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Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Delaware Electric Cooperative "Peak Alert"

“Peak Alert”

TONIGHT

Be Energy Aware Between

5 P.M. & 8 P.M.
TONIGHT, November 19

Between the hours of 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. tonight, November 19 we are asking you to turn off all unnecessary lights or appliances that may not be needed.

In addition, whenever you can, please delay major appliance usage such as dishwashers, washing machines and clothes dryers, and if you can, delay any hot water usage.
By reducing our peak demand during these hours we save energy resources and the environment.

We need your help. Together we can “Beat The Peak”
Thank you.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is absurd! When are people suppose to give their children baths? You can't do it in the morning before school and it looks like you can't do it at night after dinner unless you want to do it after 9pm. Not to mention all the other things they are not suppose to do. I guess they should just sit in the dark and huddle around a candle for heat!

Anonymous said...

Why don't they fix the system? Are they going to wait until it breaks and ask for a rate increase and bail out money? They need to send the CEO packing!

Daddio said...

Here is a solution: Switch off your water heater until after 8 PM. There is plenty of hot water in the tank for baths between now and then.

My water heater does not heat during these peak periods, but I can still take a shower or bath if I need to, since there is 50 gallons of water already hot in the tank.

Anonymous said...

Build a campfire in your bathtub and when it gets hot, douse it with the cold water. You get warm water and the charcoal will make them odor- free. It will also give them farmen sumpin ta do...

Daddio said...

5:17 you apparently have no clue as to how wholesale electricity is purchased.

The grid is just fine, and can handle lots of juice. The hottest summer day will have much more load than today.

The situation boils down to what it costs the cooperative to provide service during times of peak demand every month.

The CEO has nothing to do with this. In fact, they are doing their jobs by alerting the public during these times of peak demand.

AS for a rate increase, go ahead and use lots of power during peak demand periods and you will contribute to the need for rate increases.

The Coop is selling you electricity for maybe $.13 per kilo-watt, give or take a couple of cents. Right now, during this period of peak demand, it might be costing them over 10 times that amount. Selling the power to you at a loss, just so you can keep your lights on, and your heat pump going, your hot water heater operating, etc. You get the picture?

If you really cared about your rates, you would conserve during the peak demand periods such as we are experiencing now. This ensures lower costs to the Coops, which in turn are passed on to the customers in the form of lower overall rates, or higher overall rates, depending on whether you were willing to conserve when asked to.