Two recent member service interactions point to the importance of residential members creating a high energy use alert.

On September 20, Grantsboro service representative Jennifer Franklin reached out to a member in Wilson County about a prolonged spike in energy use at a seasonal residence in Hyde County. The typical daily energy consumption for the residence was 9 kilowatt hours (kWh) per day. It suddenly jumped to 169 kWh per day. To put that in dollars and cents that’s an increase from $1.08 to about $20.28 per day. Had Jennifer not made that phone call the member’s next electric bill would have been over $600.

Energy use graph for the Hyde County account

Energy use graph for the Beaufort County account

But it turns out that an exorbitant electric bill wasn’t the greatest peril the member faced. The member’s husband traveled to Hyde County on September 21 and found a malfunctioning HVAC switch in the attic that had melted and posed a serious fire hazard. The member subsequently enrolled in our high energy use alert program and will be notified anytime they use over 15 kWh in a 24-hour period.

A second energy use spike case was identified and solved on October 4. The Beaufort County member was traveling out of town when Franklin called to alert them to energy use that had reached 194 kWh in a single day. Franklin reached out to energy services manager Heidi Smith who, after looking at the member’s hourly meter readings, knew the source they were looking for was rated at 5,000 watts and suspected a malfunctioning heat strip on the heat pump. A neighbor met Smith at the house and as soon as the heat pump breaker was shut off the energy use came to all but a screeching halt. While the heat pump was actually set in the cooling mode with a thermostat setting of 85 degrees, the home was extremely warm on a cold weather day. While the compressor and blower were off, the heat from the malfunctioning heat strip was drifting constantly from the air registers. Had it gone undetected the member’s next electric bill would have easily exceeded $620. The following day, the home used 6 kWh.

“From an energy auditor’s perspective, this is an ideal situation to find the culprit in real time,” said Smith. “After a high bill is rendered we’re trying to go back in time after so many conditions may have changed. A high energy use alert is the most important tool members have to prevent high bills and everyone should embrace it.”