recommendations. If you accept our recommendations we shall implement any necessary changes for you.
Once you have given us copies of your utility bills we do all the work for you.
We will ask you to sign a simple agreement, which sets out the basis on which we will work together. It details the various responsibilities of BCC and the client for the duration of our relationship.
Basically, the agreement states that you supply us with copies of your utility bills and contracts, we report to you and, if you accept our recommendations, we reduce your costs.