KeyCity Capital Transforms Utility Billing with Zego And AppFolio
About KeyCity Capital
KeyCity Capital is a real estate investment firm in Texas that recently launched its own property management division, Paramount Property Services. They appointed Melissa Watkins as Vice President of Operations, and one of her initial goals was to investigate utility costs and reduce expenses. After learning about Zego’s new utility partnership with AppFolio, she wasted no time in getting started.
- Portfolio: 3,000 multifamily units across 25 properties
- Location: Texas, Tennessee, Alabama
- Zego Products: Zego Utility and Resident Billing
- Accounting Software: AppFolio
Key highlights
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Fast and easy transition
Zego provided a fast and easy transition for Paramount’s utility billing operations.
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Uncover multiple issues
Paramount was able to uncover multiple issues unseen by their previous providers.
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Accurate billing
Monthly billing cycles now accurately bill residents without dispute, and expenses are fully recovered.
The challenge
KeyCity struggled with utilities, and facing pressure from lenders, Melissa knew cutting these costs would be critical to Paramount's success. When Paramount moved to AppFolio, Melissa learned of the integrated partnership with Zego for Resident Utility Billing.
Having used other utility billing providers, and experienced the resulting issues first-hand, she did not want to start Paramount out on the same path, with:
- Backlogs of resident disputes over billing accuracy and legal compliance.
- Residents not being added to or removed from monthly billing cycles.
- A lack of visibility into utility invoices, or how residents were being billed.
The solution
Paramount Property Services began billing residents for utility expenses through Zego, and Melissa immediately saw a turnaround in utility operations and expense recovery.
As an AppFolio Stack App Partner, Zego's billing data works seamlessly with AppFolio workflows, and gives Melissa and her teams complete visibility into utility expenses and resident billing data. Easy-to-use dashboards, reports, and audits help Paramount see all operational red flags before they impact NOI.
With Zego’s automated prebill alerts, properties can easily identify and fix errors and missing bills, with enough time before monthly reconciliation. And the Automated Move-Out Calculator accurately applies final bills to resident move-out statements.
Results
Zego quickly onboarded each property with the correct providers and rates, and was able to uncover additional errors unseen by previous billing providers. This resulted in instant savings for Paramount and KeyCity.
“Zego uncovered residents not making payments months after move-in, residents being undercharged on their final monthly bill, and even 32 water leaks. That’s real money saved.”
Since implementing Zego Utility, Paramount has improved billing accuracy, uncovered costly inefficiencies, and maximized expense recovery without adding any friction for staff or residents.
For KeyCity Capital and Paramount Property Services, monthly billing cycles are a problem of the past, and there is no longer a general stress around utilities.
“I’ve used five utility platforms in 28 years. Zego is the only one that delivers exactly what they promise.”
Chat with a Zego Expert
Interested in how Zego Utility could help your team improve billing accuracy, uncover leaks and simplify operations? Book time with a member of our Zego team today to learn how Zego Utility's collection of tools maximizes recoupment.
