Glossary · Energy, bills & ratings

Weather normalization

Also called: weather-normalized · weather-normalizing · weather-adjusted

Adjusting energy use for how cold or hot a period was, using degree-days, so bills from different years or homes can be compared fairly.

What it means

A cold winter raises heating use even if nothing about the house changed, so an auditor divides heating energy by the heating degree-days for the same billing period, or scales it to a typical year. Comparing weather-normalized use before and after an upgrade shows the real savings. EIA uses degree-days the same way to model and compare energy use across months and regions.

Why it matters in an audit

Without it, a mild winter can make an upgrade look better than it is, and a harsh one can hide real savings.

Typical numbers

Reference values with their sources. Your auditor’s report gives the figure for your own house.

What Value Source
Basic method Heating use per degree-day = heating energy ÷ heating degree-days for the same billing period Arithmetic

Sources