Tag Archives: electricity rates

What are off-peak electricity hours?

It’s becoming increasingly popular for utilities to offer time-of-use (TOU) plans to their residential customers. In a standard electricity plan, you pay the same rate for your electricity regardless of the time of day. However, with TOU plans, the rate you pay for electricity depends on the time energy is drawn from the grid. So, you’ll pay different amounts based on a schedule developed by your utility company of peak hours, off-peak hours, and in some cases, super off-peak or partial-peak hours. We discuss what this means for you and how it impacts your electric bill.

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Understanding time-of-use (TOU) rates

Across the country, utilities are beginning to introduce innovative rate structures for residential energy consumers. These rate structures–from time-of-use rates to demand charges to real-time-pricing–all have a common goal: to incentivize customers to consume energy during times when the cost of generating electricity is cheap, and to disincentive energy consumption when the cost of generating electricity is high. As a result, understanding the ins and outs of a time-of-use rate can help you reduce your monthly cost of energy.

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How many watts does a Peloton exercise bike use?

Peloton is all the rage, and home exercise equipment in general is more popular than ever. Their exercise bikes are more or less unique on the market in that they actually consume energy, which powers the large touchscreen on the front, where you watch and participate in classes. While not nearly as power-hungry as appliances like air conditioners or washing machines, it can be helpful to know how much electricity your Peloton uses when you’re looking at your whole home’s energy usage.

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How many watts does an electric oven and stove use?

We use ovens and stoves to cook all the time, and these days, electric ovens are only gaining in popularity. While not quite as power-hungry as whole-home appliances like air conditioners, it’s important to know how much electricity your oven and stove uses when you’re looking at your whole home’s energy usage, especially because they are relatively high wattage devices.

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How electricity rates impact solar savings

Have you heard that solar panels only make sense in sunny states? Well, don’t believe it for a second – while it’s true that solar panels typically produce more electricity in sunnier areas of the country, how much you can save from installing solar panels rests heavily on one major factor: the costs you avoid paying your utility company for electricity.

People all over the country–even those that live in cloudy areas–can reap solar savings. Generally speaking, the higher your electricity rates, the more money you can save by switching to solar.

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Best places to own an EV

Electric vehicles (EVs) are becoming increasingly popular around the world. However, some places are more EV-friendly than others because of financial or convenience reasons. In this article, we’ll break down what factors make a place more or less suitable to own an EV, as well as call out some of the best states in the U.S. for electric car ownership.

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What is critical peak pricing?

As we continue to move towards a more modern grid–and a more educated electricity user!–utilities across the country are beginning to introduce electricity rates that better align the price we pay for electricity with the cost of producing it by varying the price of electricity based on the time it’s consumed. Critical peak pricing (CPP) is one such time varying rate plan that charges more for electricity during certain periods of peak demand, but also allows you to lower electricity spending–and even receive bill credits–by reducing usage during these times.

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What is peak demand and how can you reduce it?

The electricity grid is designed to provide reliable electricity service to all homes and businesses at all times of year. To ensure that whenever you flip a switch in your home that the electricity turns on, the grid has to both produce enough electrons to match the electricity that everyone is using throughout the course of the year as well as enough to power everything that’s turned on at the same time. That second ability–making sure there’s enough power to go around at the times when it’s most needed–is peak demand.

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What’s on your business’s electricity bill?

Electric utility costs can represent a significant portion of annual operational expenditures for businesses. While there are many ways to reduce how much your company spends on electricity (like solar!), the first step to reducing your electricity bills is to understand what’s on them: what are the components of your electricity bill, how do they impact the price you pay for electricity, and what can you do to reduce those costs?

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What do electricity bills look like with solar? My experience after two years

If you’re considering solar, it can be easy to imagine what solar panels would look like on your home: with nearly three million homes already installing solar around the country, you’re probably familiar with what solar panels look like on a roof. What can be harder to visualize is what your electricity bills will look like after going solar. Clearly, solar can save you money on your utility bills, but how does it actually work?

With that in mind, here’s a look at what my National Grid bills looked like before solar, what they look like now that I’ve had solar for two years, and some bonus screenshots of how my usage has changed with additional energy upgrades. As an EnergySage employee, I’m obviously a solar advocate, and we certainly care about our environmental impact. But, we wouldn’t have gone solar unless it made financial sense, and it most certainly did: I haven’t paid an electric bill for my home in Massachusetts since September 2019, which is just as great as it sounds.

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