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I received a flyer from Progress Energy today, entitled, "YOU have the power to help change our energy future."
I've read the following paragraph, and no way. I don't want some energy company communicating with my central air-conditioning system and reducing energy consumption. Part of the flyer reads as follows:
"How EnergyWise works"
"When you enroll, we install smart, proven technology at your home that communicates with your central air conditioning system. This technology allows us to temporarily reduce energy consumption during times of unusually high energy demand by cycling power off and on to your air conditioner compressor."
"When activated, the cycles occur at 10, to 15-minute intervals for up to four hours, typically between 1 and 7 p.m."
And for all of this, you will receive an outrageously generous $25 credit as their thanks, annually!\
I would do it in a heartbeat.
Something around here ought to be smarter than that expensive thermostat we had installed in a moment of weakness...
They used to do this, years ago, and some of the old mechanisms are still around on the side of homes. They let Carolina Power and Light cut back AC function when extreme heat pushed usage over their production/grid capacity.
I have heard a lot of very dissatisfied comments by people who tried this years ago. It seems that the very time they needed their heat or air conditioning was the time it was cut. I know it is not for me. I automatically help the electric companies by doing laundry, etc. at odd hours. I am drying clothes this minute. I think they would do better to let us all know when the peak hours are and maybe it would be convenient for us to do things on a more rotating basis. Our dishwasher has a six hour delay and will start automatically up to six hours after you start it. It would be no problem for me to do the dishes in the middle of the night.
My house in Apex had this - it was already installed when I bought the house. I got a small credit on my bill each month and frankly I'm not sure if the A/C was ever turned off. Or if it was, it wasn't noticeable. I'd probably sign up for it at my current house - the only downside is that my back yard gates are kept padlocked at all times, so I'd have to be home when they installed the device.
I had something like this a few years ago when I lived in another southern state. Never noticed it affecting my A/C. The financial structure was a bit different there - you got a lower rate rather than an annual credit.
Bringing this back to the top - has anyone signed up for this? What is the downside? I want to do my part to curb energy usage but I dont like the idea of letting my utility company control the comfort level in my house...I can just see it being 100 degrees outside, me coming home after a long day and it being warmer in my house than usual with us sitting there going "when is the damn AC going to come back on?"
Am I off-base in my worries? For $25 a year it just doesnt seem worth it.
Hard to say if $25 is worth it, but that ought to give you a sense of just how much "control" the power company will, on average, exercise over any one user's power consumption. They're not offering huge savings, because they will only incrementally affect individual users. A tiny bit of savings in power conusmptions from many users can really help the power company many peak demand during extreme periods. I doubt they will turn off any one user's AC systems for more than a few minutes at a time.
As I mentioned above, I participated in a similar program elsewhere were the climate was comparable, and never noticed any impact at all.
I live on the second floor of a two story apartment complex and I believe it actually cost me MORE to use it in the summer months. When it is remotely activated it quickly becomes warm in here and the fan (without benefit of cool air) kicks on and runs constantly trying to keep the temperature down. When normal activity resumes, the fan will push cool air through and it will finally shut off only to have it remotely reactivated a short time later. Temporary reduced energy consumption means they turn off the cooling feature of the a/c during the times I need it most.
I was told, the savings is around $5.00 per month and $2.00 more if it is installed on the hot water heater as well.
If your living environment is anything like mine (and you have a choice) I would strongly suggest not doing it. I don't even get savings. The owners of the apartment complex do.
Revamping this post is very timely, to me at least. While I feel we all should do our personal part to regulate our energy usage, it should be just that - an individual responsibility. We got this same letter over a year ago from Progress. Putting control of your home's heat, etc. in the hands of big business is just a bad idea. If you do more research on the topic, you'll see that there is legislation in Congress right now suggesting that the power grids should be nationalized, giving our government control over shutting them down. It falls under the guise of "cyber security". CNN did a whole report on it last night. Giving the government more control over my life? No thanks.
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