custom utility rates?

To the SAM team: 

Is there a way to apply a custom utility TOU/rate structure in SAM? I'm currently modeling a project based on a commercial rate, but the utility in question has indicated their intention to shift the main TOU periods in the near future. 

-Gabe

Hi Gabe,

You can use the Electricity Rates input page for either the Residential or Commercial financial model to define your own rate schedule. You can do that either by starting from scratch to create a completely new rate structure, or by downloading an existing rate structure from the OpenEI Utility Rate Database and making changes to it.

The buttons under Save / Load Rate Data on the Electricity Rates page make it possible to save the data on the input page to a text file that you can use in different SAM files, so once you create a custom rate structure you can use it for different analyses.

It is not possible to model a scenario where the TOU schedule changes over time, for example, if you expect one schedule to be in force for Years 1 through 5, and then the schedule to change in subsequent years. For that scenario, you could model each schedule change as a separate case in the SAM file and compare the cash flows for the different schedules.

Best regards,
Paul.