Bill Verification: Why Protecting Your Finances is Crucial
Bill Verification is crucial for ZA businesses. Use the Augos platform to compare measured data against your supplier's billing, checking line-by-line for overbilling and mitigating 36-month underbilling risks.
The Challenge: Tariff Complexity & Billing Errors
Given the high cost and complexity of tariffs in South Africa, billing errors are common. Multiple issues contribute to incorrect billing: estimated usage instead of actual readings, repetitive billing of the same amount regardless of consumption, and faulty council meters that over or under-measure usage.
A critical, yet often overlooked, financial risk is underbilling. If a council or utility provider discovers they have been charging you too little (due to a faulty meter or administrative error), they have the legal right to claim back up to 36 months of unpaid amounts retroactively.
The Augos Solution: Automated Bill Verification
The Augos Bill Verification feature is a standard safeguard on our platform that provides clarity and control. You assign your supplier's billing tariff to your profile. The system then automatically compares our measured data (which reflects your actual usage) against your power supplier's invoice.
The check is granular, allowing you to quickly spot overbilling on both Service Charges (fixed fees) and Consumptive Charges (kWh/kVA), providing the verifiable evidence needed to dispute inaccuracies. By consistently identifying discrepancies, you're prepared for the 36-month underbilling risk, allowing you to address the issue proactively before a massive, unbudgeted invoice arrives.
The Result: Financial Protection & Peace of Mind
Regularly checking your bills helps protect you from overpaying, but it is equally important to identify underbilling. Augos' Bill Verification provides the necessary defense against both risks.
Our tool has helped customers reclaim thousands, even millions, in overbilled charges. If a dispute arises, we provide the verifiable data needed to guide you through the resolution process, including access to our Billing Dispute Support service.
Key Takeaways
Given tariff complexity in SA, bill verification is essential financial protection for every business
Granular line-by-line comparison catches errors in both service charges and consumptive charges
Councils can retroactively claim underbilled amounts for up to 36 months—proactive verification is critical
Verifiable measured data provides the evidence needed to successfully challenge billing errors