I've been manually calculating demand patterns for MLGW accounts and it's eating up way too much time. Looking for a decent Excel macro that can pull interval data and identify billing demand vs actual peak demand automatically. Anyone got something they're willing to share? I'm dealing with mostly large commercial accounts on rate schedules GSA-1 and GSA-3. The manual process is killing me on these complex accounts.
Excel macro for demand analysis - anyone have a good template?
Amir, I built something similar for Georgia Power accounts last year. It's not perfect but handles most of the heavy lifting for TOU-GSD-8 schedules. The macro pulls 15-minute interval data and flags discrepancies between billed demand and actual recorded peaks. I can clean it up and send it over if you want to take a look. Fair warning though - it gets cranky with missing data points.
Rachel's got the right idea. I use something similar for TVA industrial accounts here in Knoxville. The key is building in error handling for those inevitable data gaps. My version also calculates potential savings if the customer could shift load to avoid peak periods. Saved one client $23,000 annually on their Schedule MSB billing just by identifying a 15-minute window where they were getting nailed every month.
Terry makes a good point about the savings calculations. Down here in Dallas with Oncor, I've found that most customers don't realize how much those coincident peak charges are costing them. My Excel tool flags not just the billing demand but also tracks the 4CP events. One manufacturing client was getting hit with $8,000 monthly coincident peak charges they had no idea about.
Marcus, that's exactly the kind of analysis I need to automate. These MLGW commercial accounts have similar issues with demand ratchets that customers never understand. Rachel, I'd definitely appreciate taking a look at your macro if you don't mind sharing. I can adapt it for our rate structures here. The manual process is just not scalable anymore.
I've been lurking on this thread because I'm dealing with the same issues with Alabama Power accounts. The demand analysis is brutal when you're doing it manually. If anyone has something that works with Schedule LPH or Schedule TOU-GSD, I'd love to see it. I'm spending 3-4 hours per account just mapping out the demand patterns and billing determinants.
Albert, I think my macro could work for Alabama Power with some tweaks. The structure is pretty similar to what Georgia Power uses. Amir, I'll clean up the code this weekend and post it somewhere we can all grab it. Maybe we should start a shared repository for these kinds of tools?
Rachel, that would be fantastic. A shared repository makes a lot of sense. We're all basically solving the same problems with slight variations for different utilities. I'd be happy to contribute whatever I develop for Alabama Power rate schedules. This could save all of us a ton of time.