Calculators · commercial electricity
Load factor calculator
Load factor is the share of the period your equipment would have run if it always drew its peak. High means steady, low means spiky. Suppliers price both, and knowing yours before you shop makes a quote easier to read.
Your load factor
Enter the kilowatt-hours, the peak kW and the days in the period; all three are printed on a commercial bill.
Load factor at a glance
Load factor equals the kilowatt-hours used in a period divided by the peak kilowatts times the hours in the period, expressed as a percent. To illustrate the range (illustrative figures, not published statistics): a cold-storage warehouse running around the clock might sit near 80 percent, while a church that fills on Sunday might sit under 20 percent. Standardized supplier offers price how much power a business uses, not how steadily it uses it; an account with a low load factor is often priced through a custom quote or a reverse auction, where the supplier sees the shape of the load.
An estimate from the figures you enter. Your bill is the authoritative source. Voltcheckr LLC is a registered electricity broker (Texas PUCT Broker Registration BR260102), not a utility and not a supplier.
Questions
What is a good load factor?
There is no single good number, because load factor describes the shape of a load rather than its size. A higher figure means steadier use, and suppliers generally see a steadier account as easier to price, all else equal; a lower figure means the peak is far above the average and the delivery utility's demand charge weighs more.
Where do I find peak kW?
On the delivery portion of the bill, labeled billed demand, maximum demand or kW. Use the same billing period for the kWh and the kW, or the result mixes two months.
Why does load factor matter when shopping for a supply contract?
Standardized supplier offers assume a typical shape for the rate class. A business whose load is much steadier or much spikier than typical is often priced more accurately when a supplier sees the account itself, which is what a custom quote or a reverse auction does.
Cite as: Voltcheckr LLC, Load factor calculator, voltcheckr.com/tools/load-factor-calculator.
Broker disclosure
Voltcheckr LLC is an independent energy broker (Texas PUCT Broker Registration BR260102), not an energy supplier, with no affiliated supplier. We are paid a referral commission by the supplier you choose, never by you, and you contract directly with that supplier. You can stop using Voltcheckr at any time at no cost. By continuing you acknowledge our broker disclosures.
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