How the Business Bill Check Works

The bill check calculates a supply-cost scenario from your entered usage, two supply rates and separate fees or credits. It does not retrieve prices, inspect an uploaded bill, verify a tariff or recommend a supplier.

Start with equivalent charge definitions

A useful comparison begins with the scope of each quoted price. Identify whether the rate includes energy alone, or additional capacity, transmission, losses, broker compensation or other components. A price that includes a cost cannot be compared directly with one that excludes the same cost. Ask for written clarification of each offer's inclusions before using the results.

Only enter a separate fee if it is outside the entered rate. For example, a monthly service charge already represented in an all-in quoted rate should not also be added in the monthly-fee field. The calculator cannot discover double counting from the numbers alone.

The calculation, line by line

A positive difference means the offered modeled supply scenario costs less. A negative difference means it costs more. The average monthly difference divides the annual difference by 12; it is not a prediction for each individual bill.

A hypothetical business example

Assume a business uses 240,000 kWh in a representative year. Its entered current supply rate is 9.0¢/kWh with a separate $20 monthly fee. The offered scenario is 7.5¢/kWh with a separate $30 monthly fee. No recurring credits are assumed.

• Current annual supply scenario: 240,000 × $0.09 + $240 = $21,840.
• Offered annual supply scenario: 240,000 × $0.075 + $360 = $18,360.
• Annual difference: $3,480, averaging $290 per month.
• If the user enters a one-time switching cost of $600, the first-year net difference is $2,880.
• Simple recovery of that switching cost takes approximately 2.1 months at the modeled average difference.

These are invented inputs for demonstrating arithmetic, not a customer result, supplier offer or statement of current market prices. Utility delivery, demand, taxes and any excluded contract components would still need separate treatment.

Usage, seasonality and gas units

A single winter or summer bill may be a poor annual baseline. The optional 12-month field replaces the average-month assumption with the sum of your twelve values. Use usage quantities from one consistent period and account scope, rather than billed dollar totals. A partial year should not be entered as if it were a complete year.

Electricity uses kWh, with prices in cents per kWh. Gas supply prices are always entered in dollars per therm. Gas usage may be entered in therms, CCF, or MMBtu/dekatherms. One MMBtu is ten therms. CCF is a volume unit, so the conversion requires the actual therms-per-CCF heat-content factor from your bill. No national-average factor is silently applied. The EIA explains why gas heat content varies.

Fees, credits and contract periods

The credit fields accept a positive credit amount and subtract it from the relevant scenario. Use them only for an unconditional credit received in every modeled month. A credit triggered by a usage threshold, minimum spend, enrollment requirement or seasonal condition is not equivalent to that input. Do not turn a one-time incentive into a recurring monthly credit.

The annual comparison holds both entered rates and recurring charges constant for twelve months. It does not model an introductory period followed by a new price, a contract expiring partway through the year, usage bands, take-or-pay terms, index settlement or variable-price forecasts. If those conditions matter, obtain a schedule of charges and review the account outside this simplified tool.

What needs a separate review

The tool does not independently compute utility distribution, billing demand, demand ratchets, time-of-use periods, power-factor adjustments, tax exemptions, capacity tags, transmission obligations, gas balancing or transportation. Some of those components may already sit inside a quoted supply rate. Their treatment must be equivalent on both sides of the comparison.

A supply-cost scenario also does not establish that an account is eligible to switch, that a proposed contract is appropriate, or that a meter or utility bill is correct. It cannot identify a mistaken meter multiplier by examining a usage number. Use the result to organize questions, not to authorize a contract.

Validation, printing and privacy

Required usage and rate values must be present and finite. A blank supply rate does not become zero. A deliberately entered zero is allowed as an arithmetic scenario and flagged. Usage must be positive overall; credits cannot create a negative modeled annual cost.

Changing an input clears the previous result until you compare again. Clear inputs resets the tool. Calculator values are not appended to review links or uploaded by the calculator. Printing uses your browser's print/save-as-PDF function without an email requirement. Your browser, device and any saved printout remain under your control.