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About the What-If Analyzer

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The What-If Analyzer provides the ability to manipulate such things as consumption and demand levels to determine how much money is saved if energy consumption and/or demand is reduced. It also allows you to manipulate associated unit fees for each component. For example, you may offer energy services, where you implement efficiency projects for the end user. You may wish to consider whether or not a lighting retrofit, chiller optimization routine, or simple scheduling and setpoint changes, significantly improve your energy efficiency.

With the What-If Analyzer, you can set up different scenarios to consider variable demand, variable consumption, and variable fees.

Figure 4-46 What-If Analyzer Report Example.

About the What-If Analyzer Display

The What-If Analyzer report shows important details about each billing cycle that is displayed in the report. Figure 4-47 shows the primary display panes in the What-If Analyzer report, which are also described below:

Figure 4-47 What-If Analyzer Display Areas.

• Site Tree Window

  This window works like all other site tree windows. See "Site Tree Window", for details.

• Billing Period

  Select the desired billing period start date (month and year) and enter the number of consecutive billing cycles to include.

• Billing Cycles Summary Pane

  Once a report is run, the Billing Cycles Summary pane displays two columns of data, as described below, with column totals at the bottom:

  • Calculated Cost

    Shows the total calculated cost values for each billing cycle. These numbers will not change when you make adjustments in the Billing Cycle Details pane.

  • Adjusted Cost

    Total adjusted cost values are calculated using the adjustments that you make in the Billing Cycle Details pane. These numbers will change as you make changes to the editable fields in the Billing Cycle Details pane.

  • Grand Total

    This row shows the total costs of all billing cycles in the report. The Grand Total of the Calculated Costs does not change with adjustments. The Grand Total of the Adjusted Cost changes with each adjustment you make in the Billing Cycle Details pane to show the cumulative total of all changed billing periods.

  • Savings

    The savings field displays the difference between the Adjusted Cost and the Calculated Cost and updates each time you make an adjustment in the Billing Cycle Details pane.

  • Reset All button

    Click this button to clear all adjustments made in all billing cycles since the last save.

• Billing Cycle Details Pane

  Once a report is run, the Billing Cycle Details pane displays four columns of data, as described below, with column totals at the bottom:

  • Calculated Units

    This editable column allows you to adjust the units calculated for the rate component and used in its cost calculation. Changes to these fields change the calculations that display in the Adjusted Cost column and are reflected in the billing cycle’s “Total” and “Savings” fields.

  • Fee (per Unit)

    This column includes editable fields that allow you to adjust fees for rate components. Changes to these fields change the calculations that display in the Adjusted Cost column and are reflected in the billing cycle’s “Total” and “Savings” fields.

  • Calculated Cost

    This non-editable column contains the cost data that is calculated when the report is run. Changing the editable columns in other fields will not change these fields.

  • Adjusted Cost

    this non-editable column contains the cost data that is calculated as a result of adjustments that you make in the editable fields of the Billing Cycle Details pane.

  • “Billing Cycle” Total

    This row shows the total costs for the displayed billing cycle. The “Billing Cycle” Total of the Calculated Costs does not change with adjustments. The “Billing Cycle” Total of the Adjusted Cost changes with each adjustment you make in the editable fields of the Billing Cycle Details pane. This shows the total of all changes for the currently displayed billing period.

  • “Billing Cycle” Savings

    The savings field displays the difference between the Adjusted Cost and the Calculated Cost and updates each time you make an adjustment in the Billing Cycle Details pane.

Using the What If Analyzer

To create a What If Analyzer Report, perform the following tasks:

• Start the Report
• Set Report Parameters

Start the Report

1. Launch shortBrandName from your browser using the following URL:http://hostname/eas
   where hostname is the name or IP address of the Web Supervisor.
2. Enter appropriate login information to gain access to the home page.

   Note: From within an existing report, it is easier to simply use the Goto: menu on the upper right to select the desired report, as an alternative to the following step.

3. From the shortBrandName home page, open What-If Analyzer by clicking on the What-If Analyzer link.

   The What-If Analyzer report template displays. To open a saved report, select the report by name from under the What-If Analyzer link or by selecting the report from the report option list.

Set Report Parameters

1. The site tree displays sites and meters. In the site tree, click on the site or meters that you want to compare rates on.

   Note: The meter(s) you select must have a rate attached to it. Refer to "About Attach A Rate" for details about attaching a rate.

   Aggregate meters, if desired, using the CTRL-click method to select multiple meters (refer to "Aggregating meters"). When you select a site, all meters for that site are aggregated.

2. In the Billing Period group, select a starting billing cycle and number of consecutive billing cycles to consider
3. Click on Run Report to create the report. The report displays the results for each billing cycle in a Summary pane (middle pane) and a Details pane (right pane).
4. To see details for a particular billing cycle: in the Summary pane click the billing cycle month in the first column of the Summary pane. The details for that billing cycle appear in the Details pane. Any editable field in the “Calculated Units” and “Fee (per Unit)” columns appears with a white background.
5. Edit the data in the “Calculated Units” or “Fee (per Unit)” columns. Changes appear in the “Adjusted Cost” column. The “Calculated Cost” column does not change.
6. Click the Reset button to clear any adjustments that appear in the “Adjusted Cost” column for the displayed billing cycle. The adjustments are removed.
7. Click the Reset All button to clear any adjustments that appear in the “Adjusted Cost” column for all billing cycles in the current report. The adjustments are removed.
8. Click the Save button in the toolbar to save the report. Type in a name for the report and select the “Public” option, if desired.

Figure 4-48 What-If Analyzer Sample report.