Field note
Occupancy hours versus billed kWh on a mixed-use floor
Access-control exports show who badge-swiped. They do not show whether the fan-coil units were left in occupied mode over a holiday, or whether a server cupboard on that floor runs all year.
We ask for the occupancy calendar the receptionist already keeps: exam weeks, a vacant suite, a Saturday market in the atrium. Then we lay billed kWh beside those weeks. If the bill barely moved during a two-week vacancy, the floor’s electricity is probably not dominated by desk lamps.
The reverse happens too. A “quiet” floor with few swipes can still pull night load through a tenant’s small computer room that nobody listed on the meter register.
Facility optimization reporting, as we practice it, is this kind of matching: calendars, invoices, and what the closets contain. It is slower than a single occupancy percentage, and it is harder to misread in a board meeting.