https://thedemandcharge.comIndependent analysis of commercial and industrial electricity bills: demand charges, rate schedules, power factor penalties and the arithmetic of reducing peak demand.en-USThu, 24 Sep 2026 12:00:00 +0000https://thedemandcharge.com/articles/supply-vs-delivery-chargeshttps://thedemandcharge.com/articles/supply-vs-delivery-chargesThu, 24 Sep 2026 12:00:00 +0000In a retail choice state the bill has two halves with two different owners. Shopping moves one of them. The demand charge usually sits in the half that no supplier can touch.https://thedemandcharge.com/articles/standby-charges-onsite-generationhttps://thedemandcharge.com/articles/standby-charges-onsite-generationThu, 24 Sep 2026 12:00:00 +0000A site that makes some of its own power still needs the grid to be there when the generator is not. Standby tariffs price that readiness, and they decide many project cases.https://thedemandcharge.com/articles/solar-pv-and-demand-chargeshttps://thedemandcharge.com/articles/solar-pv-and-demand-chargesThu, 24 Sep 2026 12:00:00 +0000Solar cuts kilowatt-hours reliably. It cuts the monthly peak only when the sun cooperates in every interval that matters, and Berkeley Lab's modeling shows how rarely that happens.https://thedemandcharge.com/articles/how-to-reduce-peak-demand-chargeshttps://thedemandcharge.com/articles/how-to-reduce-peak-demand-chargesThu, 24 Sep 2026 12:00:00 +0000A ladder of measures from free to capital-intensive, with the diagnostic that tells you which rung your site is actually on and the arithmetic for deciding between them.https://thedemandcharge.com/articles/ev-fleet-charging-demand-chargeshttps://thedemandcharge.com/articles/ev-fleet-charging-demand-chargesThu, 24 Sep 2026 12:00:00 +0000The energy to charge a fleet is predictable. The demand charge it creates depends almost entirely on when the vans plug in and whether anything limits how fast they all draw at once.https://thedemandcharge.com/articles/demand-reduction-business-casehttps://thedemandcharge.com/articles/demand-reduction-business-caseThu, 24 Sep 2026 12:00:00 +0000The engineering on these projects is usually right. What fails is the financial framing — the wrong avoided cost, a payback number where an appraisal was needed, and no plan to prove the saving.https://thedemandcharge.com/articles/critical-peak-pricing-explainedhttps://thedemandcharge.com/articles/critical-peak-pricing-explainedThu, 24 Sep 2026 12:00:00 +0000A few event days a year at a very high price, paid for by a discount on every other day. Whether that suits a site comes down to how many kilowatts it can drop when an event is called.https://thedemandcharge.com/articles/c-pace-financing-energy-projectshttps://thedemandcharge.com/articles/c-pace-financing-energy-projectsThu, 24 Sep 2026 12:00:00 +0000C-PACE turns an energy project into a long assessment on the property tax bill. It can make a slow-payback measure cash-positive from year one, and the debt stays with the building.https://thedemandcharge.com/articles/battery-tco-modelhttps://thedemandcharge.com/articles/battery-tco-modelThu, 24 Sep 2026 12:00:00 +0000Installed cost is the visible number and rarely the decisive one. Degradation, augmentation, availability and end-of-life determine whether a fifteen-year case actually holds.https://thedemandcharge.com/articles/battery-peak-shaving-sizinghttps://thedemandcharge.com/articles/battery-peak-shaving-sizingThu, 24 Sep 2026 12:00:00 +0000Power rating and energy capacity are two separate specifications. A battery correct on one and wrong on the other fails to shave the peak while costing the full price.https://thedemandcharge.com/articles/why-utilities-charge-for-demandhttps://thedemandcharge.com/articles/why-utilities-charge-for-demandWed, 02 Sep 2026 12:00:00 +0000The cost causation argument behind demand charges, what it explains well, and the places where it is contested in rate cases. Worth understanding before you argue about it.https://thedemandcharge.com/articles/riders-surcharges-explainedhttps://thedemandcharge.com/articles/riders-surcharges-explainedWed, 02 Sep 2026 12:00:00 +0000Fuel adjustments, transmission recovery, efficiency program funding and public benefit charges sit on top of the base rate. What they attach to decides what your savings project is worth.https://thedemandcharge.com/articles/real-time-pricing-explainedhttps://thedemandcharge.com/articles/real-time-pricing-explainedWed, 02 Sep 2026 12:00:00 +0000Hourly wholesale-linked prices reward a site that can move load and punish one that cannot. The annual average is not the number that decides it.https://thedemandcharge.com/articles/ratchet-clause-explainedhttps://thedemandcharge.com/articles/ratchet-clause-explainedWed, 02 Sep 2026 12:00:00 +0000A ratchet sets a floor under billing demand based on an earlier peak. It multiplies the cost of a single bad interval by a factor most business cases leave out entirely.https://thedemandcharge.com/articles/pjm-capacity-tag-explainedhttps://thedemandcharge.com/articles/pjm-capacity-tag-explainedWed, 02 Sep 2026 12:00:00 +0000In PJM your capacity obligation is derived from your load during a handful of summer peak hours, and it prices a charge that follows you through the next delivery year.https://thedemandcharge.com/articles/meter-multiplier-ct-ratiohttps://thedemandcharge.com/articles/meter-multiplier-ct-ratioWed, 02 Sep 2026 12:00:00 +0000On instrument-metered services the register reading is multiplied before it reaches the bill. When that multiplier is wrong, every determinant is wrong by the same factor.https://thedemandcharge.com/articles/measures-that-dont-cut-demandhttps://thedemandcharge.com/articles/measures-that-dont-cut-demandWed, 02 Sep 2026 12:00:00 +0000Every one of these saves real energy. None of them reliably reduces the highest fifteen-minute interval, and projects sold on the wrong line lose credibility for the next one.https://thedemandcharge.com/articles/kw-vs-kwh-differencehttps://thedemandcharge.com/articles/kw-vs-kwh-differenceWed, 02 Sep 2026 12:00:00 +0000Kilowatts are a rate, kilowatt-hours are a quantity, and your utility bills for both separately. Getting the distinction wrong is how savings projections end up wrong.https://thedemandcharge.com/articles/interval-data-how-to-get-ithttps://thedemandcharge.com/articles/interval-data-how-to-get-itWed, 02 Sep 2026 12:00:00 +0000A monthly bill tells you a peak happened. Fifteen-minute interval data tells you when, how often and what caused it — and it is usually available for free.https://thedemandcharge.com/articles/facility-vs-on-peak-demandhttps://thedemandcharge.com/articles/facility-vs-on-peak-demandWed, 02 Sep 2026 12:00:00 +0000Three terms that sound interchangeable and are not. A tariff can bill two of them at once, which is how a successful load shift produces half the expected saving.