Anyone else seeing crazy capacity charge increases from CenterPoint Energy down here in Houston? My client's August bill shows capacity charges of $8.50/kW compared to $4.20/kW in July. That's more than double with no explanation or advance notice. This is for a retail customer with Reliant Energy as their REP. The delivery charges from CenterPoint stayed flat but this capacity component is crushing them. Are these charges even legitimate or is someone making an error?
CenterPoint Energy Houston - capacity charges doubled overnight
Vivian, that sounds like a billing error or maybe a rate schedule change. Here in Tennessee with TVA we occasionally see sudden capacity charge spikes due to coincident peak adjustments or reclassification issues. Check if your client got moved to a different rate class or if CenterPoint changed their capacity allocation methodology. $8.50/kW is extremely high even for Texas summer peaks.
I work with several Texas clients and that capacity charge seems way off. CenterPoint's typical summer capacity charges run $5-6/kW for large customers. The sudden doubling suggests either a billing system error or your client hit some kind of penalty provision. Check their power factor, demand ratchet clauses, and whether they exceeded any contractual limits. Sometimes REPs pass through penalty charges that aren't clearly explained on the bill.