Plant Utilities worked example

Utility Cost per Unit at 66% share assigned to production: a worked example

Suppose share assigned to production falls to 66%. This page works the full calculation at that level so you can see exactly which result moves and by how much. Estimate utility cost assigned to production units, including energy rate, production share, demand charges, and meter fees.

The inputs for this scenario

  • Utility billing units: 185,000 units (held at the documented default)
  • Average utility cost: 0.12 $ / unit (held at the documented default)
  • Share assigned to production: 66 % (the input this scenario stresses; the baseline uses 92)
  • Demand charge and meter fee adder: 2,400 $ (held at the documented default)

Working through the calculation

  • The calculation starts from the formula this tool documents: Total utility production cost = utility billing units × average utility cost × share assigned to production + demand charge and meter fee adder.
  • Total utility production cost works out to 16,442 $ at these inputs, and this is the headline figure for the scenario.
  • Cost per item or period works out to 0.09 $ / item at these inputs.
  • Variable utility production cost works out to 14,042 $ at these inputs.
  • Fixed utility adder works out to 2,400 $ at these inputs.

How this compares with the baseline

  • Against the tool's baseline example, where share assigned to production sits at 92% and the headline result is 21,973 $, this scenario comes in 25.17% below the baseline at 16,442 $.
  • It computes total utility cost assigned to production (variable consumption plus fixed demand/meter adders) and divides it across billing units to give cost per item or per period. When the numbers land here, the stressed input is the lever to work; the walkthrough above shows exactly how much each output recovers as it climbs back toward the baseline.

Results at a glance

  • Total utility production cost: 16,442 $ (headline result)
  • Cost per item or period: 0.09 $ / item
  • Variable utility production cost: 14,042 $
  • Fixed utility adder: 2,400 $

Run it with your numbers

  • To rerun this with your own numbers, open the live Utility Cost per Unit calculator, set share assigned to production to your actual value, and adjust the remaining inputs to match your operation.

Last reviewed 2026-05-12.