I'm specifically talking about Duke's EnergyWise program, but I'm fairly sure utilities everywhere are adopting similar programs. The idea is that they tie into your major appliances (i.e., heatpump and hot water heater) – during high demand they can temporarily shut off your appliances (maximum of like 16m at a time) and in return you get a credit of up to ~$150 on your power bill over the course of a year.
What are the gotchas for this kind of program? Assuming I'm ok with them occasionally turning off my heat pump and hot water heater for a few minutes every now and then, should I be concerned with anything else?
Best Answer
"What fresh hell is this?" Dorothy Parker
It must be for electric appliances only? It sounds like the biggest pitfall is having no energy when you want it... A one-time $150 credit sounds like a terrible deal. Even $150 every year is small change compared to most yearly utility bills, and the annoyance this could cause.
Here's their image of when you could get your power "cycled" off. Approximately 45% of your possible heat anywhere from 6AM to 11AM, and 6PM to 11PM, and 45% of your possible cooling from 1PM to 11PM. Basically anytime most people are at home and awake:
You might not even get any credits either, it says "To earn credits, customers must meet minimum energy requirements. Customers with lower energy usage may not qualify." I don't see the minimum energy requirements specified anywhere, other than the "exceeding 600KWh/month you'll get credits even with no cycles" below.
Some problems I found in their own FAQs on their page for Florida:
So you could be "cycled off" at anytime, really. Not just "peak usage periods."
So basically you could end up with no hot water during your shower, especially if it's right after you put in a load of laundry using hot water.
Their page is unclear, but if there is an external "EnergyWise Home box" that controls power going to the whole appliance, and if it's red light is on then the appliance has no power. With everything being computer-controlled now, just pulling the plug on an appliance is NOT how the thermostat works. Pulling the plug on any computer isn't usually a good idea, so I don't 100% believe their "no damage" claim.
And with the whole heat/AC system off, that probably includes the basic blower fan, so not only is there no heat/AC but there's not even a breeze to move the air around.
But, elsewhere it says you must have "equipment compatible with EnergyWise Home program technology" so it's possible their box really does just turn off the thermostat, keeping the other power/fan going, so that would sound ok.
So you'll only have heat/AC for 13.5 x 2 = 27 minutes an hour at the absolute maximum. So about 45% "power" of what you could have. For an extremely cold/hot day it would take twice as long to heat/cool, or you'll just stay colder/hotter than you like.
I would disagree here, if it's well below zero (maybe not very applicable to Florida, but it could happen, more to other states) then 5 minutes an hour sounds inadequate to prevent freezing. Even if the whole pool would take hours to freeze, once the small pump itself freezes it's game over.
This sounds excruciatingly annoying, I'd rather pay $150 than fiddle with changing a timer 4+ times a year and checking/adjusting it's clock every month.
Maybe if you've got mainly gas appliances (furnace / pool heater / water heater) then just one being forced off sometimes might not affect you much at all, a pool would probably take the longest to cool down & notice. But then you won't get the full credits anyway.
If you never notice hot vs warm water & air, and meet their "minimum energy [usage] requirements" then maybe it's for you. I'd say switching to gas might be a better idea, depending on your local electricity vs gas prices. Or even propane & your own tank if that's possible.