Working on a large manufacturing client here in Cleveland on FirstEnergy's GP-1 tariff. Their monthly kWh usage is running about 35% higher than industry benchmarks for similar facilities. Plant manager swears nothing has changed operationally. Anyone else seeing weird spikes with FirstEnergy accounts lately? Could be meter issues but want to rule out systematic problems first. This client's monthly bill went from $47K to $63K with no obvious explanation.
FirstEnergy industrial accounts - usage way off benchmark?
Frank - I've got two AEP Ohio clients showing similar patterns since March. Both industrial accounts on rate schedule GP. Usage jumped about 28-32% but load factor actually improved slightly. Makes me think it's not operational changes. Have you checked the meter multipliers? I found one case where a CT ratio was wrong after maintenance work.
Up here in Minneapolis I use the DOE's Manufacturing Energy Consumption Survey data for benchmarking. For most industrial categories, a 35% spike should definitely trigger a meter test. What's the facility type? Food processing plants can vary wildly seasonally, but metalworking should be pretty consistent. Xcel has been good about dispatching meter techs when we have solid documentation.
It's an automotive parts supplier, so should be very consistent. Jim - great point on the CT ratios. I'll request FirstEnergy pull the meter records from the last maintenance cycle. Hank, I've been using the DOE data too, cross-referenced with some proprietary benchmarks from our engineering firm. This client is definitely an outlier now.
Frank, have you looked at the power factor? Sometimes when facilities add equipment without proper capacitor banks, the kW demand stays similar but kWh usage climbs. I had a Connecticut client on Eversource GP rate where new injection molding equipment killed their power factor and drove up total consumption by 25%.
Vince makes a good point. Also check if they've had any HVAC changes. I found one case where a "minor" compressor upgrade actually ran 40% more hours due to poor controls programming. The plant thought it was more efficient but it was just cycling differently. Cost them an extra $18K over three months before we caught it.
Frank - any update on this? I'm dealing with a similar situation here in Indianapolis with AEP. Client's usage benchmark analysis shows they're now in the 95th percentile for their industry code when they used to be around 60th percentile. Trying to decide between meter test or detailed energy audit first.
Greg - FirstEnergy found the problem! Turns out the CT secondary wiring got damaged during a transformer maintenance job in March. One phase was reading about 40% low, so the total kWh was actually under-reported for months. When they fixed it, the "spike" was just catching up to actual usage. Goes to show why benchmarking is so valuable - without it we might never have caught this billing error.