Using Electric Utility Billing Rates To Drive Off-Peak Use

Regardless of what happens with renewables, we can all agree that energy efficiency represents a large part of getting where we need to be in terms of sustainability. But trying to make sense of utilities’ billing policies for on- and off-peak usage — ostensibily aimed at encouraging sensible energy consumption — is impossible. Here’s a really good article by a consultant in the area that suggests the need for a simpler way of expressing the issues to the typical consumer. But isn’t the article itself 90 miles over the head of most of us?

I wrote to its author, and asked him this: In a world with time-of-use metering, what exactly is the problem with extremely clear, consumer-friendly wording that lays out a pricing structure that encourages off-peak consumption? Can’t we tell consumers that they will pay through the nose for electricity at 2 PM – 6 PM, but that they will get it for a small fraction of that at 3 AM — a time at which the utilities can sell it quite profitably? And if we do, won’t most folks adjust their lives accordingly? People (the vast majority of us) who care about our utility bills understand this, and react accordingly.

I don’t understand why this subject has to be so complicated. If I’m missing something, I hope someone will clue me in.