A recharge/service center is a unit within Northwestern which provides goods and/or services of a specialized nature to other Northwestern users on a recurring basis and charges a fee for those goods/services. Operations that are set up as recharge/service centers are designed to recover the costs of their operations primarily through charges to internal (NU) users.

The following documents (and their links) may be used as references for policy guidelines and for the administrative handling of recharge/service centers:

Recharge Center and Pass-Through Activity Guidelines
This document provides information on the budgeting/approval process for recharge centers, as well as basics on how to calculate user rates and areas of compliance. The appendices provide definitions for terms, examples of rate calculations, and a section for frequently asked questions.

Calculation of Recharge Center Rates (Step-by-Step Guidance)
The detailed steps in the process of calculating user rates are provided. In addition, there is an appendix which highlights the “unallowable” cost categories.

Recharge Centers, A to Z
A PowerPoint presentation which highlights the steps in the recharge center process and provides an example which shows how to use our standard templates.

If you wish to use our standard templates for the calculation of your recharge rates, the links (along with links for the instructions) can be found here: