Friday, March 27, 2009

Questions for Utility Payers

For the last couple of months Ameren CIPS has been sending me notes about how I can sign up for their Power Smart Pricing. Instead of billing me for a standard amount for all watts of electricity my household uses, the company would instead bill me for the actual cost of the power when I used it. 

The idea being that it's way cheaper to use it late at night and early in the a.m. during the summer months, and during the middle of the afternoon in the fall, spring and winter months. 

You have to commit to a 12-month billing cycle to try it out. But I'm wondering how much "automatic" energy the house uses regularly and if it would make it worthwhile. For example, heating the water heater... Would it actually end up increasing my electricty bill because I took them off standard wattage? 

I think I could run the dishwasher at night before bed. I sometimes do. But sometimes when I'm on single parent duty, I'm so tired, I don't go back downstairs, and I end up running it at 7:30 a.m., which would be a higher price than at 9:30 p.m. 

I guess I'm wondering if anyone else has tried it? They give a statistic at the bottom that 99 percent of the people who switch don't go back to standard measurement after a year. 

3 comments:

~rachel~ said...

I've heard of this but don't know anything about it. I'm curious to see what you find out.

Anonymous said...

I have been getting the same notes but haven't switched because I don't know anyone who has converted to the power smart pricing and I am definitely the type of person who needs to hear first hand accounts. So let me know what you find out.

ktdid said...

They're doing this in CA too. And, I'm teaching my 4th graders how to use electricity during non-PEAK hours. It's good for the grid, but I don't have any knowledge of how it affects the pocketbook.