Taking Control of Electric Bill, Hour by Hour

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Cory

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Taking Control of Electric Bill, Hour by Hour

This article is over a year old but in general, I believe, is a new concept. Recently I signed up for the "Power Smart Pricing" option from my local utilities company and the meter was installed today. It allows me to pay the market rate of electricity for when my family uses it.

Here's a current real time chart that show tomorrow's price break down. You can see that the early morning and late night hours are considerably cheaper time periods for electrical usage. Now if I choose to run the dishwasher before I go to bed or when my wife wakes to get ready for work, there is a benefit. I believe my dishwasher has a delay option that I could set the time accordingly. I'll have to check our new washer and dryer for similar timer options. This is also an excellent source for setting my programmable thermostat when used in conjunction with when my family is in or out of the house.

Documentation with the options provided to me as of late showed the following.
Quote:
During 2007, participants saved an average of 16 percent on their electricity bills compared with what they would have paid on the standard residential rate.
(Savings based on billing results since the program started in May 2007.)


I thought this post would be of value to some of my fellow BITOG viewers and thought I'd pass on the message. You'll have to check it out and see if your utility company has this option and if it would be of any benefit to you.
wink.gif


Anyone else out there trying or doing this? I'd be curious to know what your savings are.
 
I'd try it in a heartbeat. I'd do laundry, do the dishes, and run the A/C cooler at night. I'm going to check and see if my electric company will do this. My electrical bill isn't bad, but every little bit helps.
 
There was a large office building that signed up for this 30 years ago.

They air conditioned a huge underground cistern of water during the night, then used that to cool computer labs during the day.

I would sign up for both this, and interruptible service, the minute it became available here.
 
I wish they would do real time pricing here. They will be installing new meters, at a cost of $5 a month on your bill, with a fixed schedule of rates depending on when you consume. Weekends are counted like any other day, even though the real prices are much lower.
 
I like all the ideas except about the delay on the dishwasher. I like to run it right after I've run hot water in the sink..otherwise it fills up with cold water.

I love my programmable thermostat. 81 degrees during the day when nobody's home, and kicks down to 77 about 15 minutes before I get home from work. Then kicks down to 75 while I sleep and warms the house back up to 77 when it's time to get up. Best thing ever.
 
Honeywell has a neat algorithm in some of their stats. It learns the thermal response of the building and turns on the system ahead of time, to reach the set point at the programmed time. It also remembers what time of day the heat/cold load peaks, and gets things going before the temperature starts changing.
 
Quote:
I like to run it right after I've run hot water in the sink..otherwise it fills up with cold water.


My new(er) dishwasher has a "hot start" feature. It engages the drying element to heat the "pre-hot water" making line purging unnecessary. This would also offer the advantage (maybe - maybe not) of allowing you to tap into cold water and take even more advantage of the cut rate electricity.

I have interruptible service. Time of day offers many advantages over it. You pay for what you use at the price it's available at. Interruptible service means that your "on demand" service is paying large 24/7/365 regardless of when you use it.

If the scales were equal (that is, the utility didn't configure it so you get screwed anyway), I'd install the relays and timers with time of day metering to disable the higher current demand devices. I can wash and dry clothes after peak hours. Cooking would be the only wild card. Heating can probably be coped with during peak demand hours.

Peak demand means different things in different distribution areas. In PECO country, it's between 4:00pm and 7:00pm during the 9 month period and 1pm -9pm during the summer. It's people coming home and turning on their lights and cooking and ..in short ..residential. While in other regions it's during the day. I recall one hydro plant that pumped up water during the night that was used to provide high demand electricity during the business day.
 
Originally Posted By: blackcherry06
I like all the ideas except about the delay on the dishwasher. I like to run it right after I've run hot water in the sink..otherwise it fills up with cold water.

Our dishwasher actually heats the water to the proper temperature. Though I'm not sure if running at the cheapest hour and using the heat element are cost effective?
 
Originally Posted By: oilyriser
I wish they would do real time pricing here. They will be installing new meters, at a cost of $5 a month on your bill, with a fixed schedule of rates depending on when you consume. Weekends are counted like any other day, even though the real prices are much lower.

There is a $2.95 fee for this service but it's supposed to more than pay itself.
 
I work for a company in Alberta Canada that is working on bringing this technology called "smart metering" to our marketplace. As a part of this plan we are working with a supplier to develop meters that will not only tell when you use the power, but that are two-way. In other words, they will be capable of measuring electricity generated in your residence that is put onto the grid.

Our plan is to offer microgeneration options (like natural gas-fired hot-water/electricity generators) that can reduce electricity use, and even generate electricity into the grid while you are away at work (when the price is highest). Photovoltaic cells can work into this plan, but the payback is longer.

One of the many challenges is convincing the government to change the regulations that are a part of the laws that govern electricity distribution to permit a two-way metering system. This is in addition to the challenge of seeing the technology through.

Interesting times!
 
Around here we have "time of use" metering that I plan on switching to soon. My current electric rate is about $0.09/KWH 24/7, after the switch it's only 10 cents during "peak" hours and about 3.5 cents after that. Also, the entire day on Sunday counts as off peak at the 3.5c rate! I can also choose to spend a little more for wind power, and turn my meter backwards if I happen to have any extra power.
 
Originally Posted By: oilyriser
I wish they would do real time pricing here. They will be installing new meters, at a cost of $5 a month on your bill, with a fixed schedule of rates depending on when you consume. Weekends are counted like any other day, even though the real prices are much lower.

They installed our smart meter about a year ago, but we are not using TOU billing yet.

I've been trying to get my wife into the "off-peak" mindset for things like laundry.

The biggest problem for us is the electric hot water heater. We can't change it to natural gas since we rent our place.
They are supposed to replace it this year since it's 15 years old. Hopefully it's replacement will be more efficient.
 
Man, we are getting r**** down here according to those prices, but thanks to our great PUC that must be de-facto owned by the utility companies, I had heard that we had some of if not the highest rates in the nation. Currently cost is fixed with the company I just went to at 13.7 c/KWH, which is less than the highest rate last of like 14.5 c/kwh last year at peak of summer. What I didn't realize was the last company had rates vary from month to month for average residential. Of course these costs include everything, generation, distribution, taxes, made-up surcharges, something recovery fees, etc. etc.
I guess if I looked at just generation costs on the bill it might be more comparable.
 
Originally Posted By: Gary Allan
Quote:
The biggest problem for us is the electric hot water heater.


Put a timer on it
21.gif


We rent our home and do not own the hot water heater.

We would need to get permission from the landlord and the company that owns the hot water heater, then have to pay for an approved contractor to install it.
 
If it's scheduled for replacement anyway, ask that it be installed at the same time. They're not expensive
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