Service
Tax and Fee Recovery
Sales tax, franchise fees, and regulatory surcharges, audited for refunds.
At a glance
- Manufacturing exemption recovery
- $15K to $250K+
- Franchise fee recovery cycle
- 90 to 180 days
- Statute of limitations
- typically 36 to 48 months
Utility bills carry sales tax, franchise fee surcharges, gross receipts tax pass-throughs, and a long list of regulatory adjustments. Each of these has eligibility rules, exemption pathways, and refund mechanisms that are rarely surfaced by the utility itself. We map your operations against every available exemption, document the refund pathway, and recover prior overpayments where statutes of limitation allow.
- Identifies sales tax exemption eligibility for industrial and manufacturing usage
- Audits franchise fee calculations against municipality-published rates
- Recovers prior overpayments within the relevant statute of limitations
- Tracks regulatory rulings that retroactively reduce surcharge obligations
What we find
The specific patterns this discipline catches
- 01
Sales tax exemption gaps for manufacturing, agricultural, or qualifying nonprofit usage
- 02
Franchise fee surcharge errors where the municipality rate does not match the utility calculation
- 03
Regulatory overcharges where a state PSC ruling invalidated a surcharge that was still being collected
- 04
Federal excise tax pass-throughs incorrectly applied
- 05
Gross receipts tax errors on natural gas accounts
How this engagement runs
From first bill to documented savings
We catalog every tax and fee line on every account. We map each against the eligibility rules in your jurisdictions and your specific operational use. We file exemption certificates where eligibility is current, and recovery claims where prior overpayments occurred. For ongoing accounts, we install a continuous monitoring process that catches any new tax or fee that gets applied incorrectly going forward.
In depth
Common questions, answered
What kinds of operations qualify for utility sales tax exemption?
Eligibility varies sharply by state, but the most common qualifying categories across our service territory are manufacturing, processing, and refining operations consuming energy in the production of tangible goods; qualifying agricultural and aquacultural operations; and qualifying nonprofits and government entities. Maryland exempts electricity used predominantly in manufacturing under specific tests. The District of Columbia exempts certain government and qualifying nonprofit categories. Delaware, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey each have distinct manufacturing exemption frameworks. Eligibility is not automatic; the customer must file an exemption certificate, sometimes accompanied by a use study quantifying the qualifying load percentage. We handle both the eligibility analysis and the filing.
What is a franchise fee and why does it appear on my utility bill?
A franchise fee is a surcharge a utility collects on behalf of the municipality in exchange for the right to use public rights-of-way for distribution infrastructure. Rates vary by jurisdiction, typically one to five percent of the energy charge, sometimes the delivery charge. The fee is straightforward in principle and frequently wrong in practice. The utility calculates the fee based on data it pulls from billing tables that do not always match the municipality's published rates, particularly after rate ordinance changes. The result is a quiet, persistent overcharge on every bill in the affected territory. Audits surface these errors at a rate that is much higher than utilities admit.
What is a regulatory overcharge?
A regulatory overcharge occurs when a utility continues to collect a surcharge or rider after the state Public Service Commission has ruled the charge invalid, capped it at a lower amount, or terminated it. The lag between the ruling and the utility billing system update is sometimes thirty days, sometimes six months. Customers continue to pay the original amount until either the utility catches up or someone notices. The PSC orders are public, and the corresponding bill corrections are recoverable. We track every active proceeding, flag any orders that affect customer charges, and file recovery claims when the utility lags on the implementation.
Related services
Often deployed alongside
Send us a bill. We will tell you what we see.
Fifteen minutes with one of your invoices is usually enough to see whether there is meaningful savings on the table.