Demand management begins with a billing question, then becomes an operating question. The hotel needs to know which measured event can affect its account before asking staff to change equipment schedules. It also needs a practical way to restore normal operations and document what occurred. This checklist provides that connection without assuming a reduction or financial result.
Use the procurement hub to connect the runbook to the account’s supply and delivery position. Print the approved action sheet for the facilities team and retain a separate event log. Fill these documents from real equipment, tariff, and staffing records; blank cells are not instructions to curtail an unidentified load.
Which exposures and loads belong in the runbook?
| Load, controller, responsible person | Applicable trigger and evidence | Action, limits, maximum duration | Restore, override, exception |
|---|---|---|---|
| Date, time zone, trigger source | Authorized start and actions | Measured record and service check | Restoration, decision, follow-up |
|---|---|---|---|
Record the account and meter boundary, tariff or allocation reference, seasonal dates, dispatcher, backup, and approval version above the action table. If different meters have different demand mechanisms, prepare distinct sections. An action appropriate for one exposure may have no effect on another. Keep the current approved version accessible to the staff asked to operate it.
What must be ready before the season and each event?
- Identify the account’s actual charge-setting mechanism.
Read the utility rate schedule and supply provisions that determine demand or regional allocation treatment. Record units, interval, eligible hours, seasonal window, lookback or ratchet, and any minimum. Ask the utility or supplier to confirm unclear account applicability. Distinguish monthly demand from a coincident-peak tag and from a demand-response commitment. Do not import an alert system until the team can explain what its alerts target. The monthly bill checklist can retain the account-specific billing evidence supporting this step.
Status: □ Pending □ Complete □ Exception. Mechanism owner: __________. Account evidence: __________. Applicability question: __________.
- Establish interval access and timing.
Obtain the available meter data and record time zone, interval duration, latency, units, and meter boundary. Determine whether staff will see current measured demand or only delayed historical data. Match timestamps with the mechanism being managed. Check that equipment logs and meter exports can be aligned after an event. If there is no usable interval access, state that limitation and define what evidence can still be retained. Do not treat an equipment nameplate total as a measured account response.
Status: □ Pending □ Complete □ Exception. Data owner: __________. Export or dashboard reference: __________. Timing limitation and workaround: __________.
- Approve each load and its service limits.
Review laundry, kitchen, pool, HVAC, charging, and other actual controllable loads with their operational owners. Identify which schedules can move, which equipment has minimum run or restart constraints, and which services cannot be interrupted. State comfort and safety boundaries in the property’s own approved terms. Consider occupancy, event schedules, and guest needs for the season. Exclude loads with unresolved operating questions. The runbook should contain actionable instructions for known equipment, not an aspiration to reduce everything during high demand.
Status: □ Pending □ Complete □ Exception. Load approver: __________. Equipment reference: __________. Service limit or exclusion: __________.
- Test controls, overrides, and restoration.
Verify that the named operator can carry out each approved action and reverse it. Document whether a building automation system, local timer, manual switch, or vendor service is involved. Check alarms, overrides, and communication when a command fails. Test within approved conditions and record the result without presenting a trial as a seasonal financial outcome. Ensure the restoration plan avoids an uncontrolled simultaneous restart where equipment sequencing matters. Remove or revise any action that staff cannot reliably execute with the available controls.
Status: □ Pending □ Complete □ Exception. Test owner: __________. Test evidence: __________. Failure, revision, or restoration decision: __________.
- Define dispatch and cancellation authority.
Specify the information source, expected lead time, person authorized to start, backup person, communication method, and reasons to stop or cancel. Forecasts and alerts should be labeled provisional. Tell staff how to confirm the instruction and report inability to comply. Keep external program obligations, if any, distinct from voluntary operating actions. If conditions exceed approved service limits, the runbook needs a clear escalation and restoration route. Record these decisions before the season so a busy shift does not have to invent them during an event.
Status: □ Pending □ Complete □ Exception. Dispatcher and backup: __________. Trigger source: __________. Stop authority and exception route: __________.
- Run the event and record actual actions.
Log the alert received, approved start, actual action times, affected equipment, operator, observed conditions, overrides, and restoration. Record actions that were requested but not completed separately from completed actions. If interval readings are available, retain them with the correct timestamps and units. Keep guest-service or equipment issues visible and escalate according to the approved limits. Avoid changing the record after the fact to match a forecasted event; the purpose is to preserve what staff actually did and what the meters actually recorded.
Status: □ Pending □ Complete □ Exception. Event owner: __________. Action-log reference: __________. Service exception and response: __________.
- Review final evidence and improve the runbook.
After billing or final peak information becomes available, determine whether the targeted mechanism was relevant to the event. Reconcile measured intervals, account scope, and action records. Separate demonstrated operational execution from any modeled cost effect. Review failures, comfort concerns, delayed instructions, and restoration behavior with the facilities team. Assign changes to the next runbook version and obtain approval before using them. Retain events that did not become charge-setting events too; they show the operating effort and limitations of the forecasting process.
Status: □ Pending □ Complete □ Exception. Final reviewer: __________. Billing or allocation evidence: __________. Revision owner and decision: __________.
How do regional peaks differ from monthly demand?
DOE’s utility-rate guidance explains energy, demand, and rate structures. Its conceptual discussion does not establish this hotel’s current tariff. An assumed 20 kW reduction for one hour represents 20 kWh during that hour, but does not by itself show a lower billed peak or regional allocation. That requires the applicable timing and final records.
PJM Manual 19 describes load forecasting and peak-related allocation work involving electric distribution companies. An account’s specific tag and contractual treatment still need confirmation. ERCOT’s four-coincident-peak page publishes the Texas mechanism’s information. Verify the hotel’s utility and class before treating those regional peaks as a direct billing target; PJM and ERCOT methods are not interchangeable.
What happens when an alert conflicts with hotel operations?
Use the approved stop and exception process. A group arrival, equipment alarm, kitchen service requirement, or unexpected weather condition can make a planned action unsuitable. The dispatcher should record the reason, affected load, person making the decision, and whether an alternative approved action was available. Staff should not improvise an unapproved equipment change to meet an internal target. Keep the cancellation record alongside successful events so the seasonal review reflects operational limits as well as completed dispatches.
When actions are restored, document the actual restoration times and any issue requiring facilities follow-up. Review whether deferred work created a later operating peak, changed equipment sequencing, or left a control override in place. The event is not operationally complete until the property confirms normal service and assigns any remaining equipment issue. These observations support a better runbook without claiming a financial effect that the billing evidence cannot establish.
How should control services and costs be documented?
DOE’s building-controls overview describes controls as systems that manage building equipment. It does not establish the savings or compatibility of this property’s system. Record vendor scope, operating approvals, and evidence requirements before buying an event or controls service. If a broker is involved, record its compensation payer, method, units, and embedded or separate treatment, counting embedded supply compensation once.
Keep the completed season review with the annual procurement plan. It should show which exposures were verified, which actions were practical, and which evidence remained unavailable. Those facts are more useful for the next season than an unsupported claim that every dispatched event lowered costs.