Most commercial electricity contracts include two components: energy charges for the kilowatt-hours you consume, and charges for any possible peaks caused. These ‘demand charges’ are typically based on the highest 15-minute average peak in the billing period.
This means one brief spike in power consumption can affect a bill for an entire month. For businesses adding EV charging on a tight grid connection, unmanaged charging can dramatically increase costs.
How Peak Shaving Works
Peak shaving means managing loads to reduce maximum power draw, something Stekker is specialised in. The goal of peak shaving isn’t to reduce total energy delivered, but to spread it more evenly over time, avoiding sharp peaks.
For EV charging, this typically involves limiting the total power delivered to chargers, distributing available power among active charging sessions, and scheduling heavy charging for off-peak periods when other building loads are lower.
Intelligent Load Distribution
Stekker’s sophisticated systems dynamically adjust de amount of power delivered to a charge point based on any other real-time consumption at a certain location. If other loads are low, more power goes to charging. If building consumption rises, charging speeds automatically reduce.
This dynamic approach maximizes charging throughput while guaranteeing you never exceed your target peak demand. At the same time, Stekker’s prioritisation features make sure that EVs that need to be charged at a given moment, have done so.
Combining with Other Strategies
Peak shaving works alongside other smart charging strategies. You might use dynamic pricing to charge during cheap hours while peak shaving ensures you never exceed connection limits during those hours. The strategies complement rather than conflict.
For sites with solar or battery storage, peak shaving considers these assets too. Solar production can offset charging load. Batteries can supplement grid power during peaks. An integrated approach optimizes across all assets and Stekker incorporates all of these.