Time of use meter

[HUGE]

My power company is giving me the option of getting a"time of use meter" that lets them cut my cate in half for night time and winter months. But doubles it for summer peak. I believe this would save me money as I use most my power at night. They told me it is not a "smart meter". Should I do this or would then seeing so muchb kwh at cause concerne.

 

[HUGE]

nobody has ever heard of this? for what its worth im in a med state but a shitty one. I wouldnt want bacon knocking, but i also want to cut my bill in half if i can. do you think the power co would bitch that im abusing the system by using soo much power at night?

 

[resinryder]

Double the bill in the summer for peak usage here? Not me bro. My bill would be over 1500.00 or more if I did that.

 

[TripleDraw27]

Something we did..we have been using our dishwasher probaly 70% less than normal. Just handwashed our dishes/etc . Turned water heater down a bit. Our bill actually went down 50 bucks..this on top of adding another 1000kw before that billing cycle.

Just get a little more Amish..may take some elbow grease but those two things alone have helped us. Its not cut in half...but there are some things u can do to lower, as u prob knew.

 

[HUGE]

Double the bill in the summer for peak usage here? Not me bro. My bill would be over 1500.00 or more if I did that.

I see what your saying but if 80% of my yearly consumption is at half the normal rate and 20% of my usage is double rate I think I'd still save a ton. I just don't want any attention.

 

[HUGE]

And if after 12 months you end up paying more they will refund you the difference. But thy makes me think they will fuck with me for raping their system.

 

[resinryder]

I see what your saying but if 80% of my yearly consumption is at half the normal rate and 20% of my usage is double rate I think I'd still save a ton. I just don't want any attention.

I can def understand that. I know with their "set rate"/adjusted rate billing or whatever they call it, at the end of the year billing cycle they still make you pay the overage. You know how it is here, they don't loose any money on power. They don't mind raising the rate to give their investors a higher return on their investment. Sometimes I think power companies should be owned and operated by a not for profit agency to keep the rates low and affordable instead of fucking customers over with rate increases so investors can make a 11% interest return on their investment.

 

[Classy@Home]

You gotta know that your power co. isn't really going to cut you a deal, right???

Ours made TOU mandatory - put in meters on stated rates - then changed rates 3 times (and counting).

Rate increases are built in - read fine print...

If you can keep a lid on use times, and are careful about appliance use, you may not spend more. If you are NOT careful - they are gonna rack up some cheddar from you.

If I ever grow here - everything would be 12/12, 7 pm to 7 am, or it is really expensive (Canuckada)...

 

[bugler]

Many power co's will give you a deal, it actually saves them money to have some control over peak usage etc. Our local program is a box that actually controls the water heaters and hvac systems, allowing them to be turned off briefly during peak usage. In 10 years I've never noticed it, course it only saves 5-10 bucks on a bill, but allows the power co to manage peak load spikes more efficiently, while actually cutting the consumer a bit of a deal.

If you really are only running an average or below load, they would absolutely love to know that it is mostly/totally off-peak load. Let's them sell power they have an excess of, and know that your usage isn't during peak time which allows them to not increase equipment more than necessary thus saving money.

I'd be curious/suspicious of how your co's meter works. It might not even track hourly usage, just peak/non-peak. If so, no worry to you at all I would think. If it actually reports hourly usage, whether they call it a smart meter or not it would provide them with identifiable 12/12 data.

If I couldn't find out how the meter worked, I wouldn't use it. I would start by examining a friend's bill that uses the meter. Any indication it's tracked precisely or just peak/non-peak? A call to the company might get you somewhere. A little social engineering and people will tell you anything, especially once you get passed the CS and get a techie. You just sound a little confused, not quite clear exactly what your point is, reference your bill, hem and haw, and "well, how do ya'll know when I use the power, I don't see a clock on the box? Does it really report to you in real time, how's that work? What about daylight savings time? How does the meter know peak/non-peak, or does it just send you the hourly usage and your billing department categorizes it? I think they made a mistake because yesterday at 12:30 the power went out, or was it 2:20? Anyway, how does this thing work? Does a person interpret it? Are there little fairies in the box that are really good at math?"

It's entirely possible the meter is programmed to know what is peak/non-peak and track the two separately WITHOUT reporting risky timing cycles. But I'd find out for sure.

Hell you could even pretend to be a concerned citizen, neighborhood watch warrior, SUGGESTING that they track usage to catch the hippies, act self-important and righteous and see if they explain why it's impossible. Or say you lived in a place like mine and the water heater turned off when you were in the shower so now you're suspicious of how these things work and want to know exactly. Someone at the co knows, and will tell you as long as you don't tell them you grow weed...