Electric Rates 101 Understand Your Rates Control Your


















- Slides: 18
Electric Rates 101: Understand Your Rates, Control Your Bill 2016 New Hampshire Local Energy Solutions Conference Jim Bride, Energy Tariff Experts Nick Hill, Hill Energy Services LLC
Agenda Jim to discuss • Basic organization of the grid • Who regulates what • NH Residential Rates • Commercial & Industrial Rates Nick Hill to cover energy procurement
Generation, Transmission, & Distribution in Restructured Energy Markets Generators: Power plants generate power competitively and sell into organized wholesale power markets Supply Portion of Bill Regional Power Grid: Regulated by FERC, transmission line operators maintain long distance power lines that convey power from sources to utility systems Local Distribution Utility: They are regulated at the state level and take the energy the last mile to your meter Billed by Distribution Utility
Who Regulates What? FERC Local Distribution Ratepayer’s Meter Bulk Transmission Generation Markets
Typical Residential Customer Invoice Excerpt from an Ever. Source NH Utility Bill
Summary of Current (Fall 2016) Residential Rates Charge Type Fixed Charge ($/mo) PSNH Unitil 1 NHEC Liberty 1 $12. 89 $10. 27 $28. 93 $10. 27 $0. 03876 $0. 04924 $0. 02748 $0. 01361 Distribution Charge ($/k. Wh) $0. 04207 Transmission Charge ($/k. Wh) $0. 02390 Energy Supply Charge ($/k. Wh) $0. 1095 $0. 05978 $0. 07619 $0. 09221 Other Stuff ($/k. Wh) $0. 00479 $0. 00588 $0. 00412 $0. 00503 $0. 18026/k. Wh $0. 12813/k. Wh Total Volumetric Charges ($/k. Wh) $0. 06247 $0. 14655/k. Wh $0. 16009/k. Wh • Despite being in the same state, each of these utilities is quite different and these differences manifest themselves in the rate structures 1 Distribution value is for usage over 250 k. Wh, Distribution and Transmission values are combined for billing
Invoice w/ Solar PV That Net Exports Excerpts from an Ever. Source NH Utility Bill for a Solar Customer
Invoice w/ Solar PV That Exports Some Months Excerpts from a Unitil NH Utility Bill for a Solar Customer
Invoice w/ Solar PV from NHEC This is an “Above the Cap” bill 3 Meters • Consumption from the grid • Export to the grid • Total solar PV generation Total behind the meter usage is actually 466 k. Wh
Summary of Common NH Commercial Rates Charge Type PSNH 1 Unitil Liberty NHEC 2 GV G 2 Large Basic Fixed ($/mo) $197. 09 $18. 41 $55. 64 $347. 16 Demand ($/k. W) $13. 81 $10. 27 $7. 15 $8. 68 Volumetric Dist. /Other ($/k. Wh) $0. 00951 $0. 02945 $0. 01862 $0. 06309 Energy Supply Charge ($/k. Wh) $0. 1095 $0. 05860 $0. 07973 $0. 07518 Total Volumetric Charges ($/k. Wh) $0. 1093 $0. 08805 $0. 09799 $0. 13827 Rate • Demand is max consumption rate occurring in either a 15 -min (Unitil) or 30 -min (PSNH) timeframe • Demand usage are impacted very differently by different types of distributed generation or EE measures 1 Shows values for demand over 100 k. W and usage below 200, 000 k. Wh. Ignores usage and demand breakpoints of 200, 000 k. Wh and 100 k. W for demand, respectively 2 – Demand is for k. W over 40 k. W
What is Demand? The utility distribution infrastructure must be sized to meet this peak demand regardless of how often it occurs Demand is max consumption rate occurring in a specified time interval • 100 k. W for 15 min = 25 k. Wh • 25 k. W for 60 min = 25 k. Wh Same usage, but different demands
Invoice Disaggregation – Example Eversource bill Demand Charges Usage charges Bucketing charges by type is mission critical
Invoice Disaggregation (continued) Supply charges provided by a competitive supplier • Most competitive suppliers don’t want customers w/ net metering & intervals with export. • Nick Hill is going to talk more about this in ~ 5 min
Other Great Info from the Bill Excerpt from an Ever. Source NH Utility Bill • Bills have a wealth of customer information on them • Get as many as you can to understand the load characteristics
Example Liberty Utilities Commercial Invoice
Understanding Load Profile is Important to Isolate Customer Cost Drivers
Solar, EE, and Other Changes Will All Result in a New Load Profile Red lines mark PSNH Peak Period for Demand Charges
Summary Understanding your bills is critical to forming an effective cost management strategy Tools in your toolbox • Energy Efficiency Measures – Targeting usage – Targeting Demand • Renewable Energy • Energy Procurement And Now for Nick Hill’s Discussion of Energy Procurement!!