Working on an audit for a manufacturing client here in Cincinnati and something weird is showing up in their Duke Energy interval data. The smart meter is recording peak usage during hours that should be off-peak according to Schedule TOU-PS. Specifically seeing peak rates applied at 11 PM and midnight on weekdays, which makes no sense. The customer's actual usage pattern hasn't changed - their equipment runs the same schedule it has for years. Anyone else seeing anomalies in Duke's smart meter TOU data lately?
Duke Energy Smart Meter Data Shows Phantom Peak Hours
Chuck, I've seen this exact issue with three different Duke accounts here in Charlotte over the past month. It appears to be related to their recent smart meter firmware update. The meters are somehow flagging certain off-peak intervals as peak, but only intermittently. I've escalated to Duke's business customer service and they're claiming it's a "data display issue" not affecting actual billing. But when I calculate the bills manually, there's definitely money involved - about $1,200 overcharge on my largest affected account.
This sounds like a classic meter programming error. When utilities push firmware updates to smart meters, the TOU schedule parameters sometimes get corrupted or default to incorrect values. Here in Harrisburg, we had PPL do something similar in 2015 - their meters started applying peak rates during Sunday morning hours for about 600 customers. The fix took two billing cycles and required individual meter reprogramming. Have you tried requesting the raw meter data directly rather than relying on Duke's billing system interpretation?
Sylvia - great suggestion. I requested the raw 15-minute data and you're absolutely right. The meter is correctly recording the usage timestamps, but Duke's billing system is misinterpreting which TOU period applies. It's applying peak rates to any interval where usage spikes above a certain threshold, regardless of time of day. This is completely wrong - TOU rates should be based solely on time, not usage level. Derek - sounds like this is affecting multiple territories. We should probably coordinate our complaints to get faster resolution.
I'm seeing similar issues with KU here in Kentucky, though not with Duke. Their new AMI system occasionally flags high-usage intervals as peak even during off-peak hours. It's like their billing software has some kind of demand-based override that shouldn't exist in TOU rate structures. Chuck and Derek, you might want to file a joint complaint with NCUC - this sounds like a systematic billing system error that could affect thousands of customers across Duke's territory.
Mike's right about the joint complaint approach. I'll draft something up and share it with Chuck offline. This is definitely bigger than individual customer issues - it's a fundamental flaw in how their billing system interprets smart meter data. The scary part is how many customers are probably getting overcharged without realizing it. Most businesses don't have someone analyzing their interval data at this level of detail. Will keep everyone posted on Duke's response.