BEAT THE PEAK TO HELP KEEP RATES LOW

Avoiding energy use during peak time periods is one of the most effective ways to save on your electricity bill.

Time Is Money: Understanding Peak Times

You’ve heard that time is money and that’s especially true when it comes to electricity use. The time of day in which you use energy is a big factor in how much Piedmont Electric pays for energy and ultimately how much we have to charge our members.

Simply put, peak times are the hours of the day when our members are using the greatest amount of electricity. During the summer, this is often on weekday afternoons during the hottest parts of the day, when people are coming home from work, cooking dinner and generally using more energy.

When this demand for energy increases across our cooperative, our power supply costs also increase since this is the most expensive time of day to produce energy. This leads to higher bills for everyone.

For more great tips visit pemc.coop/energy-saving-tips today!

Luckily, the opposite is also true. By working collectively to avoid excess energy use during these peak times, we can decrease the demand and help lower the cost of energy for the co-op as a whole which means savings we can pass along to you.

When we talk about “beating the peak” we mean finding ways to reduce energy use during these peak times so we can all save money. This is as easy as shifting high-energy activities to other times of the day.

Easy Ways to Beat the Peak

Wait to run the dishwasher at 8 p.m. instead of 5 p.m.

Grill your dinner instead of cooking it in the oven

Wash and dry your clothes later in the day instead of right when you get home

• Take showers in the morning instead of at night

• Raise your thermostat to 78°F in the summer

• Use ceiling fans to cool off while raising the thermostat to save energy.

Turn off unnecessary lights during the afternoon

During the summer, it’s normal to see higher levels of energy consumption across the cooperative. The kids are home for summer vacation, more of us are using our air conditioning and ceiling fans are usually on full blast.

As we mentioned, being mindful of peak times can go a long way in helping us all save money, but that’s just the beginning. Joining our energy-saving programs can make it easier to avoid excess energy use during peak periods, so you can see more of an impact on your bill.

Time-of-Day Rates

With our time-of-day rate, you’ll pay a lower rate for the energy you use during off-peak hours. So, when you implement the tips listed on the previous page, you’ll help reduce our peak demand and pay lower energy costs in the process.

Smart Thermostat Savings Program

When you allow Piedmont Electric to adjust the temperature on your Nest thermostat through your in-home Wi-Fi on very hot summer weekdays, you’ll save on energy costs and receive a bill credit from June through September. These adjustments are often made during peak times for maximum savings.