Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Utility Steward

🎯 Role Definition

The Utility Steward is a hands-on utilities management professional responsible for end-to-end stewardship of a portfolio's energy, water, steam, chilled water and gas assets and accounts. This role leads utility metering, bill validation, vendor and utility company relationships, conservation programs, regulatory compliance, and initiatives to optimize consumption and reduce spend. The ideal candidate blends utility operations experience with strong data literacy, contract/financial acumen, and stakeholder engagement skills to deliver measurable cost and sustainability outcomes.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

Facilities Technician / Facilities Coordinator with utilities experience
Energy Analyst or Sustainability Coordinator
Building Engineer or Mechanical Technician

Advancement To:

Utilities Manager / Utilities Program Manager
Facilities Operations Manager / Director of Facilities
Energy & Sustainability Manager / Director

Lateral Moves:

Energy Analyst / Demand Management Specialist
Asset & Maintenance Planner or PMO for Facilities
Commercial/Utility Billing Specialist

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

Lead the end-to-end management of all utility accounts (electricity, water, gas, steam, chilled water), including onboarding, account consolidation, rate class optimization, and transfer of service to minimize interruptions and ensure accurate service continuity.
Oversee utility metering programs: specify, procure, install, commission and maintain meters, submeters, interval loggers, and associated telemetry (AMR/AMI), ensuring accurate measurement for billing and analytics.
Conduct detailed monthly utility bill validation and reconciliation across the portfolio, identifying billing errors, demand/consumption anomalies, and incorrect tariff applications, and recover overcharges through formal dispute processes.
Develop and maintain a robust utility data management process: ingest interval and billing data, normalize datasets, validate integrity, and integrate with CAFM/CMMS, BMS, or analytics platforms for reporting and optimization.
Lead utility rate and tariff analyses to identify cost-saving opportunities, recommend rate class changes, schedule optimization, and demand charge management strategies aligned to operational constraints.
Create, implement, and track energy and water conservation projects (LED retrofits, economizer tuning, HVAC sequencing, leak detection, water fixtures replacement), manage capital/expense sourcing, and measure verified savings and payback.
Manage relationships with local utilities, municipal authorities, energy service companies (ESCOs), and third-party vendors to negotiate favorable tariffs, incentives, interconnection agreements, and service-level agreements.
Maintain regulatory and compliance oversight for utility-related permitting, reporting, and local/state energy and water regulations, ensuring documentation for audits and incentive claims.
Design and run utility-focused monitoring and analytics programs (base-lining, regression models, M&V plans) to diagnose inefficiencies, inform capital prioritization, and quantify operational improvements.
Administer utility procurement activities, including forecasting consumption, soliciting supply contracts or tariff reviews, partnering with procurement/legal to negotiate supplier terms, and managing contract renewals.
Champion a portfolio-level utility budgeting and forecasting cadence, providing monthly variance analysis, forecasting cash flows related to utility spend, and steering executives on risk mitigation strategies for price volatility.
Implement and manage utility account chargebacks and cost allocation methodologies (per sq ft, tenant metering, submeter settlement) in multi-tenant environments to ensure fair recovery and transparency.
Coordinate and manage utility-related projects with internal stakeholders (operations, finance, real estate, engineering) and external contractors to ensure on-time delivery, adherence to specifications, and budget control.
Develop and maintain utility asset registers including meters, valves, pumps, and critical infrastructure; schedule preventative maintenance and lead lifecycle replacement planning informed by condition assessments.
Lead incident response for utility outages, billing crises, or compliance incidents: triage impacts, coordinate with utilities/contractors, and produce after-action reports with corrective action plans.
Deliver regular executive and operational reporting (KPIs such as consumption intensity, cost per sf, demand peaks, anomaly alerts), presenting actionable recommendations to reduce consumption and costs.
Manage incentive and rebate programs from utilities and government bodies: prepare applications, collect substantiating documentation, and ensure delivery of expected funding or credits.
Implement tenant engagement and education programs to drive behavior-based savings, including dashboards, newsletters, signage, and incentive alignment for energy and water reduction.
Lead the selection, procurement, implementation, and governance of utility data platforms (meter data management systems, analytics tools) and integrations to streamline workflows and enhance decision making.
Coordinate demand response and load shedding programs, enrolling facilities where appropriate, negotiating participation contracts, and ensuring operational readiness to realize incentive payments without jeopardizing operations.
Maintain strong controls and documentation for utility-related financial processes, including audit trails for bill adjustments, vendor invoices, and reimbursements to ensure accounting accuracy and compliance.
Drive continuous improvement by implementing standard operating procedures, playbooks, and training for facilities teams on utility operations, metering best practices, and billing dispute resolution.
Conduct periodic site assessments and technical reviews (thermal imaging, power quality studies, water audits) to identify latent issues and prioritize corrective capital projects.
Serve as the primary contact for sustainability and ESG reporting related to utilities, providing verified consumption and emissions data for corporate disclosures, green building certifications, and investor reporting.

Secondary Functions

Support ad-hoc operational investigations and root cause analyses for facility performance issues tied to utilities.
Collaborate with the sustainability team to translate reduction targets into operational plans and measure progress toward corporate carbon and water goals.
Assist in vendor performance evaluations and continuous improvement programs, including SLA definition and KPI monitoring.
Provide mentorship and training to junior facilities or energy team members on metering, billing validation, and data analysis workflows.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

Metering systems & AMI/AMR: practical experience specifying, commissioning, and troubleshooting utility meters, submeters, and telemetry equipment.
Utility bill auditing & validation: advanced competency in detecting billing anomalies, tariff misapplications, demand charge errors, and executing dispute processes.
Energy/water analytics & M&V: ability to build baselines, calculate savings (IPMVP/ASHRAE methods), and use interval data for regression and anomaly detection.
Building management systems (BMS) and SCADA familiarity: integration with metering data and control strategies to support optimization.
CMMS/CAFMs and EAM tools: experience with work order systems and asset management for scheduling maintenance and tracking meter assets.
Data tools & reporting: strong Excel (including pivot tables, VBA/macros), SQL, and experience with analytics platforms (e.g., Tableau, Power BI) or specialized utility analytics software.
Rate/tariff analysis and utility procurement: competency analyzing tariffs, forecasting costs, and supporting supply contracting processes.
Project management: deliver capital and retrofit projects on schedule and within budget, including vendor oversight and commissioning.
Regulatory & compliance knowledge: utility regulation, incentives, rebate programs, and permitting related to energy/water infrastructure.
Financial acumen: budget forecasting, variance analysis, cost recovery models, and understanding of utility chargebacks and landlord/tenant billing.
Meter data management systems (MDMS) and integrations: practical experience with MDMS or similar platforms for large interval datasets.
Leak detection and water system diagnostics: capability to identify, prioritize, and remediate water inefficiencies.

Soft Skills

Strong stakeholder management and communication skills; able to translate technical findings into business impact for executives and non-technical partners.
Analytical problem solving combined with attention to detail and data-driven decision making.
Negotiation skills for working with utilities, vendors and contractors to achieve favorable service and pricing outcomes.
Proactive, self-directed ownership with the ability to coordinate cross-functional teams and multiple concurrent projects.
Change management and training ability to influence operational practices across sites.
Resilience and crisis management skills to lead through outages or billing escalations.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

Associate degree or technical diploma in Facilities Management, Mechanical Engineering Technology, Energy Management, or related field.

Preferred Education:

Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Energy Engineering, Facilities Management, Environmental Science, or a closely related discipline.
Professional certification preferred: Certified Energy Manager (CEM), Certified Facility Manager (CFM), or equivalent utility/energy credentials.

Relevant Fields of Study:

Mechanical or Electrical Engineering
Energy Management / Sustainable Energy
Facilities Management or Building Systems Technology

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range: 3–7 years of progressive experience in utilities management, facilities operations, or energy program delivery; can vary with portfolio size and complexity.

Preferred:

5+ years in a dedicated utilities, energy management, or large-scale facilities role with documented achievements in bill recovery, conservation projects, metering programs, or utility procurement.
Demonstrated experience working with multi-site portfolios, multi-tenant billing, and implementing utility analytics platforms.