Considering a New Property Investment? Don’t Overlook a Utility Billing System Audit

Considering a New Property Investment? Don’t Overlook a Utility Billing System Audit

Expanding your property investment portfolio demands thorough due diligence for each new venture. If you haven’t been scrutinizing the utility billing system in this process, it’s time to start. Here’s why.

Understanding a Utility Billing System Audit

A utility billing system audit entails a professional assessment of the utility hardware, including master meters, submeters, wiring, and pipes, to ensure they function correctly and provide accurate readings for billing purposes.

Why Inspecting Your Utility System is Imperative In both commercial and residential property investments, gaining a comprehensive understanding of what you're investing in is crucial. The utility billing infrastructure significantly impacts your net operating income (NOI).

This is particularly pertinent for commercial properties, where units are often divided and subdivided. If this process isn’t executed correctly, it could compromise your ability to obtain accurate utility readings for each unit. Thus, inspecting your utility system is essential to measure usage accurately and bill tenants accordingly.

The crux of the matter: Neglecting the utility billing system audit could jeopardize the NOI of the property.

The Advantages of a Utility Billing System Audit

 Advantage #1: Insight into Your Investment Purchasing multifamily or commercial property is a substantial investment. While a faulty utility billing system may not be a deal-breaker, understanding its condition enables you to devise a plan to recover utility costs effectively post-purchase.

Advantage #2: Ensuring Complete Utility Cost Recovery As utility costs continue to rise, having a system that accurately reads each unit’s usage for precise billing alleviates concerns about escalating expenses. Conducting a utility billing system audit is the initial step to ensure everything functions correctly or identifying areas needing improvement to recover costs fully.

Advantage #3: Partnering with Utility Billing Experts Engaging a utility billing expert to conduct the audit is advisable. They possess the expertise to identify issues and implement solutions. Moreover, establishing a relationship with such experts streamlines utility billing management, freeing up time for other tasks.

In the long run, having a partner proficient in generating timely and accurate bills, while employing industry best practices, maximizes cost recovery and maintains investment value.

In Conclusion Before committing to another commercial or residential property investment, incorporate a utility billing system audit into your due diligence process. Ensuring your system can provide accurate readings is paramount for cost recovery and safeguarding your investment’s value.