Working on a manufacturing facility with 8 separate meters - mix of primary and secondary service. Each meter has different rate schedules and billing cycles. What's your preferred workflow for keeping everything organized? Excel is getting messy and I'm worried about making errors.
Workflow for multi-meter facilities
Karl, I use a master tracking sheet with one row per meter per month. Columns for account number, meter ID, kWh, kW, rate schedule, billing period, etc. Then separate worksheets for each meter's detailed analysis. Key is consistent naming conventions - Meter01_Analysis, Meter02_Analysis, etc.
Multi-meter jobs are challenging! I create a site map first - physical layout showing where each meter is and what it feeds. Helps me understand the facility better and catch things like coincident demand charges that might apply across multiple meters. Georgia Power has some tricky rules for multi-meter sites.
Tom's site map approach is excellent. For complex facilities, I also recommend color-coding your analysis by meter type - primary vs secondary, different voltage levels, etc. And always verify if there are any cross-subsidization issues between meters. Some utilities have specific rules about this.
Don't forget to check for diversity factors! Had a client with 4 meters where the utility was applying coincident demand charges incorrectly. They were adding up the individual peak demands instead of looking at the actual coincident peak. Saved them about $15k per year once we got it corrected.
Good point Carl. I always create a combined load profile when possible to visualize how the different meters interact. Sometimes you'll find opportunities for load shifting between meters to optimize overall demand charges. Takes extra work but can yield significant savings.
All great suggestions! Karl, one more tip - document everything extensively on multi-meter jobs. Six months later when the client has questions, you'll thank yourself for good notes. I use a project log to track which meters I've completed, what issues I found, and any follow-up needed.