{"id":22629,"date":"2019-07-29T05:00:40","date_gmt":"2019-07-29T12:00:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/?p=22629"},"modified":"2026-02-22T15:43:02","modified_gmt":"2026-02-22T23:43:02","slug":"new-heights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/new-heights\/","title":{"rendered":"Energy Automation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dallas-based multifamily community manager Pinnacle sought to reduce utility late fees and increase vacant utility cost recoveries at 170,000 residential units that it manages.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cWe needed to automate the entire process\u2014payables, receivables, consumption data analysis and reporting that drilled down to a granular level of detail,\u201d said Nicole Ellery, the company\u2019s ancillary performance manager. Doing all this required replacing its cumbersome manual utility consumption tracking and billing with the Yardi Energy Suite.<\/p>\n

One element of the suite, Yardi Utility Expense Management, receives, validates and completes payments for Pinnacle\u2019s utility bills. Another part, Yardi Utility Billing, monitors and bills residents for their utility consumption, which helps the company recover vacant unit costs, monitor usage, forecast utility revenue and cut waste with consumption alerts.<\/p>\n

How has the Yardi Energy Suite worked out for Pinnacle? The bottom line, Ellery said on a utility expense management panel at the most recent Yardi Advanced Solutions Conference (YASC), is \u201clower late fees across the board.\u201d That happened because the comprehensive solution for utility billing, energy management and submeter data administration helps the company \u201ctrack how properties are performing with line-by-line data down to the individual meter level as opposed to only invoice data.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we onboard a new property, we can see red flags such as high consumption on a meter and follow up with an investigation,\u201d Ellery said. \u201cOur property managers and accountants can drill down to each general ledger account and invoice if anything looks off and see what\u2019s going on. We can see gradual increases in consumption and process invoices as soon as they come in.\u201d<\/p>\n

She added, \u201cWe have saved thousands of dollars every year by nearly eliminating late fees. The suite vastly simplified our vacant unit recovery process, so it maximizes income too. We\u2019d be missing a lot of information and money without automated tracking and collection.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Yardi Energy Suite also eliminated the need for Pinnacle to engage a third-party utility billing provider and having to integrate data from multiple systems. Housing all data in Yardi Voyager<\/a> creates a seamless experience, streamlines the billing process and offers complete visibility into submetered consumption data and charges on the resident ledger.<\/p>\n

The additional integration of RentCafe puts all resident payments on one platform, producing invaluable efficiencies and data integrity. Residents can make payments electronically through RentCafe, and Pinnacle can send conservation tips, provide reminders about upcoming bills and inform new residents of their responsibility for setting up their accounts.<\/p>\n

\u201cLate fees might be small at the unit level but they add up over a portfolio\u2019s worth of properties,\u201d Ellery told her YASC audience. \u201cLate fees and leaks and other equipment problems can\u2019t be out of sight, out of mind because they can get out of control very quickly. Our property managers are managing multimillion-dollar assets and shouldn\u2019t spend their time processing invoices. The Yardi Energy Suite does that with minimal effort and also helps us comply with ENERGY STAR\u00ae<\/sup> requirements. It\u2019s a product that pays for itself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Learn about Pinnacle<\/a>, one of the largest multifamily management companies in the U.S.<\/p>\n

Get details on the Yardi Energy Suite<\/a> and the next YASC<\/a> in San Diego.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dallas-based multifamily community manager Pinnacle sought to reduce utility late fees and increase vacant utility cost recoveries at 170,000 residential units that it manages. \u201cWe needed to automate the entire process\u2014payables, receivables, consumption data analysis and reporting that drilled down to a granular level of detail,\u201d said Nicole Ellery, the company\u2019s ancillary performance manager. Doing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":610,"featured_media":22630,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_s2mail":"yes","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2472,3230,4],"tags":[1848,29,555,2065,165,1675,1552,2702],"class_list":["post-22629","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-energy","category-energy-suite","category-news","tag-energy-star","tag-multifamily","tag-submetering","tag-utility-billing","tag-yardi-client","tag-yardi-energy","tag-yardi-energy-suite","tag-yardi-utility-billing"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nYardi Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Dallas-based multifamily community manager Pinnacle sought to reduce utility late fees and increase vacant utility cost recoveries at 170,000 residential\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Energy Automation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Dallas-based multifamily community manager Pinnacle sought to reduce utility late fees and increase vacant utility cost recoveries at 170,000 residential\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/new-heights\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Yardi Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-07-29T12:00:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-02-22T23:43:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2019\/07\/rsz_adobestock_194003102.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Joel Nelson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Joel Nelson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/new-heights\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/new-heights\/\",\"name\":\"Energy Automation - Yardi Corporate Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/new-heights\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/new-heights\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2019\/07\/rsz_adobestock_194003102.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-07-29T12:00:40+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-22T23:43:02+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/04eb5f3b4bd7f02475913d5982a422c8\"},\"description\":\"Dallas-based multifamily community manager Pinnacle sought to reduce utility late fees and increase vacant utility cost recoveries at 170,000 residential\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/new-heights\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/new-heights\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/new-heights\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2019\/07\/rsz_adobestock_194003102.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2019\/07\/rsz_adobestock_194003102.jpg\",\"width\":1500,\"height\":1000,\"caption\":\"Electric power meter measuring power usage with High voltage post. 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