Imagine you’re standing at 7,640 feet above Seattle’s Elliott Bay, gazing out on Luna Peak and the north face of Elephant Butte. Where you’re standing hosts fewer than one person per year and it’s taken you two days of hiking through creeks, past massive cedar trees and bears, along a long cliff-sided rib, and a snow covered saddle to get there. If SCL peak demand charges were mountains, 2016’s $4.05 peak charge for large commercial customers would be a Mount Prophet compared to 2017’s Mount Rainier rate of $7.62.
Does this mean your building’s electric costs will also double?
Snapmeter is forecasting this building will break through its target peak demand limit on Monday, setting a new peak demand charge for the current billing period.
Seattle’s glossary definition for SCL peak demand charges is “that portion of a customer’s bill for electric service based upon the peak electric capacity (kW) demanded or required by power‐consuming equipment and billed under an applicable rate schedule.” A simple analogy with water helps explain the difference between electricity use (kWh) and demand (kW): use is how much runs through the water pipe, and demand is the diameter of the pipe. Here’s another analogy: use is the total distance of your Mount Rainier hike (18 miles round trip) and demand is the total elevation gained from the trailhead (9,000 feet).
Any North Cascades National Park Ranger worth their salt will advise you to hang up your food at night––your tent is not big enough and a fed bear is a dead bear. With the right tools, managing peak demand charges is nearly as easy as locking that granola up in a bear can.
Industry leading predictive energy analytics removes the guesswork on when your building will set its peak (this Lawrence Berkeley National Labs assessment returned topnotch accuracy and precision). All this meaning you’ll only need to think about demand management on the few days each billing period that actually matter.
More information on SCL peak demand charges and other adopted rates for 2017 and 2018 is available in this presentation provided by Seattle City Light. Stay tuned for our summary of the Office of Sustainability and Environment Director’s Rule covering the City of Seattle Building Tune-Up Requirement.
