Patent ID: 7437333

Claim:
A computer readable medium for estimating costs associated with the energy requirements of a water distribution system, comprising program instructions for performing the steps of: (A) defining the system components to be analyzed; (B) selecting a time interval over which costs are analyzed; (C) defining an energy cost definition describing the energy prices existing for each component in the system by assigning an energy price for the particular time interval selected; (D) performing a hydraulic simulation of the operation of the water distribution system to determine energy requirements of the system over the course of the simulation; (E) using the energy requirements determined in the hydraulic simulation, calculating energy costs associated with the energy requirements of the simulated water distribution system for the selected time interval, the calculating of energy costs based in part on a credit or a charge for changes in a level in a storage tank, wherein a credit represents a future savings if a final level in the storage tank at the end of the selected time interval exceeds an initial level in the storage tank at the start of the selected time interval; and a charge represents future expenditure to refill the storage tank to the initial level if the final level is less than the initial level; and (F) displaying the energy costs to a user.