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Read your electric bill, line by line

Every charge rebuilt and traced to the filed tariff, down to the block of eight or nine rider lines most people never read, and the questions the bill cannot answer, named. A ComEd bill is read to the cent today. Any other electric bill is read as far as the reader can take it, and it says so where it cannot.

It must be the PDF from your utility, not a photo or a scan: a picture of a bill has no text in it for us to read. On ComEd.com it is under Billing, then bill history, then download. On a phone, download that same PDF and upload the file.

Read once, never stored, nothing sold. A layout our reader cannot handle is read once by our AI provider and discarded the same way. Privacy notice.

SampleA ComEd business bill built around a real demand line, with the other lines invented so they add up, and not yours.

Commercial ComEd bill / Retail Delivery Service - 0 to 100 kW

What a bill like yours proves

Apr 2, 2026 to Apr 30, 2026 (29 days)

13 lines read, 9 recompute to the cent from their own printed rate, 1 checked against filed records (ComEd filed ratebook).

All 13 charge lines, read, and they add up to $2,497.81

ChargeQuantityRateAmountFiled
Supply
Electricity Supply ChargePrice to compare18,000 kWh$0.07474$1,345.32
Transmission Services ChargePrice to compare18,000 kWh$0.01310$235.80
Delivery
Customer ChargeDoes not move$24.79
Standard Metering ChargeDoes not move$18.44
Distribution Facility ChargeBilled on the peak46.2 kW$12.93/kW$597.37$12.93/kW filed ratebook
IL Electricity Distribution Charge18,000 kWh$0.00128$23.04
Taxes, fees and credits
Environmental Cost Recovery Adj18,000 kWh$0.00009$1.62
Renewable Portfolio Standard18,000 kWh$0.00516$92.88
Zero Emission Standard18,000 kWh$0.00087$15.66
Energy Efficiency Programs18,000 kWh$0.00369$66.42
Energy Transition Assistance18,000 kWh$0.00084$15.12
Municipal Utility Tax$47.35
State Electricity Excise Tax$14.00
Total$2,497.81

Every rate here is filed with the Illinois Commerce Commission and is the same for everyone on this rate. Every line on a ComEd bill, explained.

Every line on your bill was extracted and re-added. The computed total matches the Service Period Total ComEd printed, which is how you know nothing was missed or misread.

How, and the source
How
sum of 13 line items = $2,497.81 = printed total
Source
Your bill, charge details section

What this bill settles

Your demand charge of $597.37 reconciles to the cent

We rebuilt this charge from ComEd's filed ratebook -- the base rate plus every rider and adjustment factor that applies to Small Load at Secondary voltage in 2026 -- and got the same number your bill shows. This is the charge verified against the filed tariff, not an estimate.

How, and the source
How
46.2 kW x $12.93/kW = $597.37 (base $12.50/kW before riders)
Source
ComEd filed ratebook, 2026; reconciled against your bill

You are on ComEd's Small Load delivery class

We did not guess this from your peak kW. We rebuilt every rate class we hold and found the one whose rate matches the rate printed on your bill. We do not hold ComEd's rules for which class a customer belongs in, so this is the class you are billed on, not a check that it is the right one.

How, and the source
How
printed $12.93/kW matches Small Load
Source
ComEd filed ratebook, matched to your bill

Also on this bill

Supply $1,581.12 / Delivery $663.64 / Taxes, fees and credits $253.05

What you paid to buy the electricity, what you paid to have it delivered, and what you paid in taxes, fees and credits. Each section was re-added against its own printed subtotal.

How, and the source
How
Supply: lines sum to $1,581.12 vs printed $1,581.12; Delivery: lines sum to $663.64 vs printed $663.64; Taxes, fees and credits: lines sum to $253.05 vs printed $253.05
Source
Your bill, charge details section

The demand charge is 24% of this bill

$597.37 of your $2,497.81 bill was set by your single highest measured demand in the month, not by how much energy you used.

How, and the source
How
$597.37 / $2,497.81 = 23.9%
Source
Your bill

All-in rate: 13.88 cents per kWh

Everything on the bill divided by the energy you used. This is the number to use when comparing against anything quoted in cents per kWh.

How, and the source
How
$2,497.81 / 18,000 kWh = 13.877 c/kWh
Source
Your bill

What your bill cannot tell you

A monthly statement does not contain the data to answer these.

  1. When did the peak that set your demand charge occur, and how long did it last?

    Your bill prints the billed kW but never says which interval produced it. One 30-minute window set that charge, and the bill does not say which window, what was running, or whether it happened once or every day.

    Interval data: the peak interval is directly identifiable, with its timestamp.

  2. When did you actually use the electricity?

    Your bill resolves your usage to a single monthly total. A month is roughly 2,900 half-hours, and the bill collapses all of them into one number. Nothing on it distinguishes 3am from 3pm.

    Interval data: your usage every 15 or 30 minutes.

  3. What does your always-on floor cost you?

    Every building has a base load that never switches off. It is typically the largest single line in an annual energy bill and it is the one nobody ever decided to buy. The bill cannot separate it from everything else, because it never sees your usage at rest.

    Interval data: the overnight trough is the floor, and we already compute it.

  4. Could that peak have been avoided?

    Whether the peak was one avoidable coincidence of equipment starting together, or a genuine sustained load, decides whether anything can be done about it. The bill shows only the result.

    Interval data: the shape around the peak shows whether it is a spike or a plateau.

  5. Would a different rate have been cheaper?

    ComEd's hourly pricing rate settles against what you used in each hour. Your bill does not record hours, so this is not merely unknown from a bill -- it is unanswerable from one, for anybody, including us.

    Interval data priced against the hourly rate for the same period, hour by hour.

No bill handy? Type the three numbers.

Take the kWh and the peak kW off one bill, add the days in the period, and get your load factor: how steadily you use power against how hard your worst interval hits. Upload the bill above instead and all three come filled in from the read.

The total kWh on the bill for the period.

The kW on the demand line of the same bill, or your highest interval.

On the bill as service from and through dates. Usually 29 to 32.

Phantom Grid reconstructs the shape your bill already reflects. It does not recommend, project savings, or sell anything.

Load Factor

Load Factor Calculator: Electric Load Factor Calculation

Free load factor calculator for electricity. See the formula and how to calculate load factor from two numbers on your bill: total kWh and peak kW. Get your percentage and what your usage shape means, all in your browser.

UPDATED JUL 21 2026

The calculator above gives you your electricity load factor from two numbers that are already printed on your bill: the total kWh you used and the peak kW on your demand line. Enter them with the length of the billing period and you get your load factor as a percentage, along with the average demand behind it. Everything computes in your browser. Nothing uploads, nothing is stored, and nothing is for sale.

This page is about load factor for electricity. The same phrase means something different in aviation and in finance; if you are looking for seat occupancy or debt ratios, this is not that.

What is load factor in electricity?

Load factor is the ratio of average demand to peak demand over a period, written as a percentage. Average demand is the energy you used spread evenly across every hour of the period; peak demand is the single highest interval your meter recorded. A load factor near 100 percent describes an account that runs close to its peak around the clock. A low load factor describes one that spikes well above how it normally runs. It is a plain description of the shape of your usage, and it is the electrical meaning of the term.

The load factor formula

Load factor is average demand divided by peak demand over a period. From a bill, that works out to:

Load Factor = kWh used / (Peak kW x hours in the period)

The numerator is the energy you actually used. The denominator is the energy you would have used if you had run at your single worst interval for every hour of the period. So the percentage answers a plain question: how close does your normal operation come to your peak?

If you want the formula worked through with examples rather than a calculator, what load factor is and how it is calculated covers the same arithmetic at greater length, including what counts as a good load factor and why.

How to calculate load factor

Three numbers give you the result. Take the kWh you used in the billing period, divide it by your peak kW multiplied by the number of hours in the period, and read the answer as a percentage. Worked through: a facility that used 41,000 kWh in a 30 day period, which is 720 hours, with a 137 kW peak has a load factor of 41,000 / (137 x 720), which is about 42 percent. The calculator above does this arithmetic for you; the steps are here so you can see exactly what it is doing.

What your load factor tells you

Load factor is the shape of your usage compressed into one number, and shape is what a commercial electricity bill actually prices. Utilities bill delivery on your single highest interval, the peak demand, not on your average. Two facilities using identical kWh can pay very different delivery costs because one runs flat and the other spikes.

A high load factor means you run steady: your peak is close to your everyday level, and the demand charge it sets is spread across many kWh. A low load factor means your usage is concentrated: a short interval sits far above how you normally operate, and a meaningful share of your delivery cost rides on that one moment. Neither number is good or bad by itself. A bakery with morning ovens and a machine shop with staggered shifts have different shapes for real operational reasons. The number tells you what your shape is; whether that shape is worth changing is a separate question the number alone cannot answer. To see what different shapes produce, load factor by building type runs five of them through the same formula; to see what the ratio does to your delivery cost, load factor vs demand charge works it through on a reconciled bill.

Where to find the two numbers

Both come off one bill. The kWh is the total usage for the period, usually front and center. The peak kW is on the demand line: on a ComEd commercial bill it is the billed demand your Distribution Facilities Charge is computed from. The service period dates give you the day count. Use the same bill for both numbers; mixing a peak from one month with kWh from another produces a number that describes nothing.

If you want to see the shape behind the number rather than just the ratio, our interval data analysis tool reads your meter's own interval export and draws the full load profile, including the always-on floor your load factor summarizes away.

How do you calculate load factor?

Divide the kWh used in a billing period by the peak demand in kW multiplied by the hours in the period. The result is average demand as a share of peak demand, expressed as a percentage. The calculator above does exactly this arithmetic, nothing more.

What is a good load factor for electricity?

There is no universal good number, because load factor reflects what a facility does. Steady operations like cold storage often run above 70 percent; single shift operations with big startup loads can sit under 30 percent. What matters is that a low number means your delivery cost concentrates on a few peak intervals, and a high number means it spreads across your whole month.

Why is my load factor low?

A low load factor means your highest interval sits far above your average draw. Common structural causes are equipment that starts together, short heavy processes, or a facility that runs hard for part of the day and nearly idles the rest. Interval data shows which of these produced your specific peak; the ratio alone cannot.

Does a higher load factor lower my bill?

Not by itself, and this calculator will not tell you to chase one. The demand charge is set by your peak kW, so the same peak with more kWh behind it produces a higher load factor and a bigger total bill. Load factor describes how your existing cost is structured; it is not a dial to turn.

Is this the same load factor as in aviation or finance?

No. Airlines use load factor for filled seats and lenders use it for debt service. This page is the electrical one: average demand over peak demand.