On a tariff with a demand charge, part of the bill has nothing to do with how much energy the facility used that month. It is set by the busiest 15 minutes, and that moment is often a few minutes of equipment starting together. We find the interval, name what caused it and show what it costs.
Three rooftop units start inside the same 15 minutes. Staggering them removes the interval that set the charge.
A commercial electricity bill often carries two charges that respond to different things, and most of the effort a facility puts into saving energy only touches one of them.
A shape, and it describes no particular facility. Interval length, time-of-use windows and ratchets vary by utility and by tariff.
The energy charge bills the kilowatt-hours used across the month, which is the area under the curve. The demand charge bills the highest average demand in any single 15-minute interval of the billing period, whatever the rest of the month looked like.
Switching equipment off overnight lowers the energy charge. It leaves the demand charge where it was if the morning still begins with everything starting at once.
Some tariffs go further and carry a high peak into later months through a ratchet. The determination reads the terms of your own tariff before it prices anything.
A peak is seldom the facility working at its hardest. More often it is a short overlap that nobody scheduled.
Cooling, ventilation, kitchen equipment and lighting come on as the doors open. Each start is ordinary, and together, inside the same 15 minutes, they can set the month.
Loads that run at different times on most days occasionally line up: a defrost cycle during a heat wave, or a production run during cleaning. One such day is enough to set the charge for the whole billing period.
A large motor tested, a chiller restarted after an outage, or a contractor running equipment for an afternoon. One interval is enough, and under a ratchet it can follow the facility for months.
Chargers are the load most facilities are adding now, and when they draw matters as much as how much they draw.
The same charging energy in both panels. A shape, and it describes no particular facility or charger.
Cars that plug in as staff arrive begin charging during the morning start-up, and that charging adds directly to the interval that already sets the charge.
The same energy delivered overnight, or held under a set level by the charging equipment, can leave the peak where it is. The determination overlays both profiles on your own recorded year and states the new peak and its cost under each.
We read 12 months of your utility's interval data and find the interval that set each month's charge.
We place the peak in its day and its week, so it is clear when it lands and how often it returns.
We split the peak by circuit, from the panel record, and read a circuit directly wherever it was measured.
We price the charge on your own tariff, as it is today and with the load you are adding.
The interval that set each month's charge, with its date and time.
From 12 months of interval dataThe loads running in that interval, named from the panel record.
Engineer-reviewed, not sealedThe charge on your tariff today, and with the load you are planning.
EV overlay where load is comingPeak Determination is an add-on to a Capacity Report, and it reads 12 months of utility interval data. There is no metered path for it, because a month of logging cannot show which month of the year sets the highest charge.
It is engineer-reviewed and not signed, because it explains a bill rather than calculating capacity for new load.
