Direct Cost and Prop Cost in the EnergyCAP Database
In the Bill/Account/Meter table in the EnergyCAP database, there are two costs that are tracked for meters-Direct Cost and Proportional Cost:
- Direct cost is the sum total of all the meter charges for the meter in question.
- Proportional Cost, or Prop Cost, is the sum total of all the meter charges for the meter in question PLUS a proportional distribution of any Account Charges that are saved with the bill.
EXAMPLE:
A $500 bill is created for an account with two meters as follows:
- Meter 1 $250
- Meter 2 $150
- Account Charge Late Fee $100
The proportion calculation is done based on the meter's percentage of the total commodity cost for that bill. Meter1’s $250 is 62.5% of the $400 in total meter charges and Meter 2’s $150 is 37.5% of the $400 in total meter charges. Hence, the following would be saved in the BAM table:
- Meter 1 Direct Cost of $250
- Meter 2 Direct Cost of $150
- Meter 1 Prop Cost of $312.50 ($250 + $62.50)
- Meter 2 Prop Cost of $187.50 ($150 + $37.50)
Currently, Direct Cost is used for all meter-related EnergyCAP calculations. However, there may be some situations where it may be advantageous to compare Direct and Prop Costs (for instance, comparing percentages of account-level charges from vendor to vendor, or checking EnergyCAP setup). In these special cases, it is possible to create a Custom Spreadsheet using the Technical Support Spreadsheets template (Bill/Account/Meter View-Locate Bill).
