Researching energy pricing to estimate energy costs for your business is a formidable task. Whether you’re estimating electricity rates or natural gas rates, or both, manually conducting pricing analysis is time-consuming, costly and laborious, diverting valuable time and resources that could be invested elsewhere. But there is a better way.

Where to Find Electric and Natural Gas Rates

Traditionally, finding electricity and natural gas rates involves manually searching various state public regulatory websites and individual utility websites. These sources can be inconsistent and present data in difficult-to-browse formats like Microsoft Word documents or Adobe PDFs.

Online tariff databases, on the other hand, offer a streamlined solution. RateAcuity, for example, provides a vast, centralized repository of comprehensive information on electricity and natural gas rates, including rate structures, pricing, and fees. All data in RateAcuity is indexed by various search criteria like state and utility, optimized for quick searching. The platform is designed for ease of use, offering an intuitive interface and easy-to-digest formats.

How to Estimate Energy Costs

Estimating energy costs manually is daunting and prone to errors, which can lead to costly mistakes and a substantial financial impact. RateAcuity simplifies this by offering a quick, accurate and convenient way to compare business electricity tariffs.

RateAcuity uses automated tools and industry best practices to deliver highly accurate, continually updated and error-free data, achieving nearly 100% accuracy for one-month data and 99.99% for six months to one-year data. The platform features a user-friendly interface that standardizes data, eliminating the confusion of different naming conventions used by regulators and utilities. Data is also available for immediate download as Excel files, removing the need for manual copying, pasting, or re-keying while estimating energy costs.

For enhanced automation, RateAcuity offers an API that allows integration with your back-office systems, providing faster and more accurate rate comparisons by eliminating manual data entry.

How to Estimate Energy Costs with Historical Data

Estimating energy costs requires not just current rates, but also historical data to spot patterns, predict future trends, and make informed decisions. RateAcuity offers the capability to view historical schedule data, which is crucial for:

  • Understanding past pricing trends and spotting patterns
  • Preparing accurate budgets by using historical trends to estimate energy costs in the future
  • Predicting return on capital investments for projects like building upgrades or solar panels
  • Identifying nationwide investment opportunities by analyzing where the highest and lowest charges are

The RateAcuity database provides comprehensive and unbiased information, along with robust search functions and filter options to help you pinpoint specific information. RateAcuity also offers comprehensive reporting capabilities, allowing you to generate various reports in multiple formats like .html and .xls. If you prefer a hands-off approach, RateAcuity offers a value-added service where expert analysts find tariffs, run calculations, and deliver comparison reports.

Calculate the benefits yourself

Leveraging an online tariff database like RateAcuity delivers numerous benefits, including significant time and cost savings, convenience, accuracy, and access to comprehensive, unbiased data. It’s an indispensable resource for businesses looking to stay ahead in the dynamic energy market.

Discover how RateAcuity streamlines your energy cost estimation and analysis. Try our database risk-free with a free 14-day trial today.