Posted on 08/24/2009 4:15:57 AM PDT by raybbr
At noon on a recent day, Keith Henderson's "energy orb" began to glow red.
This sphere-shaped device, given to Henderson by Connecticut Light & Power Co., resembles an opaque crystal ball. And in some ways, it does tell the future — on this recent afternoon, it's warning Henderson that, if he turns on his television right now, he'll pay.
He keeps it off.
"After a tiring day of work, it's just so easy to turn on that television," the 53-year-old postal worker said, "and then I look at that orb and it reminds me, 'Hey, you've got to conserve electricity.' "
Henderson is a guinea pig of sorts. He and about 3,000 other CL&P customers are participating in a new, ratepayer-sponsored pilot program that charges them different electricity rates based on the time of day they use power. They generally pay the highest rates in the afternoon — when the region's demand for electricity is the highest.
Some, like Henderson, were given glowing orbs — some that flash different colors to indicate when rates are high and low and others that change colors depending on the time of day. Others received smart thermostats and control switches that allow CL&P to turn on and off their air conditioners at pre-determined times of day.
Keith Henderson is participating in a Connecticut Light & Power program that alerts him to peak electricity usage and helps conserve energy. Henderson holds an orb that glows different colors and tells him the optimum time to use electricity. He keeps the lights off and the window shades closed during the day to conserve energy. (MICHAEL MCANDREWS / HARTFORD COURANT / August 4, 2009)
(Excerpt) Read more at courant.com ...
I’ve been doing this for 13 years now. Unfortunately I don’t have a glowing orb to help me out though (argh).
It’s called Time Of Use (TOU) service and I guesstimate it’s saved me around $6,000 since 1996.
Right now during the summer months my peak time is 12pm - 9pm. Any electricity consumed is charged at the rate of $.22kwh. Non-peak time is from 9pm - 12pm and I’m charged at $.06kwh. I think the rate for “normal” users is about $.12kwh.
My meter keeps track of both peak/non-peak usage, though it doesn’t transmit the data, they have to come read it.
Using this *I* can decide when to use my electricity at the best cost. Obviously easy things like doing laundry and running the pool pump I can do at night. The air rarely gets turned on during the day but I can blast it all night.
Little things like the TV (though hardly on) I don’t bother to track as their electricity consumption is pretty small.
It works well for me.
Exactly, though the "orb" is IMO a pretty silly way of providing the information, it's information that makes the "market" for electricity work the way it should: purchasers can readily determine the relative cost of consumption at a given time.
Problem is that if one percent of users want to cool their house to 68F at 5:00PM on the hottest day the summer, everyone else has to pay for the peak generation and transmission capacity to supply that power with reasonable reliability - the rest of us are being forced to subsidize the high consumption users.
Kudos to you for saving some $$$$. I wish that I had that opportunity...my power costs the same, regardless of when I use it.
However....if this is being touted as an "energy saver", it's completely off the mark. You're still using the same amount of electricity, you've just time-shifted your load to better accommodate the electric companies' needs. And they're compensating you for it with cheaper rates.
No savings, other than to your wallet. Which is just fine for all concerned except the environmentalists.
It's true that I've never looked at it as a "saving the environment" type deal only as a win-win for the power company and myself. They are better able to deal with peak loads and I can save money :-)
You may want to check with your power company to see if they offer it if you're interested. TOU is different than the "load management" they market. That's where they come and install remote sensors that allow them to cycle high-usage items, i.e. a/c and pool pump. That got to be too much of a hassle so I dropped it long ago. Florida Power offers TOU but doesn't market it.
The funny part about all of this is that when I started it in 1996 I was bleeding edge where the meter is concerned. FP has since gone to meters that transmit the usage for the regular consumers. However, mine is still old school (now). I am the only one in my neighborhood that the company still has to send out a meter reader for and I know that just frosts them.
“Name one, just one, large city that is not a liberal hell-hole. Name one large city that has low crime and is fiscally sound with low taxes and high quality of services. Can’t be done.”
Singapore?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.