{"id":2972,"date":"2017-04-20T20:58:11","date_gmt":"2017-04-20T20:58:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.peeriosity.com\/shared-services\/articles\/?p=2972"},"modified":"2022-09-06T22:31:22","modified_gmt":"2022-09-06T22:31:22","slug":"utility-invoice-processing-%e2%80%93-po-requirements-and-outsourcing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.peeriosity.com\/shared-services\/articles\/2017\/04\/utility-invoice-processing-%e2%80%93-po-requirements-and-outsourcing\/","title":{"rendered":"Utility Invoice Processing \u2013 PO Requirements and Outsourcing"},"content":{"rendered":"

Energy costs are one of the largest expense categories a company has, which makes it a priority to understand and manage utility-related data.\u00a0 Yes, if the lights were out last month at one of your company locations, you probably need to pay the electric bill; however, the process of managing utility payments is more complicated than simply keying in the invoice total.\u00a0\u00a0 With multiple locations, there are ongoing issues with opening and closing accounts and tracking related deposits and refunds, issues with ensuring that proper rate schedules are applied, and, finally, issues with bill processing and the analysis of expenses to identify inefficiencies across your portfolio. <\/span><\/p>\n

As part of a redesign of their Purchase-to-Pay process<\/a>, a Peeriosity member used iPollingTM<\/sup> to quickly get responses for how companies process utility payments.\u00a0 The first question asked, \u201cHow does your company primarily pay for utility (electric, natural gas, etc.) invoices?\u201d.\u00a0 While in 63% of the cases utility invoice processing takes place internally in Accounts Payable<\/a>, in 37% of the companies a third-party firm is involved.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

Here are the details:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"iPolling: <\/span><\/p>\n

The second iPolling question asked about the timing of payments to the utility vendor.\u00a0 The results were mixed across all categories, with 70% paying in 15 days or less.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"iPolling:<\/span><\/p>\n

The iPolling questions on the topic of utility invoice payments generated a lot of discussions, with many companies providing additional comments about their process, and with some providing details for the vendor they are using to perform utility audits.\u00a0 Here are some of the comments:<\/span><\/p>\n