Manage Your Commercial Energy Usage

There are many ways in which you can manage and lower the energy usage for your commercial facility. Doing so can help lower your energy costs.

• Electric Rates and Bill Components — Understanding your rates and the electric bill components helps you make decisions about lowering your demand charges and investing in energy-efficiency improvements.
  
  Learn more about Rates and Bill Components 
   
• Energy Efficiency Rebates and Incentives — Whether your business is large or small, Austin Energy has dozens of rebates and incentives to help you make smart energy choices and save money.
  
  Learn more about Austin Energy’s Rebates and Incentives
   
• Demand Charge — Demand is the maximum flow of power used at any one time by a customer and is measured in kilowatts (kW) by an electric demand meter. The highest level of electric demand during a billing month is called the peak demand. Demand charges can be a significant part of a business’ utility bill.
  
  Learn more about Demand Charge (pdf)
   
• Load Factor — Load factor is a measure of your efficiency in electricity use. Customers whose facilities are metered for demand can readily determine the load factor for any given month by dividing actual energy usage in kWh by the amount of kWh usage that would have occurred if the maximum demand had been sustained for the entire billing period (maximum demand in kW x number of hours in the billing period). Facilities billed at highest peak demand during the billing period should avoid periods of increased demand whenever possible.
  
  Learn more about Load Factor (pdf)