Rental Property Investor · Jersey City, NJ · Member since 2011 · 1k+ posts · 876 votes
I've immersed myself in the bills for the commercial rate meters serving the hallways and basements of my buildings. PSEG uses some voodoo nonsense to calculate peak demand from the non-demand meter readings. They take the average of the peak 4 months of usage and simply move he decimal 2 places to arrive at demand (the peak current draw in kW). So if my usage is 300 kWh, they decide my peak demand is 3.0 kW. Which is utter nonsense. It's like giving you a speeding ticket by looking at your odometer and saying you must have gone 100mph sometime in those 10k miles!
The PSEG rep I spoke to said if I insisted on an actual demand meter for a small account I'd end up paying even more! Anyone dealt with this nonsense or do we all just bend over?
Engineer · Lexington, KY · Member since 2012 · 31 posts · 7 votes
13y
Your answer is math. You need to calculate the load of all your lights when turned on. I'm assuming this doesn't include any convenience outlets in the hallways. That is that we are talking about strictly lighting load. Once this is done you will know what your peak kw will be. Then get the rates for the utility and see if the increased cost of the demand meter will lower your overall bill. Its not that hard to do.
I just looked and pseg is a publicly regulated utility. Which means, what they charge you is dictated by public officials.
Rental Property Investor · Jersey City, NJ · Member since 2011 · 1k+ posts · 876 votes
13y
I guess I trusted him when he said I'd lose money, but it's worth knowing. I doubt it would slam into the regular round meter pan, and if I have to have a new meter pan wired in and deal with all the permits and electrician bill, it would really have to be worth it.
You can plug anything into it and see how much electricity it is using. I found out that a couple of lamps in my house were running up my bill and I replaced them.
I got my buddy to buy a new fridge when I showed him how much his old fridge was costing him. It didn't even have an icemaker. He got a new stainless steel fridge and the math showed that it will pay for itself in five years. His wife was happy.
Rental Property Investor · Jersey City, NJ · Member since 2011 · 1k+ posts · 876 votes
13y
Thanks Rob, but I've got one of those and an electrician's clamp on ampmeter to read at the service panel. The problem isn't MY knowing my peak usage, it's THEM knowing it! They'd rather just make it up, because...you know...they're a monopoly.