When you sit down to pay your bills, do you ever question those little "fees" that sometimes suddenly appear without explanation? It seems the computer age has made it more essential that we read billing statements item by item because there’s always the possibility that "accidental computer error" that results in erroneous charges creeping in. It happens all too frequently: the invoice has a "fee" you’ve never seen before, with absolutely no explanation for what it is. The kinds of businesses I’ve questioned recently about ‘extra fees’ which never appeared before, are those ‘full-service’ banks, mortgage loan institutions, electricity and water/waste water utility providers, cell phone companies, credit card companies and cable TV companies.

What got me thinking about this was a recent article in the newspaper by Rhonda Abrams, author of The Owner’s Manual for Small Business. Ms Abrams was lamenting the little "nickel-and-dime" expenses that consultants sometimes add to their billing statements for such things as long-distance phone calls and half-a-buck-per-page for copying documents when their "fee for services" are already more than $150 per hour! Reading Ms. Abrams’ lament hit a nerve, probably because I had just opened my phone bill and saw several "fees" of a buck or two added in with no explanation for what they were for or why they suddenly showed up.

Of course, we all have become accustomed to these "added fees" when we purchase a new car—— the price you agree upon is always a ‘base-cost’ with the added fees for ‘options’ like license, dealer admin fees and destination fees; etc., etc., pumping your total outlay up several hundred dollars ‘out the door.’ But we feel better about those because we negotiated a good deal when we purchased the car…right? So, we accept the ‘extra fees’ and drive the car home with a smile.

But, what Ms Abrams is talking about are those little "ticky-tacky" fees that drive us all crazy. In her column, she opined that when you pay a consultant several thousand bucks to do a job, it’s really annoying to see an itemized bill that includes extra charges for phone calls they made to your office. What would be better, she said, especially for customer "service" purposes, would be to list those itemized expenses (to show they occurred) but to make special note they are each "complimentary" or "no charge"—just think how that would show the customer how valued their business is.

So how does all that relate to sustainability, you ask? Well, let’s think about it this way: if we can publicize how much an individual, or a company benefits by spending a little more initially for some sustainable features when we construct or remodel a facility, it will be like getting something for free, after the payback period elapses. For instance, there’s no charge for retrofitting a passive solar hot water system, (after a year or two of electricity savings) in most residential and factory applications. Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to bill that "service" out to yourself or to your employer by boldly adding, "No Charge" to the utility bill for hot water for the next ten years? Your company management and stockholders alike, need to know just how lucky they are to have you saving them money, as well as helping the company benefit the environment.

Or, if landscaping with low water plants which also act as shade for people-spaces around a building or campus parking lot which, in turn, allows for a reduction in water use and heat-island-effects too, shouldn’t we have a line item in the monthly utility bill that says, "complimentary" for positive environmental effect?

The thing is, if we don’t highlight these "fees" for amenities we are providing for free, people we are trying to entice to think more sustainably about their daily lives won’t ever get the message. They will, instead, always see the ticky-tacky "fee" item as an additional "cost" that comes out of their pocket. What that means is, it’s likely that we will never accomplish our goal of inculcating sustainability into today’s generation in order to make a brighter future for our children’s, children’s, children.