What changes have been made to the time-of-use rate?

We’ve simplified the rate with the elimination of kW demand as a billing component. It was always a difficult concept to convey and if you didn’t understand it the results could be rather punitive. Instead, the new rate will have an on-peak kilowatt hour (kWh) rate and an off-peak kWh rate. And they won’t change seasonally.

Weekends and holidays will no longer be treated as off-peak days. Why? Because we recently experienced a wholesale power billing peak outside of the typical Monday-Friday hours due to extreme temperature events. So, while unfortunate, this change is necessary. However … (drum roll please) …

We are reducing the on-peak hours in winter and summer by one hour each. Whereas the on-peak hours are currently 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. in winter and 4 pm to 8 pm in summer, effective March 1 the new hours will be 6 a.m. to 8 a.m. (winter), and 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. (summer). That means 90% of all the hours in a year will be off-peak with a rate of 8.069¢. The remaining 10% of the hours will be billed at 50¢ per kWh.

The revised time-of-use rate will no longer require a special demand meter. Now any residential meter, once programmed by a Tideland EMC technician, can be utilized for the new time-of-use rate.

What is my savings potential?

Your potential to save with the new time-of-use rate will be directly tied to your individual efforts to reduce energy consumption during the on-peak hours.

The truth is, no two homes have the exact same energy profile. Your lifestyle, work schedule, family demands, connected household equipment and opportunities to manage how and when you use electricity are unique to you. That’s why you will see us repeatedly referring you to the member portal so you can access the energy history and kWh consumption data specific to your home. So if you have not familiarized yourself with the member portal, that should be the first thing you do when you finish this article.

That said, let’s begin with a comparison of the new residential rates effective March 1. All residential rates include a basic facilities charge and all rate classes are subject to a wholesale power cost adjustment factor (a per kWh charge or credit), a NC Renewal Energy Portfolio Standards fee (30¢ per month), and NC sales tax (7%). Those are the same for all residential rate schedules regardless of time-of-use designation.

So the comparison begins and ends with energy costs which are all calculated on a per kWh basis.

Our standard residential rate continues to be a seasonal rate that reflects the cooperative’s higher costs when meeting summer demand in Tideland territory. The new time-of-use rate will no longer have a seasonal billing component. The only thing that will change from winter to summer are the rate’s on-peak hours: 6 a.m. to 8 a.m. in winter, and 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. in summer.

The off-peak time-of-use kWh rate of 8.069¢ is 42% lower than summer residential rates and 37% lower than winter residential rates. With off-peak hours making up 90% of the hours in a year that provides what could be a very impressive starting point on your savings journey.

The opportunity to achieve bottom line savings with the new time-of-use rate rests entirely with the calculation of your on-peak energy costs. At 50¢ per kWh used on-peak (10% of the hours in a year), energy used during those hours will be 261% higher than the standard summer rate and 292% higher than the winter rate. Success or failure depends on your willingness and ability to drill down on that 10% of hours in the year and manage your way to savings.

Now do you see why familiarizing yourself with the portal data and your individual patterns of energy use is integrally important to your evaluation of the time-of-use rate? If you can rein in energy use during that 10% window you could score a time-of-use win. If you go on the rate and don’t pay attention to detail, you could lose. Savings are not automatic and they aren’t guaranteed.

We can measure, but can you manage?

So the portal provides the measurements, now you have to decide if you can manage the on-peak window of energy use. Let’s start with winter patterns of behavior during the on-peak hours of 6 a.m. to 8 a.m.

If you heat with electricity you want a way to reduce system run time during those two hours. Now you could go commando and cut the heat off from 6 a.m. to 8 a.m. daily and maybe find yourself in divorce court after your spouse thaws out from the cold.

A better option might be to install a programmable thermostat and have your heat pump or electric furnace preheat your home to 71° before 6 a.m. (with 8.069¢ electricity) and then program it to lower the thermostat to 68° from 6 a.m. to 8 a.m. and resume normal operation the rest of the day. (Note: thermostat settings are in the eye of the beholder. This article focuses on degree differentials for thermostat programming purposes and not the setting itself. You do you and we won’t judge!)
Now let’s look at water heating. Fortunately, the vast majority of Tideland members have a storage tank electric water heater. With the time-of-use rate we can now treat it like a battery that has the ability to store and deliver hot water when you need it. The key is to keep it from heating replacement water during the peak hours. That can be achieved through the installation of a timer. Even if you are not on the time-of-use rate, a timer can pay for itself in year-round energy savings so you have nothing to lose by installing one. (Note: most of today’s heat pump water heaters come equipped with an integrated timer so you can take advantage of off-peak pricing).

Alternatively, you could adjust your schedule and take showers at night and schedule dishwashing and other hot water tasks during any of the 22 remaining winter hours when electricity is billed at the 8.067¢ off-peak rate. So a timer isn’t required if you can manage scheduling on your own.

That being said, this rate would be challenging for a home with a tankless electric water heater. With no storage capacity, you’d take the full brunt of the on-peak energy costs every time you turned it on during the management window. So keep that in mind when selecting a water heating system.

What other energy loads lend themselves to management strategies? Clothes drying can easily be scheduled during off-peak hours. If you have a swimming pool or hot tub a timer can ensure they always operate off-peak. Electric vehicle owners would absolutely need to do all their charging off-peak and most charging devices or vehicle apps have integrated timing controls for that purpose.

Now we know the biscuit makers among you are going to ask about the oven. Here’s our real world advice: the time-of-use electric rate should be about balance. Sure, you can go commando to wring every last bit of savings out of this rate. Maybe that’s your thing, so own it!

However, if you want to balance savings with the things that bring comfort to your daily life, then bake those biscuits while also keeping your thermostat down, your water heater off and that load of laundry can wait for later. Or maybe those biscuits taste better at 8.069¢ a kWh and you get up a little earlier to bake. That’s the beauty of the time-of-use rate: you’re in control of your energy fate.

Next steps

Log into the member portal. Under the My Account tab, click Usage History. Scroll down to Compare Usage Data and click the blue arrow. Populate each date column so you can see your hourly/15-minute kwh consumption data. Since we’re in winter, pay close attention to your energy use between the on-peak hours of 6 a.m. and 8 a.m. Think about your schedule during those hours and what opportunities exists to shift energy use to off-peak hours.

Do the same for the summer on-peak hours of 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Then if you want to talk further about the rate, send an email to heidismith@tidelandemc.com and she’ll schedule a time to chat.

After that we’ll schedule meter programming, mail you some handy dandy time-of-use appliance magnets, and coordinate your rate start time.

Ready, set, save!