Working on a large state university account in Ohio with AEP. They're on Schedule TOU-8 but I'm seeing some weird demand charge calculations during summer months. Campus has multiple buildings, central chiller plant, plus they run summer programs that change the load profile significantly. Anyone familiar with how AEP handles seasonal demand billing for universities?
State university demand charges - Schedule TOU-8 confusion
Universities can be tricky with seasonal billing, especially when they have both academic and summer programs running. AEP's TOU-8 has different demand periods for summer vs winter. Are you seeing the campus demand charges reset properly between seasons, or is there a ratchet clause keeping winter demand active? Also check if they're getting any educational institution discounts they might not be applying correctly.
That's exactly what I'm seeing Randy - the demand ratchet isn't resetting properly between academic year and summer session. They're paying winter demand rates during low-occupancy summer months when only certain buildings are active. Going to dig deeper into their rate schedule language.
I had a similar issue with a University of Michigan campus on DTE. Turned out the utility was applying a 12-month ratchet when the educational rate should have had a 6-month reset. Saved them about $45K annually once we got it corrected. Worth checking the tariff language very carefully.