This issue of Tideland Topics discusses ways you can take control of your energy use with an emphasis on the winter season. One of the best tools at your disposal year round is access to the Tideland EMC Member Portal. If you haven’t already activated your Member Portal login, I encourage you to do so by visiting tidelandemc.com and clicking on the link to the secure site.

The Member Portal is much more than a repository for your billing information. Under the MY USAGE tab is a Usage History option. That opens up a page that allows you to access incredible details related to your energy consumption. All members can access their daily energy consumption. Depending on the age of your meter and rate type, you can access your hourly energy consumption or your energy use in 15-minute intervals.

There are any number of datapoints you can pull up and overlay on your consumption data to better understand what may drive your energy use. They include cloud cover, wind speed, the outdoor temperature, heating degree days, and cooling degree days.

There’s also a notation feature that allows you to document events that may have impacted your energy consumption. For example, if you had guests over you could create a note for the day they arrived and another for the day they departed. You could document the date of a new HVAC system installation or the day you left for vacation.

While you are logged into the Member Portal be sure to visit the MY ALERTS tab. Here you can set up alerts and reminders to ensure you meet your energy use goals. There are three types of energy use alerts. You can choose to have them sent via text or email or both.

1The first option is a daily energy use alert. Every afternoon you will receive a message that tells you how much energy you used the previous day. This is a particularly helpful alert if you have just moved into a new home and want to get a feel for what energy costs are running.

2Another option is to sign up for high energy use alerts. To set up this alert you will need to type in a DAILY dollar threshold. For example, if your goal is to not have an electric bill that exceeds $210, then you would want to divide that amount by 30 days and type in $7.00 as your high use alert. You would only receive a notice on the days that you exceeded $7.00 in kWh consumption.

3And yes, there is also a low use alert. That may seem odd but if you are an absentee homeowner you may want to know if something is no longer working at your home and the low use alert could do just that.

Make 2021 the year that you embrace the Power of the Portal. Your wallet will be glad you did.