Your bill is arithmetic: usage × rate, plus a customer charge, plus — past a size threshold — a demand charge. Put in your own numbers and see where the money actually goes.
Everything computes from what you type. No market averages dressed up as your numbers.
Enter the numbers from a recent bill or a supplier quote. Everything computes from your inputs — nothing here is a market average.
Ask suppliers for the all-in rate — capacity and transmission included.
The flat monthly line on your utility bill.
The benchmark leases and facilities budgets use. Add up 12 months of kWh from your bills for the honest number.
Context: the EIA’s Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey puts average commercial electricity intensity in the low-to-mid teens of kWh per square foot per year — but building type, hours, and climate swamp the average. How to benchmark honestly →
Multiply your monthly kWh usage by your all-in supply rate, then add the fixed customer charge and — if your business is demand-billed — your peak kW multiplied by the demand rate from your tariff. The calculator on this page does that arithmetic and shows what share of the bill each component takes, which tells you whether rate shopping or peak management is the bigger lever.
Use the all-in rate: energy plus capacity, transmission, and ancillary charges. Advertised energy-only rates understate the real cost, sometimes substantially. If you are comparing supplier quotes, ask each supplier for the all-in figure on the same term so the comparison is fair.
Demand charges bill your single highest short-interval power draw of the month — typically a 15-minute average, sometimes 30, per your tariff — in dollars per kW, and on demand-billed schedules they are often one of the largest lines. If demand is a big share of your estimated bill, flattening your peak usually saves more than switching suppliers.
There is no universal number — building type, operating hours, and climate move it more than anything else. The honest benchmark is your own building against its past years and against similar buildings in your climate. As broad context, the EIA’s Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey puts average commercial electricity intensity in the low-to-mid teens of kWh per square foot per year.
Send us your usage and our commercial team pulls competitive all-in quotes on your actual profile — free, typically within 48 hours.
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