In my last entry, I confessed that my ComEd bill was nearly triple what I used to pay. So much for being energy efficient. But that entry reminded me of something I've been meaning to get around to talking about: a new energy program.
When you make a phone call, you usually get billed based on the rate at the time you made the call.
When you buy a plane ticket, you pay the price attached to that seat at the time you buy the ticket.
But when you use electricity, you usually pay an average rate instead of paying what the rate is at the time you're using it.
Or that was true until ComEd offered its Residential Real-Time Pricing Program that lets you pay the going rate for kilowatts at the time you used them.
A reader we'll call Felicity e-mailed me with the details. (Normally, I'd do full disclosure, but we're using a pseudonym because her job could get a little ticked about her singing the praises of this program to me.)
The best part is when you can use free energy. That's right: FREE.
Felicity does a lot of wash very late or early.
"I'd look and find that the rates were in the negative price range (i.e. -.02 cents) or 0. Doesn't happen that often, but still pretty cool when it does. I'd always tell my husband the next morning that I did laundry for free," she said.
Felicity and her family have been on this new program for about a year and are seeing savings. Because they want to save dough, they use the electricity when the rates are low, meaning they use them when the rest of us aren't using a ton of electricity. This reduces the chance of brownouts and blackouts by spreading out use.
ComEd installs a special meter that records when you're using power. (It costs a little extra.)
The rest is up to you.
You can monitor the hourly kilowatt rates to make decisions on when you'll do electric-guzzling chores or whether it's really worth turning on the air conditioning.
Some examples Felicity gave: "Right now it's at 15.4 cents per kilowatt hour, so I went to the thermostat, shut off the air and put in a window fan. I also decided to make dinner in the crock pot instead of in the oven today. And if I get around to doing laundry, I'll do it later tonight when the rates are lower."
How do you know how much you're paying?
You can monitor prices at ComEd's site for the program, The Watt Spot , or by calling (866) WATTSPOT. And participants can sign up for notification by e-mail, text or phone if prices hit 10 or 14 cents per kilowatt hour (depending on your preference). For planning, you'll learn after 3:30 p.m. each day if the next day's prices are expected to go over those prices. The day-ahead notifications mean you can plan in advance. The day-of notifications mean you can change what you're doing that day to compensate.
When demand is high, power plants have to make more power, using up resources. If you use power during low-demand times, you're using what's already being made, not demanding that more be generated. This reduces emissions and resource use.
This works for Felicity. She's saving her family a lot.
This wouldn't work for me. I'd get obsessive. I'd be sitting in a sealed-up house with no AC when it was 99 degrees out because power was over 15 cents a kilowatt.
But if you care about saving money and you don't go overboard, you can probably make this work.
Would it work for you? Do you already have it? Feel free to e-mail me or comment below. (The comment form asks for your e-mail address. I'll see it, but no one else will.)
Julie Todd is the night editor at The Herald News in Joliet. She and her
husband are looking to cut the chemicals and get back to basics -- minus the
granola and hemp clothing. They live in a home they bought last year in
Plainfield, where they're making changes to create their own little patch of
utopia.
Here's another great idea about getting cheaper, greener power. It's more of a long-term solution really. But I think it's worth a look!
http://chicagodavesvoice.blogspot.com/2008/11/from-windy-city-to-wind-powered-city.html