Many commercial accounts have both an Energy usage charge in kilowatt-hours (kWh) and a Demand or peak usage charge, expressed in kilowatts (kW). The Energy charge is the amount of electricity a customer uses during the billing period. The Demand charge is the maximum average demand used by a customer in a 30-minute period during a month. In order to reduce your peak demand rate it is important to understand which facets or equipment in your operation are causing the peak demand. Then develop strategies to stagger tasks or equipment. In an office setting, this could be as simple as turning on lights, computers, printers, copiers, HVAC and miscellaneous equipment over a period of time, as opposed to initiating everything at once. Find more ways to reduce your utility costs at FurmanBEST.biz.