New website helps members save energy and money

Beat the Peak ProgramMore than 7,250 mem­bers of elec­tric coop­er­a­tives around South Car­oli­na, includ­ing more than 550 mem­bers of York Elec­tric Coop­er­a­tive, are already help­ing their fel­low coop­er­a­tive mem­bers to reduce ener­gy use and costs through our Beat the Peak pro­gram.

In April, the coop­er­a­tives intro­duced a new web­site to encour­age more mem­bers to join in this tru­ly coop­er­a­tive effort. By join­ing the Beat the Peak pro­gram, you are team­ing up with the co-op to save on pow­er costs for every­one. If you’d like to join us, sign up at BeatThePeak.com.

By low­er­ing total ener­gy use when it is most expen­sive, the co-op can low­er total pow­er costs. Because elec­tric coop­er­a­tives are not-for-prof­it com­pa­nies, the sav­ings can be passed on to all the co-op’s mem­bers. As BeatThePeak.com also details, here are some pow­er­ful rea­sons to sup­port the effort.

First, what is Beat the Peak?

Beat the Peak is a co-op mem­ber noti­fi­ca­tion sys­tem that:

  • Teach­es you how elec­tric­i­ty use varies dur­ing the day and across the sea­sons of the year.
  • Helps you under­stand that you can help reduce elec­tric­i­ty use at spe­cif­ic times of the day across the whole elec­tric sys­tem.
  • Relates your choic­es about elec­tric­i­ty use to the broad­er effort to con­trol costs.
  • Allows you to vol­un­tar­i­ly sign up to receive notices of peak demand peri­ods.
  • Sends you noti­fi­ca­tions (via text, email and/or voice mes­sages) at times when you can help reduce elec­tric­i­ty use.
Quasha Dunham
Quasha Dun­ham helped pro­mote our Beat the Peak cam­paign, encour­ag­ing our mem­bers to reduce ener­gy usage dur­ing peak times to help keep elec­tric costs low. Sign up today at BeatThePeak.com!

Elec­tric­i­ty prices vary hourly?

Even though your elec­tric rate is flat, the cost of the pow­er we buy on your behalf does vary from hour to hour. High­er demand for elec­tric­i­ty caus­es util­i­ties to use more expen­sive fuels. Util­i­ties use their most effi­cient and least cost­ly gen­er­a­tors first. Then, as elec­tric­i­ty demand increas­es, util­i­ties turn on gen­er­a­tors that are less effi­cient or that use more expen­sive fuels. That’s why high­er elec­tric­i­ty use can mean high­er costs for your coop­er­a­tive. The demand for elec­tric­i­ty is great­est between 6 a.m. and 9 a.m. in win­ter months. In the sum­mer, peak elec­tric­i­ty demand occurs between 3 p.m. and 7 p.m.

How does it work?

Your coop­er­a­tive and its pow­er sup­pli­ers con­tin­u­al­ly mon­i­tor the demand for ener­gy. Using weath­er fore­casts and his­tor­i­cal ener­gy use data, they pre­dict when peak demand for elec­tric­i­ty will occur.

In advance of that time, you can be noti­fied by:

  • Email
  • Text mes­sage
  • Voice mes­sage

Dur­ing a Beat the Peak peak peri­od, you will receive a noti­fi­ca­tion ask­ing you to take cer­tain actions. Those actions could include:

  • Adjust­ing your ther­mo­stat by 3 degrees.
  • Turn­ing off lights.
  • Delay­ing the use of major appli­ances, such as dish­wash­ers, wash­ing machines and clothes dry­ers, until after the pre­dict­ed peak demand peri­od has passed.
  • Post­pon­ing hot water use, which will delay the acti­va­tion of elec­tric water heaters.

Sign up for Beat the Peak noti­fi­ca­tions at BeatThePeak.com. If you’re already sup­port­ing the pro­gram, be sure to like our Beat the Peak posts on Face­book!