Marie713

I own two salons. One the electric bill is very reasonable. The other is in another town and different company and it is out of control. I am paying twice what I would be paying at my other salon. I use the same amount of kWh and the bill is literally twice as much. I called the company and they said they charge commercial accounts a distribution charge. This is equal to your highest peak usage multiplied by a rate. That charge is not charged at all the with other company.

Is there any way of lowering your bill? I am making very little money at this location will they take that into account?

Thanks!

Black Sun

Is there any way of lowering your bill? I am making very little money at this location will they take that into account?

It is not the Power Companys job to help increase your bottom line. If your business is not generating enough to meet the overhead, perhaps you should consolidate.

If your rates are high, in that district, they are high for every other consumer/business they serve. If they 'take that into account', they would have to do it with all other customers. Why are you different?

Perhaps you should have an electrician check it out. If you have a neighboring business, they just may have a 'leg' feeding out of your panel/meter. In some instances where suites or store fronts are divided up, some circuits for one location could be feeding off someone else...seen this happen

uv2021

They are called demand charges.The electric co is adding up all of the amperage that is running in your salon and say ,you hit 100 kva and then charging 7-10 $ per kva for the "delivery" of your power.They do this on the highest # within the billing cycle.

At your other location they are charging you a kw delivery charge.Most likely somewhere around 2-3 cents per kwh.The demand charges are a pain.Just raise your prices at that location to make up for the xtra 30-40 per day to compensate for the increase in electricity.

BuyersGroup

You are right to ask questions. I have experienced this issue in one of my salons and it took some research to get it resolved.

If your in a competition state contact an area bundler that buys electricity in bulk and they will give you their rate plus commission.

You can save significant dollars. However this is not always the best way to go.

Another way is to speak to other businesses in your center or nearby and find out what they are doing. Places that use lots of electricity.

You can then determine how to mitigate. It may be you are actually getting a great rate at your other spot.

And in my case the meter was faulty in some way and simply blew my numbers out of control.

All are possible. You also have rights using a utility they are regulated. A service review can also be requested. They may reassess your patterns.

Good luck

Marie713

Thank u all for the replies. My bill has lowered a bit in the past couple months. Unsure why but thankful!