Ian from Riverside. First laundromat engagement and finding more complexity than expected. The equipment load is mostly washing machines and dryers — straightforward enough. But this laundromat also has a commercial laundry side where they take in linen service contracts for hotels. The commercial laundry accounts for about 35 percent of the load. Does the commercial laundry use change the rate class eligibility?
Rate class for a laundromat — simple on the surface, complex underneath
Jeff from Wichita Falls. It can. Some tariffs distinguish between coin-op laundromats and commercial laundry operations. The coin-op rate may have different eligibility criteria than a commercial laundry rate. You need to check whether a single account can cover both uses or whether they should be separate.
Jeff, the commercial linen operation runs Monday through Friday on a day shift while the coin-op is evenings and weekends. Would that schedule difference factor into a TOU analysis as well?
Jeff again. Absolutely. The complementary scheduling of those two loads is actually a TOU opportunity — the coin-op heavy load moves to nights and weekends while commercial laundry runs during regular business hours. Depending on how the utility prices peak versus off-peak the blended rate could be very favorable.
Marc from Bakersfield. Also check if the commercial linen side qualifies as a laundry or textile services operation under any industrial or processing rate. 35 percent of load is significant enough to argue the account is not a pure retail laundromat.
Marc I had not framed it that way. The commercial side generates more revenue per load even though it is less total volume. Might be a reasonable argument for a mixed commercial classification.