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How to Optimize Your Rate

What types of rates are available?

  • Declining block rates (G, GA, I) are better for customers with lower load factors.
  • Time of use rates (OPT) are better for high load factor customers or customers with significant off peak usage. OPT should be considered for customers with more than 350 of hours use demand per month.
  • Hourly Pricing rates (HP, HP-Flex)are attractive to customers who are looking to add new load and/or are able to shift load in order to be responsive to price.

How do I tell which rate I qualify for?

  • Rate schedule G is available to customers who:
    • Do not qualify as residential or industrial.
    • *Note: A demand meter is also required if the customers usage is greater than 3000kWh per month.
  • Rate schedule GA is available to customers who:
    • Do not qualify for a residential or industrial schedule and where:
      • Environmental space conditioning is required for habitation.
      • All environmental space conditioning is electric.
      • All energy for the establishment goes through the same meter.
      • Cooking and water heating are electric if the service is for residential housekeeping units.
      • *Note: A demand meter is required
  • Rate schedule I is available to customers who:
    • Are classified as a manufacturing industry by the US Government as published in the Standard Industrial Classification Manual.
    • At least 50% of the process must be for manufacturing purposes.
    • To qualify for the different billing demand provisions which may produce a lower bill the following criteria must be met:
      • Environmental space conditioning is required for habitation.
      • All environmental space conditioning is electric.
      • All energy for the establishment goes through the same meter.
      • No fossil fuel sources may be used in the establishment.
  • Rate schedule OPT is available to all non-residential customers.
  • Hourly Pricing is available to all non-residential customers who have a minimum contract demand of at least 1000kW.
  • HP Flex is available to all non-residential customers
    • *Note: HP Flex customers require an interval meter

Understanding Estimated Usage Impacts on Rates

Attractive usage characteristics for a Declining Block rate (G, GA, I):

  • If your hours of use demand is less than 350 hours per month.
  • Reducing demand may lower your cost per kWh but may increase your bill.
  • Your business is a typical one or two shift operation.

Attractive usage characteristics for a Time of Use rate (OPT):

  • Decreasing demand can lower demand charges.
  • Decreasing demand and increasing energy (or holding energy flat) can improve your load factor if your hour of use demand is greater than 350 hours per month.
  • Using more energy during off peak hours can significantly decrease your bill.

Attractive usage characteristics for an Hourly Pricing rate:

  • The ability to be responsive to fluctuations in hourly prices (use more energy when prices are low, use less energy when prices are high).

Calculating Hours Use Demand.
Hours Use of Demand= Total customer energy/ Total customer demand

Knowing your contract demand.
Your Contract Demand is the maximum demand Duke Energy is expected to deliver to the customer at any time.

Minimum Bills
A minimum bill is a minimum amount that Duke Energy charges for the capacity that it provides.

CIAC & EF & LDER
A Contribution in Aid of Construction (CIAC) is charged when Duke Energy is requested to provide service that is deemed economically infeasible.

Extra Facilities (EF) is charged when customers request facilities that are above standard service. This monthly charge allows Duke Energy to provide non-standard equipment or service to meet specific customer needs without passing these costs onto other customers who do not request non-standard service. A customer can minimize this charge by requesting service that is as close to standard service as possible. Standard service is defined in Leaf C of Duke Energy's general service regulations.

Loss Due to Early Retirement (LDER) is calculated as a termination fee for a customer who wants to terminate their contract before the contract terms have been fulfilled. Under this provision, the customer pays for installation and removal of the facilities, less depreciation, plus salvage value credit. A customer can avoid this charge by either fulfilling the terms of the contract or by helping to acquire a new customer to take over the facility and therefore use the equipment that Duke Energy has previously installed to serve.

Riders

Rider EC is an Economic Development rider that provides an incentive for new customers to bring load to the Duke Energy system or existing customers to expand load on the Duke Energy system. New customers considering moving into the Duke Energy service are can realize some credits on their bill. Existing customers can also realize a credit on their bill if they are considering adding new load to their existing load. To qualify for this rider, the customer must meet the following qualifications:

  • The customer must employ an additional workforce of a minimum of seventy-five (75) full time equivalent employees per 1,000 kW of new load.
  • The customer's new load must result in capital investment of at least four hundred thousand dollars ($400,000) per 1,000 kW of new load.

Rider ER is an Economic Development rider that is designed to encourage new load on the Duke Energy system by utilizing dormant buildings for which Duke Energy has already made an investment to serve. A customer who is moving into an existing building that already has the equipment installed to provide service can realize a credit on their bill. To qualify for this rider, the customer must meet the following qualifications:

  • The customer must employ an additional workforce of a minimum of thirty-five (35) full time equivalent employees per 500 kW of new load.
  • The customer's new load must result in capital investment of at least two hundred thousand dollars ($200,000) per 500 kW of new load.

Rider NL is an Economic Development rider to Duke Energy's HP Flex rate that is designed to encourage new load on the Duke Energy system. New customers establishing a new account or existing customers establishing a new account either in a new building or in an existing building that has been dormant for at least 6 months can phase in the customer baseline (CBL) and contribution to fixed costs parts of the rate and may establish a pricing baseline (PBL). To qualify for this rider, the customer must meet the following qualifications:

  • The customer must employ an additional workforce of a minimum of thirty-five (35) full time equivalent employees per 500 kW of new load.
  • The customer's new load must result in capital investment of at least two hundred thousand dollars ($200,000) per 500 kW of new load.

Rider IS (Interruptible Service) is a program where Duke Energy may interrupt service to a customer during times when system capacity is needed. A customer who participates in this program is paid a monthly fee or given a credit for making a specific amount of capacity available when the system experiences an unexpected loss of generation or when there is a usually high peak demand. This program is not available to new customers.

Rider SG (Standby Generation) is an agreement where a customer agrees to transfer load to a generator when requested to do so by Duke Energy. The customer receives an energy credit (and a capacity credit when the generator is greater than 200kW) when they transfer load to a generator.

Rider CS (Curtailable Service) is a monthly pilot program where a customer agrees to curtail their usage down to a Curtailable Contract Demand level. The customer would receive an energy credit and a capacity credit for the amount of time that they curtail their usage.