The baseline every bill is measured from
We build a signed, weather-normalized baseline from 24 months of data.
- Length
- 4 to 6 weeks
- Price, indicative
- From $4,800 for up to 25 sites
Every comparison needs a fixed point. Peg Baseline is phase one of the Peg Method: 24 months of bills and interval data, each meter tied to a site, weather removed, result agreed in writing.
Four to six weeks to sign-off
- Week 1
Pull 24 months
Bills and interval data for every meter, from utility portals under a letter of authorization.
- Week 2
Map meters to sites
Each meter tied to a site, building and cost center; orphan and shared meters listed.
- Week 3
Normalize for weather
Each site’s use modeled against heating and cooling degree days from the nearest weather station.
- Week 4
Draft and review
The draft baseline by site, walked through on a 60-minute call with facilities and finance.
- Weeks 5 to 6
Sign and hand over
The baseline memo signed by both sides, and a Portfolio Manager account set up in your name.
What lands on your desk
- Who it is for
- Up to 25 sites, any mix of utilities
- Format
- Remote build, a 60-minute review call and a signed baseline memo
- A signed baseline memo: expected monthly use and cost by site, with the method written out
- A meter-to-site map listing every meter, account number, site and cost center
- Weather-normalization results per site, with the degree-day source and model fit shown
- A Portfolio Manager account in your name, with properties, meters and 24 months of data loaded
- A list of gaps found along the way, such as estimated reads or meters no one could place
Where this program fits
A fit when
- Your sites differ in size, climate or hours and get compared anyway
- You plan to start Bill Desk or Interval Watch and want both measured from one point
- A budget or emissions target needs a base year someone can defend
- Most of your sites have at least 24 months of bills
Not a fit when
- Most of your sites opened in the last year; the history is too short to normalize
- You need an engineering audit of equipment; we refer those to licensed engineers
Example: a charter school network with 12 campuses
A charter school network runs 12 campuses in Denver and Aurora, from a 30,000-square-foot high school to two leased elementary buildings, on 40 meters. The baseline maps every meter, finds a gym meter billed to the wrong campus, and normalizes for degree days, modeling summer separately because the schools close. The memo is signed in week five.
Questions about Peg Baseline
Why 24 months and not 12?
One year gives you one winter and one summer, so a single odd month can bend the model. Two years show whether a pattern repeats. With 24 months, the weather normalization rests on two of each season, and a one-off, such as a broken boiler, stands out instead of setting the baseline.
What does weather-normalized mean here?
We model each site’s use against heating and cooling degree days, a standard measure of how cold or hot a period was against a base temperature. That separates weather from everything else, so a cold February reads as a cold February, not as drift.
How does the credit against Bill Desk work?
If you start Bill Desk, the $4,800 Peg Baseline fee is credited against your Bill Desk fees in the first 12 months. At the $450 monthly minimum, a first year of Bill Desk comes to $5,400, so the full credit applies even to the smallest portfolio.
Who owns the baseline and the data?
You do. The Portfolio Manager account is set up in your name, with us added as a shared user you can remove at any time. The memo, the meter-to-site map and the workbook are yours to keep and to use with any other firm.
What if a site opens or closes after sign-off?
Then the baseline changes, but only with a written reason. We add or remove the site, record the date and the cause in an addendum to the memo, and both sides sign it. Nothing in the baseline changes quietly.
Start with three bills
A 30-minute call, or three recent bills, tells us whether Peg Baseline fits your sites.