Energy Monitoring Mistakes on Ohio Commercial Accounts
The short answer
Most monitoring programs fail for simple reasons: they rely only on monthly bills, measure the wrong things, or produce data nobody acts on. The fixes are cheap — use your utility's interval data, set a few alerts on peak kW and overnight baseload, and assign an owner to every alert.
Seven common mistakes
- Monthly bills only. Bills arrive weeks late and hide when peaks happen. Download 15-minute or hourly interval data from your utility's business portal.
- Ignoring the overnight baseload. What a building uses at 2 a.m. is the fastest indicator of equipment left running. Track it weekly.
- Watching kWh but not kW. Demand charges and capacity tags are set by peaks, not totals — see demand charges.
- Submeters that don't add up. Current transformers sized wrong or installed on the wrong phase produce data that doesn't reconcile to the utility meter. Check that submeters sum to within a few percent of the main meter.
- No weather normalization. A hot August isn't a failure; compare with degree-day-adjusted baselines.
- Alerts with no owner. A dashboard nobody opens saves nothing. Route each alert to a named person.
- Not watching the summer peak hours. PJM's highest summer hours set next year's capacity tag. Monitoring load during PJM peak alerts is worth roughly $120 per kW-year at 2026/27 prices.
A lean monitoring setup
| Level | What you track | Tools |
|---|---|---|
| Basic (any site) | Monthly kWh, kW, $ vs last year | Utility bills, spreadsheet |
| Intermediate | Interval data, overnight baseload, peak timing | Utility portal downloads |
| Advanced | Submeters on major loads, real-time alerts, peak-alert response | Monitoring platform, building automation |
FAQ
What should a small business monitor first?
Monthly peak kW and overnight usage — they reveal most waste and demand problems.
Do I need submeters?
Only if you need to allocate costs to tenants or departments or diagnose specific equipment; utility interval data answers most questions.
How do I get interval data from my utility?
Through your utility's online business account for smart-metered sites, or by authorizing a supplier or consultant to request it.