[Equest-users] Questions about utility rates

[Chris Baker]

I've been discussing this with some other fellow modelers lately but thought I would throw it out there.

I have a model that is complete but having some issues with figuring out utility rates.

I'm looking for some insight into what I could do here.

This project is a 13,000 square foot building on an army base here in Alaska.

For utility rates, you are supposed to either use the actual rates - or the EIA national average for your state if that number cannot be obtained.

The government (this is a military base) and their utility contractor have not been forthcoming with an estimated cost per KWH (and it isn't the structure they use to calculate costs).
Despite trying to reconnect with them today, we can't even get an estimated cost of electricity per KWH.

We even tried to contact the utility contractor directly, today, to get something to estimate with but they won't reveal any numbers for proprietary reasons.
It appears they charge the government an undisclosed monthly fee for providing electricity that can waiver depending on the coal market.

I'm not even sure how you would use that to calc out price per kWH nor do I know how accurate it would be.

So we are pretty much forced to go with the EIA state average for electricity (which is fine).

For fuel oil I will need to be using the EIA national average for my state of Alaska also.  However EIA doesn't appear to document average prices for heating fuel for Alaska.

The latest cost per gallon documented per EIA for distillate fuel oil is $3.18/gallon

I then found an online publication put together by the State of Alaska documenting the actual cost of heating fuel for 2014 in the project city of Fairbanks, Alaska.

That cost is $4.09/gallon.
This is an actual published number from the State of Alaska - not an estimate.

I'm kind of at a crossroads here.  I'm leery about using the 4.09 number because it is so much higher than the most current number documented by EIA.

In your opinion, would you stick with the EIA number of $3.18/gallon even though you know the actual figure is higher?

It would certainly eliminate potential review issues.

Chris Baker
CCI CAD Drafter


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