Janice L from Augusta, GA. Georgia Power territory. Client is a large bakery with a commercial oven operation. GP replaced their meter mid-cycle and the final bill on the old meter was only 17 days. The energy charges look right — proportional to 17 days. But the demand charge is based on the peak demand during those 17 days, which happened to be 410 kW on a day when they ran all four ovens for a big catering order. Their normal monthly peak is around 340 kW with a billing demand of about 310 kW after the ratchet. So this 17-day bill has a higher demand than any normal month, and GP billed the full monthly demand rate on 410 kW for a 17-day period. That is $4,592 in demand charges for half a month.
17-day billing period after meter swap — demand charge not adjusted
Janice, short billing periods after meter changes are a frequent source of demand charge errors. The tariff should have a proration provision for periods shorter than 27-28 days. For a 17-day period, the demand charge should either be prorated (17/30 of the monthly rate) or the measured demand should be considered non-representative and the billing demand should be estimated based on prior months. Check GP General Rules Section 6 for billing period adjustments.
Found it Randy. GP General Rules say for billing periods of less than 25 days resulting from meter changes, the demand charge shall be prorated based on the ratio of actual days to 30. So the demand charge should be 17/30 times the full monthly rate. That cuts it from $4,592 to $2,602. Overcharge of $1,990 on that one bill.
Janice, also check whether the 410 kW demand from that short period carried forward into the ratchet on the new meter account. Sometimes when a meter is swapped, the billing system carries the demand history from the old meter to the new one. If that 410 kW peak is now setting the ratchet floor on the new meter, the damage extends well beyond the short billing period.
Lee, just checked. The 410 kW did carry forward to the new meter ratchet. The new meter has been billing demand at 328 kW (80% of 410) for the last 3 months even though actual demand has been 290-310 kW. So the client is paying for phantom demand on top of the short period overcharge.
That ratchet carryover is a billing system design flaw. When a meter is replaced, the demand history should reset or at minimum the prorated demand from the short period should be used for ratchet purposes, not the raw measured demand. GP is essentially penalizing the customer for a meter change they did not request.
Filed with GP citing the proration rule and the inappropriate ratchet carryover. They agreed on the proration immediately — $1,990 credit. The ratchet issue took more back and forth but they eventually agreed to reset the demand history on the new meter and recalculate the 3 months since the swap. Additional credit of $1,140 for the inflated ratchet months. Total recovery: $3,130.
Good outcome Janice. The lesson here: every meter change creates a billing discontinuity. Always pull the bills from the month before and the month after a meter swap and check for proration errors, demand carryover issues, and rate schedule continuity. Meter changes are audit goldmines.