The use of load and billing data to design cost-based agricultural rates

The process through which PG&E rate analysis identified problems in the old rate structure and set about rectifying them is discussed. Both load research data and billing data, together with market intelligence from the agricultural sector, were central to quantifying problem areas and posing and testing new rate structures. It is shown how load and billing data can be effectively used to develop new schedule revenue allocations and schedule rate designs that are closely based on marginal costs and flexible enough to provide a range of time-differentiated rates designed to satisfy different segments of the agricultural electricity marketplace