The "baseline" is a typical week of electricity use based on past usage. Your school business officer or facility manager should provide electricity bills for the past three years covering all meters used in the Challenge for the January/February billing cycle.
Before the challenge begins, you will need to submit:
Building square footage - just the space that is heated or cooled.
School population - the number of studemts in the school.
Electricity usage baseline data - kiloWatt hours (kWh) used in one week.
Your baseline is the amount of electricity used in a typical week this time of year. You should calculate your baseline from your monthly electric bills from the previous 3 years' January/ February billing cycle. Your school business officer or facility manager should provide this billing data. If you don't have 3 years of bills, make the best estimate with the data you have available.
Here is an example of how to calculate the baseline using the kWh used and the number of days in the billing period:
Here is the downloadable calculation spreadsheet used in the above example. The spreadsheet converts your monthly KWh into a weekly average. You will need the days in the billing period and the kWh used.
Log In and Submit Your Baseline
You should have your password ready when you log in. Once you are in, enter your baseline kWh, square footage, and number of students (population). Here is the screen you will see:
Once the Green Cup Challenge is underway, you will be asked to read your electrical meter(s) once a week for the duration of the Challenge. While you can choose a time that is convenient for you, it would be best to read your meter(s) on the same day each week. It is important that you read your meter(s) on the same day each week (for example every Tuesday at 9:00 AM).
To calculate the weekly kWh used by your school, subtract the previous week's meter reading from the new reading. This will give you how many kWh were used during that week. If you have more than one meter, find the sum of the kWh used from each meter. You will need to get an "initial meter" reading by Wednesday, January 18th. The "Initial Reading" establishes the kWh starting point. You do not report this number to the database, but need it to calculate the kWh usage for the next week.
Submit your numbers into the GCC database by NOON each WEDNESDAY during the Challenge (1/25, 2/1, 2/8, 2/15). Here is thedownloadable calculation spreadsheet.
In this example the meter was read every Tuesday at 9:00 am. If your school has more than one electric meter, see the multiple meter instructions below. If you are ready to send in your data, here is the Log In:
Pay attention to the electric meter "multiplier". If your meter has a multiplier, the raw reading you take will need to be multiplied by this number to get the correct kWh. If the meter has a multiplier, it may or may not be shown on the meter. You should check your electric bill or call your power company. See meter reading tips for more information.
Check your numbers. In our example, our baseline was about 61,000 kWh per week. Our weekly usage is consistent with our baseline. If your weekly usage is not in line with your baseline, you can go to the "What to do if your numbers don't make sense".
