Working with a frozen food plant in Wisconsin on Alliant Energy's Gp-4 rate. They had equipment failure in January that spiked their demand to 4,200 kW (normal is 2,800 kW). Now they're stuck paying demand charges based on that spike through July due to the ratchet provision. Any strategies for getting relief?
Food processing plant demand ratchet issues
Vera, most utilities have provisions for equipment malfunction relief, but you need to document everything. File a formal request with engineering reports showing it was abnormal operation, not increased facility load. We got ComEd to waive a similar ratchet for a dairy plant after compressor failure.
Arnold's advice is solid. Also check if they have any load management capabilities that could help reset the ratchet naturally. Sometimes scheduling production differently or temporary load shedding during peak periods can establish a new, lower demand baseline. Worth modeling the cost of voluntary load reduction vs paying the ratchet.
Great suggestions. The plant does have some flexible production scheduling options. Equipment failure was a refrigeration compressor - definitely abnormal operation. I'll work on both approaches: formal malfunction request and load management to reset the baseline. Thanks!