Understanding the Utility Rates Feature

The Utility Rates feature is designed to help you understand and manage your electricity charges through your site(s) specific electricity rate plans. With the proper information provided, InControl will give you access to two main insights:

1. Tracking Your Charging Session Costs (kWh)

kWh (Kilowatt-hours):

The measure of total energy consumed over time. In EV Charging kWh represents the actual amount of energy your charger dispenses during a charging session. This is the unit used to calculate your overall energy cost, typically shown as a price per kWh on your bill.

Imagine kWh as the time you spend charging. The longer you charge for (or the more energy you use), the more your energy cost will be.

2. Monitoring Your Monthly Demand Charges (kW)

kW (Kilowatts): 

The measure of power, or how quickly energy is used at any moment. In EV Charging kW tells you the rate at which your charger delivers energy to your vehicle. Utility companies use this measure to calculate demand charge fees based on your highest power draw during the billing period.

Think of kW like the speedometer in your car. A higher speed (or higher kW) means you're drawing energy faster, which can lead to higher demand charges if you hit certain peak usage thresholds.

Each insight is based on different types of utility charges on your utility bill so it is important to understand the differences. 

Tracking Charging Session Costs

Costs related to charging sessions will appear in the sessions report. This will be shown per session and can be viewed on both on a charger or vehicle basis for high-level business insights. 

What it does:

This will let you see the estimated cost for each charging session based on your energy consumption. It uses your kWh (kilowatt-hour) rate or the cost per unit of energy used.

What you will need to get these insights:

Example: For a simple illustration, if your EV charges at 12 kW continuously for 2 hours, it will consume 24 kWh of energy. At an off-peak rate of $0.13 per kWh, this charging session would cost about $3.12.

Monitoring Monthly Demand Charges

Where this will appear:

Your monthly demand charges will appear on the site details page of InControl. Because demand charges are based on the highest energy usage during your billing cycle this will be displayed on a per month basis.

What it does: 

This setup tracks your monthly demand charges, which are based on the highest power usage (in kW, or kilowatts) during your billing period.

What you will need to get these insights:

• Enter Your Demand Charge Information: Accurate input of any demand charge rate as per your utility plan.
• Ensure Accuracy: Make sure you are using the demand rate (price per kW) rather than an energy rate (kWh) for this field. 
  

Example: If your facility hits a peak of 250 kW and your utility charges $20 per kW if you surpass 200kW at any point, you'll incur a monthly demand charge of $5,000, even if that peak lasts only briefly.

Note: If you have demand charges similar to the example above, we can help you set up Smart Charging rules to ensure you never accidently surpass kW limits. 

For step-by-step instructions on uploading your utility rates to InControl, please refer to our dedicated guides:

•  California Sites ONLY: Use this article to automatically link your utility rate plan to InControl.
• Sites outside of California: Use this article for manual input of your utility rate plan details.