I'm working on a Duke Energy North Carolina Schedule GS account and the demand charges don't add up. The tariff shows $8.91 per kW for the first 30 kW, then $6.42 for excess, but my client's bill shows a blended rate that's higher. Are there riders I'm missing? This is for a 75 kW peak customer in Charlotte. - Lisa F.
Duke Energy NC Schedule GS tariff - what am I missing on demand charges?
Lisa, check for the fuel adjustment clause and any storm recovery riders. Duke has been notorious for layering on costs that don't show up clearly in the base tariff. Also verify you're looking at the current effective tariff - they had changes in June. - Barbara N.
Barbara's right about the riders. Lisa, you need to pull the complete tariff book from the NC Utilities Commission website. Schedule GS has about 4-5 different riders that can apply depending on the service territory. The Fuel Cost Adjustment changes monthly, plus there's often a Grid Modernization rider and sometimes a Coal Ash recovery charge. Download the full tariff PDF and check pages 45-60 for all applicable riders. The base rate is just the starting point. - Randy Dawson
Had the same issue with Duke Kentucky last month. Turned out there was a $2.15 per kW grid improvement charge buried in Rider GM-2 that wasn't obvious in the main schedule. Check every single rider listed in your customer's rate schedule section. - Steve B.
Found it! There was a Storm Recovery rider at $1.83/kW that I completely missed, plus the fuel adjustment was negative $0.42/kW but there was a separate Environmental Compliance charge at $0.67/kW. The math works now. Thanks everyone, this tariff had like 8 different line items. - Lisa F.
Lisa, create a spreadsheet template for Duke NC with all the standard riders. I have one for Xcel Colorado that saves me hours every month. Once you map out all the standard charges, you just plug in the monthly adjustment factors. - Scott H.