Utility Management 

Managing a large portfolio with multiple meters can be a challenge for any managing agent. Dealing with numerous energy suppliers can be a burden and often lead to inaccurate billing which has a direct affect on Leaseholders. Fexco use a forward-thinking energy consultant that dedicates themselves solely to the block management market. Our work with our chosen provider has revolutionised the way we manage utilities across our portfolio allowing our teams to focus on the more important aspects of property management.

The Challenge

• Fexco Property Services had taken a large client with a complex utility requirement that had been mismanaged by the incumbent energy consultant due to lack of understanding of the sector.
• One of the reasons Fexco appointed consultant was due to the fact they understand the sector and the challenges we face both now and in the future because they successfully operated a Managing Agent for over 18 years and also worked and ran a successful energy business which dedicated itself to the property sector.
• They grasped the challenge allowing the property management team to focus on other aspects of the onboarding process.

Inherited Issues

• Multiple supplies on variable ‘Out of Contract’ rates also being billed at 20% VAT.
• Most landlord meters have a profile class of 03/04. These profile classes are treated as commercial supplies, the previous broker did not understand the implications resulting in many invoices being unpaid.
• Also, this impacted the service charges as the annual budgets weren’t adjusted during the energy crisis with very little support provided to the previous property manager.
• This led to various disconnection notices and late payment fees being applied to the supplies.
• For those supplies under contract, they were in the incorrect contracting entity on short payment terms resulting in every invoice having late payment fees applied and constant reminders sent to the communal areas leading to complaints from leaseholders.
• The development also inherited Solar PV which has not received an income due to the developer not registering it for the governments Feed-in Tariffs (FIT) scheme.

How did we resolve the issues

In partnership with our consultant we provided a full end-to-end solution from onboarding utility meters on the commencement of management to managing the ‘Change of Managing Agent’ process.

This included procurement to removing the burden of dealing with the energy suppliers. Fexco need Property Managers to focus on managing property rather than utility bills.

We quickly;

• Assessed the portfolio instantly with the UKs energy database pulling together all the energy data required.
• We corrected all the contracting entities through the suppliers ‘Change of Tenancy’ process.
• We also adjusted the VAT status which recovered a significant refund across the portfolio which aided in the process of paying the correct invoices.
• We only work with those suppliers that understand the niches of the sector and contracted all meters with aa supplier on extended payment terms, removal of late payment fess, corrected 5% VAT rate whilst demonstrating competitive rates with one common end date for ease of management.
• The Property Manager was then provided robust budgets based on accurate data which allowed them to communicate with ease to the RMC directors.
• We managed the transfer process and dealt with any objections swiftly. This is the process which a supplier stops the transfer whilst benefiting from the higher out of contracted rates.
• Once the meters transferred, we managed the full invoicing process which completely revolutionise the way Fexco managed utility invoices due to the fact they validated and uploaded them into our accounts platform saving us time, money and valuable resource.
• This process also avoided any issues with automated reminders from the supplier. We believe the offering from Fexco is set to become the new benchmark for the way the property management sector procures and manages energy invoices.
• Finally we worked with the Property Manager to register the solar PV panels for the Smart Export Guarantee (SEG) scheme.
• The SEG launched on 1 January 2020 and is a government-backed initiative. The multiple blocks were already benefiting from electricity generated by the Solar PV. Our client is also generating additional income for the surplus energy at 5p/kWh.