I'm working on a large commercial account with Austin Energy and their interval data shows TOU periods that don't match the published tariff schedule. The customer is on Rate Schedule CSTD and according to the tariff, summer on-peak should be 1:00-7:00 PM weekdays. But the interval data is flagging 2:00-8:00 PM as on-peak. Has anyone dealt with Austin Energy TOU period discrepancies before? The difference is costing this client about $800/month in misallocated energy charges.
Help with TOU period validation in Austin Energy interval data
Vanessa - I'm in San Antonio with CPS Energy and we've had similar issues with TOU period flags in interval data. Sometimes it's a simple timezone problem where the utility's billing system is using a different time reference than what's published in the tariff. Have you verified that the interval timestamps are in Central Standard Time and not UTC? Also check if Austin Energy observes daylight saving time transitions properly in their TOU definitions.
Angela that's a good catch on the timezone issue. I just double-checked and the timestamps are definitely in CST. But you're right about DST - I think that might be the problem. The mismatched periods only started showing up after the spring time change in March. I'll contact Austin Energy's rate department to clarify how they handle DST in their TOU period definitions.
Let me know what you find out! CPS had a similar DST bug a few years back where their billing system wasn't properly adjusting TOU boundaries during the transition periods. Cost several large customers thousands in overcharges before they fixed it. If Austin Energy has the same issue, there might be other affected accounts that need credits too.