Correcting a premature seasonal rate change at a national protein processing company
An 800,000-square-foot protein plant in Missouri was billed summer rates before the tariff's June 1 start date. The controller's own review had found nothing wrong. A three-year audit found it twice.
What happened
The utility, Evergy, applied its higher summer rate to the April 28 to May 27, 2020 billing period across every meter at the plant, about five weeks before summer pricing was allowed to begin. Every number on the bill added up; only the rate was wrong for those dates.
How we found it
We compared the service dates of every billing period with the tariff's seasonal effective dates. That test is different from checking that a bill is internally consistent, and it is rarely part of an accounts payable review.
Looking back further
Because a repeated process tends to repeat its errors, we extended the review one more year and found the same premature switch in May 2019.
| Period | Error | Recovered |
|---|---|---|
| April 28 to May 27, 2020 | Summer rates about five weeks early, all meters | $108,739.13 credit |
| May 2019 | Same premature seasonal switch | $58,218.42 refund |
| Total | $166,957.55 |
What it shows
- A bill can be arithmetically correct and still use the wrong schedule for its dates.
- A recurring error points to a systemic problem in how the utility applies its schedule.
- Seasonal tariffs deserve a date-by-date check, especially for plants with heavy summer load.