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March Manager's Column

IT'S ABOUT TIME

by Robert L. Hance

It’s about 3:30 p.m. The kids get off the bus thinking about what they might scrounge up for a snack. After standing in front of the open refrigerator for a few minutes, they make their selections and head their separate ways. One sits in front of the television for some down time while the other cranks up the music and engages in a little instant-messaging at the computer.

A little after 5, Mom and Dad arrive home from work. Dad turns on another television to catch up on the day’s news while he helps Mom prepare dinner. As the casserole cooks, Dad starts a load of laundry while Mom helps with homework at the computer. After dinner, Mom switches the laundry as Dad loads and starts the dishwasher. By 7 p.m., the chores are done and everyone gathers for a little family time at the television before scattering to wrap up the day.

While this may not be your exact scenario, a similar pattern takes place in homes across the country. The house “wakes up” in the late afternoon and early evening hours as families arrive home and begin using lights, heating/cooling systems, computers, stoves, televisions, stereos, washers/dryers and dishwashers. We flip switches and engage with life with little thought about the commodity that allows this to happen.

I want you to start giving it some thought.

In our business we pay attention to things like load curves. It’s the graph that shows us that the scenario described above is indeed taking place. Technology allows us to monitor electric usage, on individual accounts or on our system as a whole. The resulting load curves show us the peaks and valleys of electric usage, which is a helpful tool in working with customers on account and billing issues.

Our bigger interest with load curves, however, is the impact they have on the financial bottom line of this business. And because this is YOUR business, you should share that interest.

Power supply is obviously a key component of your bill. We do not generate any of the electricity used by our members. We are a member of a generation and transmission cooperative (G&T) which buys power on the wholesale market on behalf of its 28 member systems. Every year we estimate our annual power supply costs and budget accordingly. However, because the power is purchased on the open market, the actual costs are often more or less than what we budget, so any overcollection or undercollection based on actual costs is included on your bill as the Power Cost Adjustment.

Electricity is like any other commodity on the open market. When the demand is high, so is the price. So anything that we can do to help manage the overall system load during the times of peak usage helps our power supplier to buy electricity at a lower cost. That helps keep our monthly power supply costs down which ultimately benefits you.

It’s not an easy concept to grasp, but boils down to a very simple approach. If each of us pays attention to our usage during traditional peak times, everyone in the G&T system potentially saves. And although our G&T system is comprised of cooperatives serving customers in five different states, one common component is that each cooperative typically has peak usage between 3-7 p.m. on weekdays.

It’s about time, and it’s about changing habits. If you can delay certain activities, like those requiring a water heater or water pump, and if you can keep your thermostat set a little higher or lower (depending on the season) during the peak periods, then you are helping to reduce load.  

Every efficiency effort you put into place can reduce your monthly usage. And every attempt you make related to managing electric load during peak periods can ultimately lower power supply costs. Each of us can make a difference.

It’s all about time.