I audit across Utah, Nevada, and parts of Idaho. Rocky Mountain Power uses a 75% ratchet on Schedule 6. Idaho Power uses 60% on A-19. NV Energy doesnt have a traditional ratchet on some schedules but uses a seasonal demand floor. Has anyone built a reference table of ratchet percentages by utility?
Ratchet clause percentages vary wildly ? anyone tracking these?
Sandra, I started building one for Ohio utilities. AEP Ohio is 60% on GS-2. Duke Energy Ohio is 75% on Rate DS. FirstEnergy varies by operating company ? Ohio Edison uses 80% but Toledo Edison uses 60%. Thats just one state. Multiply across 3,000+ utilities nationally and you see why nobody has a complete list.
Based in Scottsdale, mostly Arizona accounts. APS uses 65% on E-32 large commercial. SRP doesnt use a traditional ratchet ? they use a demand billing determinant thats the greater of actual demand or a percentage of contract demand. Completely different mechanism producing similar results.
Florida utilities are interesting. FPL uses a 12-month rolling average of two highest demands rather than a straight percentage. Duke Energy Florida uses 60% on GSDT-1. JEA in Jacksonville uses 80%. Gulf Power before the FPL merger used 70%. My spreadsheet is already 40 rows and Ive only covered one state.
Louisiana here. Entergy Louisiana uses 70% on LGS rate. CLECO uses 60% on Schedule GP. Real gotcha is that some municipal utilities and co-ops have NO ratchet at all. Had a client move from Entergy territory to a muni and demand charges dropped 30% overnight just from losing the ratchet.
Sandra ? the real value isnt a comprehensive national list but a utility-specific quick reference for each territory you audit. I keep a one-page cheat sheet for MidAmerican Energy, Alliant, and Iowa munis. Three utilities cover 90% of my clients. Ratchet percentages, lookback windows, seasonal exceptions.
Agree with Sharon. But theres another dimension ? the lookback window itself. Most ratchets use 11 previous months but some utilities use shorter windows. El Paso Electric uses a 6-month lookback on some commercial tariffs. Thats a huge difference in how long a spike penalizes you.
Good points all around. Ill focus on my three-state territory and build a proper reference. Hector raises an important point about lookback windows ? Ive been assuming 11 months everywhere and thats clearly wrong.
Duquesne Light Pittsburgh: 80% ratchet, 11-month lookback. West Penn Power: 60%, 11-month. FirstEnergy Penelec: 75%, 11-month. Even within the FirstEnergy family each operating company has different ratchet terms. Never assume sister companies use the same tariff structures.