Found a weird one - small manufacturing facility has three-phase service but only uses single-phase loads (mostly welding equipment). Entergy Louisiana is billing them three-phase demand charges at $12.50/kW when they should be on single-phase at $8.90/kW. The service drop has three wires but they're only using two phases. Anyone seen similar billing errors?
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Three-Phase Billing on Single-Phase Load
Janet, this comes down to how the service is configured vs. how it's being used. If they have three-phase capability but only single-phase load, some utilities will still bill the three-phase rate. Check their service agreement and see if they can formally convert to single-phase service if they don't plan to expand.
Helen's right about checking the service agreement. But also verify that they're truly only using single-phase. Sometimes welding operations have three-phase equipment that owners don't realize. If they genuinely only need single-phase, the rate change could save significant money.
Good points both. Will do a load survey to confirm actual usage patterns. At 180 kW average demand, the rate difference could save them $648/month ($3.60/kW difference). Worth investigating thoroughly.