On 5/29/2011 8:59 AM, Home Guy wrote:
harry wrote:

Does a "demand meter" give a more accurate measure of energy
consumption?

(I note that no explicit answer is given for that question)

No. It's immaterial to the usage; only determines what the appropriate
rate will be. Again, that only will matter if you're actually on a
demand-based billing (which, personally, I would doubt for a small
office-type complex, but wouldn't be impossible).

....

So are you saying that customers with "demand meters" are billed on the
basis of their peak demand - a reading based on only a few minutes worth
of energy usage as seen over an entire billing period?

Yes

How is that a fair or equitable way to bill a customer?

What's "fair" got to do with it?

It's owing to the fact that as another already posted, facilities have
to be provided by the utility to handle the peak load; that costs more
so they bill more. It's also an incentive to the customer to look at
load-leveling techniques aggressively to cut their costs.

Are commercial customers that typically use between 2000 and 3000 kwh of
electricity per month normally considered as candidates for a demand
meter, or are they used for much higher usage customers?

Generally, much higher.

All you'll have to do is look at your bill and you'll know what the
tariff schedule is.

Again, you're looking in the wrong place here, first.

In all likelihood, the "problem" is _NOT_ in the metering but in either
having an unknown or parasitic load, the "reading" not being actual
reading but estimated until the "catch up" real reading at the beginning
of the year or other explainable issue. The likelihood of your meter
being in error is quite low for the explanation of the usage data you
previously posted.

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