DemandLab
Your knowledge base for understanding electricity demand, energy markets, and demand management strategies. Seven in-depth articles written for facility managers, energy buyers, and sustainability professionals.
7
In-depth articles
56+
Minutes of reading
100%
Free to access
All Articles
Start with the foundations or jump directly to the topic most relevant to your energy challenges.
Understanding Electrical Energy
Master the fundamentals: charge, voltage, current, power (kW), and energy (kWh). Learn the critical difference between the rate of electricity use and total consumption, and why both appear on your utility bill.
Understanding Electric Demand
Discover why your single highest 15-minute interval of electricity use can determine 30–50% of your monthly bill. Understand coincident peaks, why utilities charge for demand, and the climate impact of peak consumption.
HVAC Systems & Peak Demand
Explore how rooftop HVAC units create the 'energy stampede' — simultaneous power spikes that drive up demand charges. Learn how intelligent load coordination eliminates this problem without hardware changes.
Decoding Your Electric Utility Bill
Break down every line item on your commercial electricity bill: energy charges, demand charges, ratchet clauses, capacity charges, transmission and distribution fees, and taxes — and learn which ones you can actually reduce.
Navigating the Electric Energy Market
Understand how wholesale electricity markets operate, the difference between regulated and deregulated markets, what causes extreme price volatility, and how commercial buyers can protect themselves from price spikes.
Understanding Demand Response
Learn what demand response programs are, why traditional manual DR often costs more than it earns, the post-event peak problem that eliminates savings, and how automated DR solutions solve these challenges.
DERMS, VPPs & Grid Resilience
Explore the infrastructure of the modern grid: Distributed Energy Resource Management Systems, flexible loads, Virtual Power Plants, and how aggregating commercial buildings creates grid-scale demand flexibility.
Recommended Reading Path
If you are new to commercial energy management, we recommend reading the articles in order. Start with electrical energy fundamentals, build up to demand charges and utility billing, then explore market dynamics and demand response programs.
Frequently Asked Questions
Quick answers to the most common questions about electricity demand and energy management.
What is DemandLab?
DemandLab is DemandQ's free educational knowledge base covering electricity demand, energy markets, utility billing, HVAC systems, and demand management strategies. Each article is written to help facility managers, energy buyers, and sustainability professionals make better decisions about commercial energy use.
What is the difference between kW and kWh?
kW (kilowatt) measures the rate of electricity use at a single moment — like a speedometer showing your current speed. kWh (kilowatt-hour) measures the total amount of electricity consumed over time — like an odometer tracking total miles driven. Your utility bill includes charges for both: energy charges based on kWh consumed and demand charges based on your peak kW reading.
What is an electric demand charge?
A demand charge is a billing component based on your single highest 15-minute average power reading during the month. Even if that peak only lasts 15 minutes, you pay for it for the entire billing period. Demand charges typically represent 30–50% of a commercial electricity bill and are one of the most impactful — and most manageable — components of energy costs.
What is a ratchet clause on a utility bill?
A ratchet clause is a billing provision that sets your minimum demand charge as a percentage (typically 50–90%) of your highest recorded peak over the past 6 to 12 months. This means a single high-demand event can inflate your bills for up to a year. Reducing and controlling peak demand eliminates ratchet clause exposure.
What is demand response?
Demand response (DR) is a program through which electricity consumers voluntarily reduce their power consumption during periods of grid stress in exchange for financial incentives. Traditional DR relies on manual processes that frequently result in missed curtailments, post-event demand spikes, and net revenue losses. Automated demand response platforms solve these problems with intelligent precooling and guaranteed curtailment.
What is a Virtual Power Plant (VPP)?
A Virtual Power Plant aggregates the controllable loads and generation resources of many distributed sites — commercial buildings, industrial facilities, EV chargers, battery storage — and coordinates them to act as a single, dispatchable power resource. VPPs allow small sites that individually cannot participate in wholesale energy markets to collectively provide significant grid services.
Ready to Put This Knowledge to Work?
DemandQ applies the strategies covered in DemandLab to real commercial buildings — delivering verified demand reductions with zero capital investment.