We audit utility bills two ways. Level 1 is sales tax — is the customer taxed correctly. Level 2 is rates and riders — is the customer on the right price plan at all. This course is Level 2 only.
You will not be asked to do the math. We have tools for that. You are being taught to know which math to ask for, and to prove the inputs going into it are right. That is the part a tool cannot do for you.
How to use this
Read it in order. Each lesson is short and gives you one thing. At the end of each there is a Check yourself box — answer before you open it. Looking at the answer feels like learning. Recalling it actually is.
The lessons
- What a Level 2 audit isThe question you are answering, and the four moves that answer it.
- Who is charging whatUtility, supplier, regulator — and the second bill you may not have been given.
- Units, and what demand really iskWh against kW. Therms. Gallons, CCF and EDUs.
- Anatomy of a billEvery bill has the same bones in a different order. Find the rate code first.
- Anatomy of a tariffRate schedules, availability, riders, and why several versions are live at once.
- Matching the bill to the tariffThe step people skip. It is what makes an audit trustworthy.
- Describing the customerThe facts that decide eligibility, the facts that decide cost, and what can sink a good finding.
- What an opportunity looks likeFour real shapes, so you know the feel of what you are hunting.
- Glossary and aliasesThe same thing under six names. Print this one.
When you finish
You should be able to open a bill and, without help:
- Say what the customer buys, from whom, and whether a second bill exists somewhere.
- Name every charge line and say which tariff component it came from.
- Find the utility’s tariff and pick the version that matches the bill’s service period.
- Describe the customer in one paragraph: class, voltage or meter size, demand, usage pattern.
- Say which other rates they are eligible for, and hand a clean, provable question to the calculator.