How a Healthcare Facility Saved Over $160,000 with ControlCom Connect Utility Monitoring
A case study on how real-time data monitoring helped a major healthcare provider identify and correct significant utility billing errors.
In today’s healthcare environment, every dollar counts. With rising operational costs and pressure to deliver exceptional patient care, hospital administrators and facility operations are constantly looking for ways to optimize their budgets. This case study examines how a healthcare facility leveraged advanced utility monitoring technology to identify a major billing error that would have cost them over $160,000 in unnecessary expenses.
The Challenge: Unexpected Utility Charges
The facility received their monthly utility bill with charges that seemed normal at first glance. However, when the bill was uploaded to the ControlCom Connect platform as part of their regular process, something remarkable happened.
The ControlCom Connect system automatically detected a significant anomaly: the bill showed an unusually high demand peak, resulting in a suspiciously low load factor. ControlCom Connect immediately flagged the discrepancy.
What is a demand peak? Demand peak refers to the highest amount of electrical power a facility draws from the utility grid during any 30-minute interval in a billing period. Utilities charge commercial customers not only for the total energy consumed but also for their highest demand peak, as this represents the maximum capacity the utility must provide. These demand charges can represent a large portion of a commercial electric bill.
Additionally, many utilities use a “ratchet clause” where this peak demand carries over for the next 12 months as the minimum billing demand, affecting charges for an entire year after a single high usage event.
The Data Advantage: Automated Bill Verification in Action
The ControlCom Connect platform had been initially deployed at the hospital for operational purposes, but its automated utility bill verification capabilities unexpectedly became invaluable when the system identified a significant billing discrepancy that would have otherwise gone unnoticed.
What the Data Revealed
The ControlCom Connect system provided critical insights that contradicted the utility bill:
- The actual highest demand peak for the month was significantly lower than the billed amount
- The actual load factor calculated by the system was much higher than what the bill suggested
- Facility operations data showed no unusual power usage or outages that could explain such a dramatic demand spike
- The system captured a precise timeline of normal power transfers, providing a complete picture of power consumption
With this detailed information in hand, the facility team could confidently approach their utility provider to challenge the erroneous charges.
The Investigation: Finding the Root Cause
The data from ControlCom Connect proved invaluable during the investigation process. The monitoring system had recorded a detailed timeline of a routine power transfer:
- One utility feed carried the facility load for a short period
- Both utilities briefly operated in parallel during the transfer
- The second utility feeder then took over the load for the remainder of the day
When presented with this evidence, the utility company conducted their own investigation and discovered the source of the error: one of their meters had become desynchronized. When the facility performed the routine power transfer, this timing discrepancy caused the system to incorrectly totalize the load, artificially inflating the demand reading.
The Resolution: Data-Driven Results
Based on the evidence provided by the ControlCom Connect system, the utility company took several corrective actions:
- The billing was adjusted to reflect the correct demand charges
- They updated the firmware on meters at the facility to prevent similar issues
- The problematic meter was placed on a monitoring list for additional verification
Most importantly, the facility was credited the errors and avoided paying over $160,000 in erroneous charges that would have continued had the error gone undetected.
The Financial Impact: Significant Savings
The identification and correction of this single billing error resulted in substantial savings for the healthcare facility:
- Immediate savings on the incorrect charges
- Additional savings on subsequent bills
- Projected annual savings of over $160,000 by preventing the error from continuing
These savings represent funds that could be redirected toward patient care initiatives, facility improvements, or other critical healthcare priorities rather than being lost to billing errors.
Beyond Bill Verification: The Broader Value of Energy Monitoring
While this case study highlights the value of bill verification, advanced monitoring systems like ControlCom Connect offer healthcare facilities numerous additional benefits:
1. Critical Systems Reliability
For healthcare facilities, power reliability is directly tied to patient safety. Advanced monitoring provides:
- Real-time alerts for potential power quality issues
- Documentation of transfer switch operations
- Historical performance data for critical systems
2. Regulatory Compliance
Healthcare facilities face stringent regulatory requirements from various organizations:
- Automated reporting of generator testing and performance
- Environmental reporting for backup generators
- Historical data for audit responses
3. Energy Optimization
Beyond billing verification, monitoring systems help identify opportunities for operational improvements:
- Load profile analysis to identify energy waste
- Peak demand management to reduce demand charges
- Equipment performance benchmarking
- ROI analysis for potential energy conservation measures
Implementation Considerations for Healthcare Facilities
For healthcare administrators considering implementing advanced energy monitoring, several factors should be considered:
- Integration with existing building management systems
- Non-intrusive installation to avoid disruption to patient care
- Cybersecurity measures to protect sensitive facility infrastructure
- Scalability to accommodate facility expansions
- Training for facility staff on system utilization
Modern monitoring systems like ControlCom Connect are designed with these considerations in mind, offering flexible deployment options that minimize disruption while maximizing value.
Conclusion: Data-Driven Facility Management
This case demonstrates the power of data-driven facility management. By implementing monitoring, healthcare facilities can avoid unnecessary costs while gaining valuable insights into their operations.
In an environment where healthcare administrators are constantly challenged to do more with less, modern monitoring technologies provide a crucial tool for protecting budgets, ensuring reliability, and optimizing operations.
The significant savings realized from a single billing correction represents just one example of the potential return on investment from these systems. For healthcare facilities looking to optimize their operations while ensuring the highest levels of reliability, advanced monitoring systems have become not just a luxury but a necessity.