Reducing Grid Demand Charges – A How-to, with Hi Rize Battery storage
Whether you manage a hotel, care home, distribution centre or any typically energy-intensive business or company in the UK, you’ll have seen the lines on your electricity bills: unit rates (kWh), and standing charges…..and likely the third. A silent profit-killer that lurks in the detail: Grid Demand Charges.
For most businesses, this can be the largest yet most controllable energy cost. At Hi Rize, we don’t just install EV, Solar and Battery systems; we build intelligent, integrated energy ecosystems which are designed to tackle this exact problem.
So, what are Grid Demand Charges?
Consider your business’s energy usage like a gym membership:
- Your Unit Rate (kWh) is the cost per visit. This is the volume of energy that your business uses. If you get to the gym 10 times per month, you pay for 10 visits.
- Your Demand Charge (kW) is the cost for the ‘peak’ number of people you bring at once. Imagine that the gym charged you based on the busiest 30-minute time period of the month. Even if you only went once, bringing 20 friends for a massive workout would trigger a huge ‘demand charge’ for that peak usage.
In electricity terms, your demand is the maximum average power (in kW) that you draw from the grid, over a set period (usually 30 mins). The grid owner/DNO (District Network Operator) charges your supplier for this peak demand in order to maintain enough of the infrastructure to meet everyone’s highest usage. This cost is then passed directly to you.
Why are demand charges so damaging to your bottom line?
They……..
Impact your Bills
A single, short-term peak – such as all machinery, HVAC, EV chargers powering up at the same time – can set demand charges that you pay for, for the entire month – regardless of how efficiently you operate for the rest of the time.
Are Often Unpredictable
Without monitoring, these peaks can occur often unexpectedly, and are often caused by a confluence of events not actively managed by you.
Undermine Solar Investment
Solar PV systems typically reduce energy consumption (kWh) – but they don’t always prevent demand peaks on cloudy days when the sun ain’t shining – this can leave you vulnerable.
Hi Rize Intelligent Battery Storage – your Peak Power Shield
Constant Monitoring: Our system, powered by IoT sensors, and our energy management platform, constantly monitors total site power draw from the grid – in real time.
Predictive Alertness: Using AI, this learns your usage patterns, and even further, factoring-in weather forecasts and periods of high demand.
Autonomous Intervention: As soon as your power draw approaches a pre-set threshold (your desired maximum demand level), the Hi Rize system instantly discharges the battery to supplement your power requirements.
Outcome: The power you draw from the grid stays flat, ‘shaving off’ the peak. You avoid the triggering of a higher demand charge – whilst your operations continue uninterrupted. Smart, right? Literally.
The Benefits of a Hi Rize Demand Management System (HRDMS)
Maximised Solar ROI
Rather than exporting excess solar energy to the grid at a low rate, you store it in your intelligent battery for use for peak shaving later – this maximises self-consumption and value.
Enhanced EV Charging Capabilities
You can install many multiple more EV Charging Stations for your fleet or customers, without triggering expensive grid upgrades or higher demand charges. The Hi Rize system intelligently manages the charging load.
New Revenue Streams
Provided the battery system installed is large enough, you are eligible to participate in grid balancing services such as the Balancing Mechanism, or Dynamic Containment – where you get paid to help stabilise the national grid.
The Hi Rize Difference – Measurable Results
Anyone can sell you a battery system. Hi Rize delivers guaranteed outcomes.
In-Depth Analysis: We kick-off by analysing 12 months of your electricity bills and half-hourly data to precisely calculate your demand charge problem – and demonstrate your savings.
Seamless Integration: Hi Rize integrates the battery with your existing or new Solar PV array, and EV Charging Station infrastructure – creating a single, laser-optimised ecosystem.
Bespoke System Design: We design battery storage solutions sized specifically for your load profile and financial goals – this ensures our system pays for itself, in the shortest possible time.
Performance & Hosting: We provide you with a crystal-clear dashboard showing your business’s live demand, battery activity, finances saved, and more – giving you a fully demonstrable return on investment.
Are you ready to tame your demand charges? Can you be tamed from joining Hi Rize, after reading this?
Stop letting unpredictable peaks eat into your business’s profits. You can partner with Hi Rize today, and turn your energy strategy from a reactive cost into a proactive, revenue–generating asset. It’s easy to Rize, with Hi Rize.