Most manufacturing facilities have little idea how much they are spending on utilities until the monthly utility bill arrives. You produce all your products and run your machines; then you wait for 30 days to see what you’ve spent. By the time the bill comes in, it’s already too late to make any changes — you have already paid your “peak hour” tax!
If you are not tracking your real-time energy usage, then you are not only losing money on electricity, but also are losing margin.
TOU/TOD tariffs are quite complex due to their time differentiating nature when it comes to charging for electricity. When you look at all the possible time zones that exist worldwide, one can see how different it could be for any given facility’s electricity charges whether they are running at high load during “peak” time, as opposed to “off peak” or “solar”.
To really optimize a facility’s energy consumption and overall performance, it’s key to translate all of the complex data that a facility may generate and consume into simple financial terms. The StatStream Energy Intelligence Platform takes all of your raw Multi-Function Meter (MFM) data and produces direct financial benefit by consolidating the multiple combinations of time-of-day and time-of-use tariff logic into one easy to understand and automate methodology.
1. Cost Calculation Based on Tariff Slots
This system uses a programmed tax system to calculate the cost of electricity at the end of each depositing cycle, which can be divided into several segments such as the time of day and for the length of time.
The program calculates the exact cost for each cycle, by subtracting the beginning meter reading from the ending meter reading, then multiplying the total by the applicable unit cost for that cycle.
(Ending Meter Reading - Starting Meter Reading) x Unit Cost = Total Cost per Slot.
2. Hourly Cost Calculation for More Detailed Analysis
The system will provide hour by hour calculations as long as you choose the rate that applies for the 60-minute period in total. This will also allow you to track the exact time that load spikes happen and to monitor them so you can also identify the exact load.
3. Real Time Benchmarking and Forecasting
- Bill Forecasting: This will allow you to quickly see a projection of your bill for day number 5 at the end of day number 30 and answer your questions ahead of time.
- Visual Trend Analysis: A red upward arrow alerts you that costs have gone up compared to the same day last month, while a green decrease arrow indicates that cost-saving strategies are successful.
- Shift-based Accountability: You can also analyze your shift usage to determine which shifts maximized their load and train them to minimize their machine from start to finish (by using hourly consumption).
Rules For Securing Accurate Savings
The accuracy of our AI-driven engine is based on three components:
-
Variables Tagged as
sys_electrical_unitare the only variables that will be calculated. -
All Seasonal Dates and Times are Configurable, allowing for variable rate structures across countries.
-
Automatic Prevention of Conflicting Tariffs and missing data will significantly decrease your chances of making a decision based on bad data.
Conclusion: Control Your Costs Daily
A utility company will always surprise you if you are not aware that your facility is unmanaged. Changing from manual meter reads to automated TOU/TOD tracking eliminates the “End-of-Month” surprise. By maximising the energy efficiency of your production schedule, you will protect your financial bottom line.
