The answer is in the tariff
We read the tariff book against 12 months of your load.
A 2017 NREL analysis found demand charges “can account for anywhere from 30% to 70% of a customer’s electricity bill.” The rules behind them are public. We read them against your load.
One peak can price a year
A demand charge usually rests on the single highest 15-minute interval in the billing period, and a ratchet can carry that peak into later months. Add a power factor adjustment, riders that change with each filing and time-of-use windows, and the bill is math nobody on staff has checked. The tariff explains every line; few teams have time to read it.
What the tariff shows you
Right schedule per account
Each account rerun on every schedule it qualifies for, using last year’s load.
Peaks traced to intervals
The date and 15-minute interval behind each month’s billed demand, site by site.
Ratchet exposure shown
Which accounts carry an old peak forward, and the month it stops counting.
Rate changes budgeted
Proposed rate case changes modeled on your load before finance sets next year’s budget.
Three ways into the tariff
Rate Fit Review
Every account’s bills rerun on each schedule it qualifies for, with the workbook and switch requests drafted.
Demand Charge Plan
A year of billed peaks traced to their hours and loads, with operating changes ranked for testing.
Rate case memo
When your utility files a rate case, two pages on what the proposed changes would do to your budget.
What we read in the tariff
Schedule eligibility
Demand thresholds, minimum terms and meter requirements for every schedule an account could use.
Demand and ratchets
Billed kW against metered kW each month, and any ratchet carrying an old peak forward.
Power factor terms
Whether a low power factor adjustment applies, and which meters it has hit in 12 months.
Riders line by line
Each rider on the bill checked against the amount currently on file, not last year’s.
Time-of-use windows
On-peak hours and seasons from the schedule, matched to the hours each site actually runs.
Rate case watch
Filings at the Colorado Public Utilities Commission or a city utility’s board, modeled on your load.
Example: a 14-warehouse building supply distributor
A building supply distributor runs 14 warehouses on Xcel Energy and Black Hills Energy. The Rate Fit Review finds two warehouses on schedules that no longer fit their load. At a third, one August afternoon with every forklift charger and rooftop unit running at once set a peak a ratchet carries forward. The Demand Charge Plan staggers charging overnight.
Indicative price
Indicative, from$1,900
For a Rate Fit Review of up to 20 accounts; a Demand Charge Plan is from $3,200 per site. Every proposal is fixed-fee and itemized.
Tariff questions, answered
Which version of the tariff do you use?
The one in force on the day we start, pulled from the utility’s filed tariff book. Tariffs change by filing, so every page of our workbook carries the effective date of the schedule it used, and we rerun the math if a change takes effect before the readout.
What is a demand ratchet?
A ratchet is a tariff rule that keeps a high peak on the bill after the month it happened. Under a ratchet, billed demand can be set by a share of the highest peak over a run of past months, even when this month’s peak is lower. Terms vary by schedule, so we read yours.
Can you lower our demand charges?
We can show what sets them and what would change them; we cannot promise the result. The Demand Charge Plan traces each billed peak to its 15-minute interval and the loads running then, and ranks operating changes your team can test. Equipment changes go to a licensed engineer or contractor.
Why is power factor on our bill?
Because some schedules charge for it. Power factor measures how much of the current a site draws does useful work; motors and compressors pull it down. Some schedules add a charge or adjust billed demand when it falls below a set level. We show which meters it hits; correction equipment is a job for a licensed electrician or engineer.
How does a rate case affect our budget?
A rate case can change schedules, riders and charges from a set effective date, so next year’s budget may be wrong before it is approved. When your utility files, we model the proposed changes on each account’s last 12 months and send finance a short memo with the likely range.
Do you broker energy supply?
No. We read tariffs and draft rate change requests; we do not sell supply contracts or take commissions from utilities, suppliers or installers. Colorado businesses generally buy electricity from their regulated, municipal or cooperative utility, so the work is fitting the schedule and managing the peaks.
Bring us a year of bills
Tell us about your sites and we will say plainly whether tariff analysis is the right place to start.