Plant Utilities worked example

Utility Peak Burden at 17% meter interval and restart allowance: a worked example

Push meter interval and restart allowance up to 17% and the picture changes. This example computes every intermediate figure at that operating point. Use it when reviewing utility peak burden for a utility budget, maintenance priority, capacity check, energy project, or production support plan.

The inputs for this scenario

  • Peak utility demand minutes: 180 demand-min (unchanged)
  • Demand reduction rate: 1 demand-min / min (unchanged)
  • Meter interval and restart allowance: 17 % (raised for this scenario; the documented default is 15)

Working through the calculation

  • Applying the documented formula (Base utility peak burden time = peak utility demand minutes รท demand reduction rate) to the inputs above produces each figure below.
  • At this operating point the engine returns 211 min for required utility peak burden time, the number this scenario is built around.
  • At this operating point the engine returns 180 min for base utility peak burden time.
  • At this operating point the engine returns 17 % for allowance applied.
  • At this operating point the engine returns 1 demand-min / min for utility coverage rate.

How this compares with the baseline

  • Against the tool's baseline example, where meter interval and restart allowance sits at 15% and the headline result is 207 min, this scenario comes in 1.74% above the baseline at 211 min.
  • It divides the accumulated peak demand minutes by the demand reduction (shed) rate to get base clearing time, then adds a meter-interval and restart allowance. The value of this scenario is the size of the gap it exposes: that gap, priced out over a year, is the budget you can justify spending to close it.

Results at a glance

  • Required utility peak burden time: 211 min (headline result)
  • Base utility peak burden time: 180 min
  • Allowance applied: 17 %
  • Utility coverage rate: 1 demand-min / min

Run it with your numbers

  • Every input above is editable in the live Utility Peak Burden calculator, which recalculates instantly and can be shared with the inputs intact.

Last reviewed 2026-05-12.