If you’re a commercial tenant in the U.S., your biggest cost risk in 2025 might not be rent it could be your utilities.
Energy prices are climbing. Billing methods are getting more complex. And without a detailed utility audit, you could be paying thousands more than you should every year.
What’s Changed in 2025
The utility landscape is shifting fast:
- Demand is soaring — from electric vehicle charging stations to AI-powered data centers.
- Costs are rising — grid upgrades, renewable integration, and extreme weather recovery are pushing rates up.
- Regulations are tighter — energy benchmarking, building performance standards, and ASC 842 lease accounting all require precise expense tracking.
When costs are this volatile, even a 2% error in allocation or billing can have a major impact on your bottom line.
Why Pass-Throughs Are Risky
Most commercial leases pass utilities through from landlord to tenant. That means you’re trusting your landlord’s calculations and their meters to be 100% accurate.
Common overcharge causes:
- Incorrect occupancy or pro-rata share percentages
- Charges for non-reimbursable capital improvements
- Double billing across CAM and utility lines
- Errors in utility invoice interpretation
One recent audit we reviewed uncovered HVAC overtime billed twice for years, costing the tenant tens of thousands of dollars.
The Case for Regular Utility Audits
Here’s why smart tenants now make utility audits part of their annual lease management plan:
- Cost Recovery – Identify and correct overcharges quickly.
- Stronger Negotiation Leverage – Use audit findings to cap future costs.
- Compliance Confidence – Meet ASC 842, ESG, and local reporting requirements with accurate data.
- Portfolio Insights – Spot systemic billing issues across multiple sites.
How Mohr Partners Can Help
At Mohr Partners, we specialize in finding and fixing utility overcharges before they drain your budget. Our approach includes:
- Lease Clause Analysis – We interpret expense and utility language to know exactly what you should and shouldn’t pay.
- Invoice & Backup Review – We dig into the actual source documents, not just landlord summaries.
- Cross-Location Comparison – We benchmark costs across your portfolio to catch patterns and anomalies.
- Direct Resolution – We negotiate with landlords to secure credits or refunds.
- Ongoing Protection – We build utility audits into your CAM reconciliation process, so savings continue year after year.
In recent projects, we’ve helped clients recover anywhere from $5,000 to $150,000 in utility-related savings often on charges they didn’t even know were wrong.
In 2025, utility audits aren’t about catching one-off mistakes, they’re about creating a consistent, proactive process that keeps you from overpaying in the first place.
If you want to recover hidden savings and protect your operating costs, now’s the time to make utility audits part of your lease strategy.
