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07-14-2007, 01:42 AM
http://news.tbo.com/news/metro/MGBOM61124F.html
TECO Lets Customers Choose Rate
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By RUSSELL RAY The Tampa Tribune
Published: Jul 13, 2007
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TAMPA - Frank and Margie Giordano of Northdale were paying more than $300 a month on electricity until they signed up for a Tampa Electric Co. pilot program last year designed to help customers regulate consumption - and save money.
Since signing up for the program in June 2006, the Giordanos have trimmed electricity costs, saving $328 during the past year, or about $27 a month. "I haven't had a $300 bill since I've been on the program," Frank Giordano said.
Instead of paying the rate a typical Tampa Electric customer pays, the Giordanos pay a rate that fluctuates during the day. Using a new-generationthermostat that can send wireless signals to individual appliances, the couple can cut off power to appliances when power prices are high and turn power back on when prices are lower.
"If you respond to the price signal that we're sending and you shift accordingly, you will see a lower electric bill," said Denise Jordan, director of regulatory affairs at TECO.
The Giordanos are one of 250 residential customers participating in TECO's pilot program, dubbed the Energy Planner Program.
The company, which provides electricity to 650,000 customers in the Tampa Bay area, plans to begin offering the energy savings program permanently to residential customers early next year. The company also hopes to begin offering the program to commercial customers, although the timing of that is not set.
Pilot Program Is Breaking Ground
TECO is one of the first utilities in the nation to offer such a program, said Don Von Dollen, of the Electric Power Research Institute, though more utilities are expected to follow suit as pressures to control energy use and costs increase.
"They are one of these early adopters of something I think every company is going to be going to in the very near future," Von Dollen said. "The technology and the concept is very new."
Consumer frustration over rising electricity costs and concerns about global warming are expected to prompt other utilities to offer similar programs, he predicts. Their mission will be to conserve energy without forcing customers to sit in the dark or take cold showers, he said.
"We want to make energy efficiency as painless as you possibly can and to use technology to do that," Von Dollen said.
Under TECO's Energy Planner Program, the Giordanos pay electric rates at four levels: low, medium, high and critical.
The typical residential TECO customer pays a standard rate of 11 cents per kilowatt-hour, which is equal to a 100-watt lightbulb burning for 10 hours.
The Giordanos, however, can choose to use power at a low rate of 8.2 cents per kwh or a medium rate of 9.7 cents. At the high rate of 15.4 cents per kwh, the Giordanos can program a "smart" thermostat TECO installed in their home to shut off power to their air conditioner, pool pump or hot water heater.
Under the energy savings program, the lowest rate is available from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. and the highest rate is active during peak usage between 1 and 6 p.m. Critical rates can be triggered at any time, depending on unforeseen events such as a power plant going down or a huge spike in demand.
The low and medium rates are available 87 percent of the time, said Keri Schaffner, an energy management specialist at TECO.
"The low and the medium rates are less than what you pay as a typical customer," Schaffner said. "The rate structure is the same. You just choose to use it when it's cheaper."
In the afternoon, when power prices are highest, electricity to the Giordanos' hot water heater is cut off.
"That's what I had to adjust to," Margie Giordano said. "If I want to go take a shower at 3 o'clock in the afternoon, I can't, because the water is not hot."
When power prices are high, the thermostat can be programmed to kick the temperature setting for the home up a few degrees, thus drawing less power.
The Giordanos, who work out of their homeas financial planners, can override the program if they want to crank up the air conditioner or take a hot shower when power prices are high. But they say they rarely bypass the system. "We have adjusted to it, and it's no problem," Margie Giordano said.
Savings can be significant, TECO's Schaffner said. Customers can cut their electric bill by about $10 a monthjust by running the pool pump during the wee hours of night, when rates are lowest.
"That doesn't include the water heater and your air-conditioning unit," Schaffner said. "If you're really conscious about your usage, you can save good money."
Average Saving Is About 10%
The 250 customers participating in the pilot program have trimmed monthly electric bills by an average of 10 percent to 12 percent, said Dee Brown, vice president of regulatory affairs and customer service at TECO.
"It's in their hands. It's not in the electric company's hands," Brown said.
TECO has asked the Public Service Commission for permission to offer the program to residential customers permanently. The utility expects to receive approval this year.
"We're hoping to get up to 1,500 participants a year," Brown said.
TECO said it plans to provide the new thermostats at no cost and won't charge a monthly fee to participate in the program.
Brown, at TECO, said the program is far more advanced than traditional energy management programs offered by most electric utilities. Under those programs, the customer receives a credit for giving the utility permission to cut off power to appliances via radio signal during periods of peak demand. The credit is the same regardless of the number of times that power is cycled off.
St. Petersburg-based Progress Energy Florida, which provides electricity to Pinellas County customers and is the state's second-largest electric utility, said it has no plans to offer a similar program. Instead it plans to continue to focus on offering customers more than 100 ways to reduce electricity costs and conserve energy.
"We have them all," said John Masiello, director of demand-side management and energy efficiency at Progress Energy.
For example, Progress said customers can save up to $145 a year under a program that allows the utility to shut off power to appliances during periods of peak demand.
To generate more customer participation, the company recently launched a $3.7 million advertising campaign that highlights the utility's growing number of energy efficiency programs.
"I don't know that there's a whole lot more we can do in terms of what you can do to save energy," Masiello said, adding that creating more consumer awareness is a priority. "It's the critical component that's required and needed at this point."
Reporter Russell Ray can be reached at (813) 259-7870 or rray@tampatrib.com.
TECO Lets Customers Choose Rate
Skip directly to the full story.
By RUSSELL RAY The Tampa Tribune
Published: Jul 13, 2007
ADVERTISEMENT
More from this channel:
Search for more information:
TBO.com Site Search | Tribune archive from 1990
TAMPA - Frank and Margie Giordano of Northdale were paying more than $300 a month on electricity until they signed up for a Tampa Electric Co. pilot program last year designed to help customers regulate consumption - and save money.
Since signing up for the program in June 2006, the Giordanos have trimmed electricity costs, saving $328 during the past year, or about $27 a month. "I haven't had a $300 bill since I've been on the program," Frank Giordano said.
Instead of paying the rate a typical Tampa Electric customer pays, the Giordanos pay a rate that fluctuates during the day. Using a new-generationthermostat that can send wireless signals to individual appliances, the couple can cut off power to appliances when power prices are high and turn power back on when prices are lower.
"If you respond to the price signal that we're sending and you shift accordingly, you will see a lower electric bill," said Denise Jordan, director of regulatory affairs at TECO.
The Giordanos are one of 250 residential customers participating in TECO's pilot program, dubbed the Energy Planner Program.
The company, which provides electricity to 650,000 customers in the Tampa Bay area, plans to begin offering the energy savings program permanently to residential customers early next year. The company also hopes to begin offering the program to commercial customers, although the timing of that is not set.
Pilot Program Is Breaking Ground
TECO is one of the first utilities in the nation to offer such a program, said Don Von Dollen, of the Electric Power Research Institute, though more utilities are expected to follow suit as pressures to control energy use and costs increase.
"They are one of these early adopters of something I think every company is going to be going to in the very near future," Von Dollen said. "The technology and the concept is very new."
Consumer frustration over rising electricity costs and concerns about global warming are expected to prompt other utilities to offer similar programs, he predicts. Their mission will be to conserve energy without forcing customers to sit in the dark or take cold showers, he said.
"We want to make energy efficiency as painless as you possibly can and to use technology to do that," Von Dollen said.
Under TECO's Energy Planner Program, the Giordanos pay electric rates at four levels: low, medium, high and critical.
The typical residential TECO customer pays a standard rate of 11 cents per kilowatt-hour, which is equal to a 100-watt lightbulb burning for 10 hours.
The Giordanos, however, can choose to use power at a low rate of 8.2 cents per kwh or a medium rate of 9.7 cents. At the high rate of 15.4 cents per kwh, the Giordanos can program a "smart" thermostat TECO installed in their home to shut off power to their air conditioner, pool pump or hot water heater.
Under the energy savings program, the lowest rate is available from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. and the highest rate is active during peak usage between 1 and 6 p.m. Critical rates can be triggered at any time, depending on unforeseen events such as a power plant going down or a huge spike in demand.
The low and medium rates are available 87 percent of the time, said Keri Schaffner, an energy management specialist at TECO.
"The low and the medium rates are less than what you pay as a typical customer," Schaffner said. "The rate structure is the same. You just choose to use it when it's cheaper."
In the afternoon, when power prices are highest, electricity to the Giordanos' hot water heater is cut off.
"That's what I had to adjust to," Margie Giordano said. "If I want to go take a shower at 3 o'clock in the afternoon, I can't, because the water is not hot."
When power prices are high, the thermostat can be programmed to kick the temperature setting for the home up a few degrees, thus drawing less power.
The Giordanos, who work out of their homeas financial planners, can override the program if they want to crank up the air conditioner or take a hot shower when power prices are high. But they say they rarely bypass the system. "We have adjusted to it, and it's no problem," Margie Giordano said.
Savings can be significant, TECO's Schaffner said. Customers can cut their electric bill by about $10 a monthjust by running the pool pump during the wee hours of night, when rates are lowest.
"That doesn't include the water heater and your air-conditioning unit," Schaffner said. "If you're really conscious about your usage, you can save good money."
Average Saving Is About 10%
The 250 customers participating in the pilot program have trimmed monthly electric bills by an average of 10 percent to 12 percent, said Dee Brown, vice president of regulatory affairs and customer service at TECO.
"It's in their hands. It's not in the electric company's hands," Brown said.
TECO has asked the Public Service Commission for permission to offer the program to residential customers permanently. The utility expects to receive approval this year.
"We're hoping to get up to 1,500 participants a year," Brown said.
TECO said it plans to provide the new thermostats at no cost and won't charge a monthly fee to participate in the program.
Brown, at TECO, said the program is far more advanced than traditional energy management programs offered by most electric utilities. Under those programs, the customer receives a credit for giving the utility permission to cut off power to appliances via radio signal during periods of peak demand. The credit is the same regardless of the number of times that power is cycled off.
St. Petersburg-based Progress Energy Florida, which provides electricity to Pinellas County customers and is the state's second-largest electric utility, said it has no plans to offer a similar program. Instead it plans to continue to focus on offering customers more than 100 ways to reduce electricity costs and conserve energy.
"We have them all," said John Masiello, director of demand-side management and energy efficiency at Progress Energy.
For example, Progress said customers can save up to $145 a year under a program that allows the utility to shut off power to appliances during periods of peak demand.
To generate more customer participation, the company recently launched a $3.7 million advertising campaign that highlights the utility's growing number of energy efficiency programs.
"I don't know that there's a whole lot more we can do in terms of what you can do to save energy," Masiello said, adding that creating more consumer awareness is a priority. "It's the critical component that's required and needed at this point."
Reporter Russell Ray can be reached at (813) 259-7870 or rray@tampatrib.com.