Working on a beachfront restaurant in Ocean City, MD (Delmarva Power). They're closed November-March but still showing demand charges during closed months. Winter bills are only $300-400 but they're getting hit with $150/month demand charges for equipment that's supposedly off. Anyone seen this before?
Seasonal restaurant - weird demand spikes
Gil, check if they have electric heat or water heaters that kick on periodically during closure. Also look for walk-in cooler/freezer units that might be cycling even when the restaurant is closed. Those can create phantom demand spikes.
Arnold's on the right track. We had a similar case where the owner thought everything was shut off but the walk-in freezer was still running to protect the equipment. The demand meter was catching those compressor startups even though overall usage was minimal.