Hi,
I'm doing a LEED project in California. We're using PAcific Gas and
Electric's GNR-1 gas rate but it comes out quite low. If you go to PG&E's
website it seems that eQuest's virtual rate (which is 60 c/therm) is
ignoring the Transportation and PPP part of the charges - ie 40 cents is
missing.
there's a similar problem with the electricity rates - A10a but eQuest is
overestimating the rate by 40%.
What do you do for the utility rates? Do you input them yourself or rely on
eQuests rate schedules?
thanks
Norm
You can enter them your self in the detailed mode.
You need to input current utility rates yourself. eQuest does not keep up on current utility rates.
John Aulbach
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Hi,
Actually, I don't think that's the problem. eQuest rates, in this case at
least, are oversimplified. I seriously doubt if they were ever correct.
Norm
All:
Just to add to the conversation - has everyone seen the Utilities Gateway (http://en.openei.org/wiki/Gateway:Utilities) available at OpenEI? A crowd-sourced application, one can use the Utilities Gateway to view, create or edit utility rate structures for about 3,400 utility companies.
I often find the actual tariff structure associated with a project (especially when considering differing rate structures between T&D and generation) require me to develop a custom spreadsheet to post-process eQUEST hourly output to synthesize a virtual utility bill. This spreadsheet development can be tedious work (especially when savings result in crossing service classes), and keeping the spreadsheets up to date and accurate requires diligent effort. I shudder to think about how many person-hours are spent by modelers across the country essentially doing the same thing, over and over and over. Doesn't seem to be an efficient use of resources. In de-regulated markets, I'm not sure if there is a better way... too many possibilities.
However - for many parts of the country - I do think a cool "pay as you go" web-service would be one where a tool agnostic hourly file could be uploaded, a utility provider and service class chosen, and a virtual bill generated using current published tariff structures . Would anyone else find this useful?
All the Best,
_Chris
Chris Balbach, PE, CEM, BEMP, CMVP, BESA