Data centers and manufacturers are systematically overpaying on water, sewer, and power — often for years — due to billing errors that require 20+ years of specific expertise to find and fix.
A data center with $20K/month in water costs may carry $15–18K/month in sewer charges that should never have been billed — retroactively recoverable 36–48 months.
"You're not being careless. You just don't have 20 years of utility billing expertise on staff — and neither does anyone else."
Billing errors baked in at construction compound quietly — sometimes for a decade — while the money leaves every month. The industry is not designed to surface this to you.
17 Ways brings together the most experienced utility auditor in the country with power factor correction technology and ESG reporting infrastructure. Every dollar we find becomes a verified operational asset.
We start with one month of bills. Our initial analysis returns in 48 hours. We only earn if we find something.
Each step builds on the last. The refund funds the optimization. The optimization generates the verified data. The data becomes a board-ready asset.
Bob Nichols audits water, sewer, and power bills going back 36–48 months. Wrong rate classifications, unapplied credits, and sewer charges on water that evaporated are identified and retroactive claims are filed.
Once inside your utility data, we deploy power factor correction to reduce your ongoing power cost 15–30%. The recovery you just received often funds the deployment — turning a historical overpayment into a permanent improvement.
Every dollar recovered and kilowatt corrected becomes verified, documented operational data — GHG Scope 1 & 2, water stewardship, board-ready narratives. Particularly valuable for European parent companies and hyperscaler tenants with net-zero commitments.
Water and sewer charges are almost always the first place we look — and the most surprising place we find money.
Water and sewer billing for industrial facilities is far more complex than it appears — and that complexity creates systematic overcharges that have often been running, undetected, since the day the building opened.
It takes 20+ years of specialized expertise to know where to look, what to file, and how to recover what's owed. That's Bob Nichols — and it's why he's returned $110 million to clients across 19,000 audits.
For a typical data center, water and sewer recovery alone can represent $500,000–$800,000+ in a single filing, going back 36–48 months. This is usually where we start — because it's fast, it builds conviction, and it frequently funds everything that follows.
Sources: US Treasury; The UR Company (utilityrefundcompany.com)
From Fortune 500 manufacturers to regional facilities operators, our clients share one thing: utility bills that were wrong for years, and a team that fixed it.
Actual savings data from Strategic Power Solutions deployments. Client names available upon request with client permission.
| Client Type | Equipment Cost | Yearly Savings | ROI (Months) | 5-Year Savings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hospital | $222,000 | $241,300 | 11.1 | $1,206,500 |
| Sports Mall | $33,400 | $39,800 | 10.1 | $199,000 |
| Beer Distributor | $85,162 | $62,805 | 16.3 | $314,025 |
| Medical Supplies | $39,013 | $34,723 | 13.4 | $173,615 |
| Commercial Bakery | $18,700 | $19,500 | 11.5 | $97,500 |
| Machine Tool (×2) | $8,387–$14,980 | $10,600–$18,625 | 9.5–9.7 | $53K–$93K |
| Window Manufacturing | $12,630 | $10,600 | 14.3 | $53,000 |
| School System | $25,693 | $22,400 | 13.8 | $112,000 |
| YMCA | $23,878 | $15,976 | 17.3 | $79,880 |
Source: Strategic Power Solutions (spssavings.com) · Client names available upon request
The questions we get asked most — answered in plain language.
Water and sewer billing for data centers and manufacturers is far more complex than it appears — and that complexity creates systematic overcharges that often run undetected for years. Finding them requires expertise most facilities will never have in-house.
Read more →A poor power factor means your utility charges you for power you never use. Power factor correction units bring you to near-unity (99%) — cutting your power bill 15–30% with no change to operations.
Read more →Every dollar recovered from overbilling and every kilowatt corrected represents real, documentable operational improvement. Here's how to convert recovered utility costs into verified GHG Scope 1 & 2 data your board will trust.
Read more →Practical intelligence on energy, utility billing, and operational sustainability for facility operators.
US Treasury data shows $37 billion in annual utility billing errors — and 76% of commercial facilities are currently overbilled. Here's where the errors hide.
Read more →Legacy metering, pre-smart-meter billing, and original rate classifications set at construction — here's why older facilities carry the most embedded overcharges.
Read more →European parent companies and hyperscaler tenants increasingly require documented operational sustainability data. Here's how 17 Ways turns your recovery into verified GHG reporting.
Read more →We are not a software platform. We are people who have spent decades in the rooms where these decisions get made.
P&G marketing background. NYU Stern certification in Corporate Sustainability. WBENC certified. Serves on Gridiron Capital's Board of Business Executives. Based in Cincinnati, OH.
Founder of The UR Company. 20+ years of utility auditing. $110M in secured refunds. 19,000 successful audits. The engine behind the recovery practice.
Leads business development and outbound — identifying and engaging data centers and manufacturing facilities with the highest recovery potential.
Former Procter & Gamble executive. Enterprise operations and procurement expertise. Strategic perspective on large-scale industrial energy management.
One month of electric. One month of water. That's all we need to identify what's recoverable. Contingency-based — we only earn if we find something.