Zach from Mobile. How do you judge whether a manufacturing client's demand charges are elevated before you have the full billing data? Is there a benchmark or ratio I should know for prospecting conversations?
What demand benchmarks tell you before you see the bills
Walt from Pittsburgh. I look at the demand-to-consumption ratio. Divide monthly peak demand in kW by total consumption in kWh. For a manufacturer running two shifts a ratio above 0.003 often indicates demand charges are disproportionately high.
Mike D. I use a simpler screen: what percentage of the total bill is demand versus energy? For a typical manufacturer on a standard rate I expect demand to be 35 to 45 percent. Much above 45 percent suggests a ratchet issue or rate class problem.
Terry. Load factor is another useful metric. Divide average demand by peak demand. Above 70 percent means the client is using capacity consistently. Below 50 percent suggests significant spike behavior.
These metrics are exactly what I needed. I can calculate them from the utility bill without needing interval data before the LOA is signed.