Utility Billing for Complex Properties: Why Manual Methods Fall Short

Complex Properties Need Good Systems

They say it's a poor workman who blames his tools. But try changing a tire with only a hammer and a flat-head screwdriver. You might get the job done, but it's going to be ugly. Bad language will occur. Something will get kicked, maybe broken. Your toe, for instance.

What's the difference when you use the right tools? The job shifts from nightmare to no-brainer.

Creating accurate billing packages for complex properties is the same story. Without the right system, you're wrestling with at least 8 variables per utility type – landlord fees, rate groups, base charges, supplier charges, taxes, meter types, multipliers, and usage values. And that's before you even evaluate the meter data or deal with recording, organizing, and securing it all.

Can you do this with a notebook and a calculator? Or with Excel macros and some prayers? Maybe. But if your property has any complexity to it, those results won't be accurate, auditable, or fast.

The Hidden Costs of Clipboard-and-Calculator Billing

Manual billing and Excel wizardry seem like dependable, tried-and-true processes. But the flaws add up:

• It's slow. We're talking most of an employee's time every month.
• Mistakes are easy to make but hard to find. Transposed numbers and forgotten formula fields are needles in a number haystack.
• The very nature of the process silos everything. What happens when that one employee takes time off or leaves?
• Delivery is delayed. Slow delivery = Slow reimbursement = Increased costs
• Tenants can't see the math. Hello, disputes.
• Confidence in the results is low. Doubt about the veracity of the numbers wastes everyone's time.

If your billing depends on one person who understands that 30-tab spreadsheet or those back-of-the-utility-bill calculations, then you're one knee replacement, job change, or tenant complaint away from chaos.

Free Up Property Managers to Do More Than Just Billing

A complex property had a full-time employee doing nothing but billing. That's one month of FTE just to produce packages. When they left, we got the job. What used to take a month now takes a day.

Let's take a moment to reflect on that. Billing that used to take a full month is now done in one day – 30x faster. And our packages are accurate and fully auditable, with a dedicated analyst available to answer any billing questions and service and engineering teams to help you troubleshoot.

We constantly say we're not a software company – we're an operations and billing service provider. But we have great software because we've worked in this industry for many decades and know what inputs matter and how they need to work together.

We're not using AI or plugging and chugging your data, either. We're faster because we have the right systems and because our experts know what to look for, how calculations should be done, and what the right inputs are. That's what 45+ years of experience gets you.

Your billing process shouldn't have a single point of failure, and your property managers shouldn't also have to be billing analysts. Siloing vital financial data doesn't just slow things down; it also undermines collaboration. It cuts off your ability to troubleshoot, improve efficiency, and respond proactively to concerns.

Bottom line? Always use the right tools for the job, whether changing a tire or producing billing packages. Your future self, your tenants, and your toes will thank you.