You’re looking for a good way to save money on your electric bills…
One way we have found that can make a significant difference in your electric bills monthly or yearly is by incorporating a demand manager into your daily service.
What is a Demand Manager?
A demand manager incorporates a schedule into your daily usage of electricity. You start by installing a demand manager on your electrical panel. Once installed the demand manager gets a schedule based on SRP (Salt River Project) or APS (Arizona Public Service) peak demand and off-peak demand schedule. Once the demand manager has been installed your can control and/or reduce energy consumption. Thus, saving you money every month on your electric bill.
The Demand Manager takes into consideration the High Peak Rate times. It helps you avoid high peak rates by adjusting your electrical needs and energy consumption to more off peak times. In a nutshell the system knows when to shut off your high energy systems (air conditioner, electric pool pump, electric hot water heater, electric car charger) to keep your hourly consumption lower to reduce spikes in electrical usage.
SRP and APS bill your usage per hour on a 1/2 hour cycle. You get charged based on the peak usage within that 1/4 or 1/2 hour period. If you spike your electrical use because of the air conditioner or electric hot water heater then the electrical company will charge you based on the peak. So you can use little to no energy within a 1/2 hour, but then when the electric peaks you get charge for the whole time based on that Peak Spike.
How to combat the Peak Spikes and reduce your electric bills? Start By installing a Demand Manager to control your spikes. You still need to consider the high peak and low peak demand usage schedule by your electrical service company, but you can now start enjoying your home during those 100+ degree days.
Demand Managers can save you on average 30 to 40 percent each month on your electric bills.
Yes, that’s correct your savings can be between 30-40 percent…
There are several ways to save money on your electric bills beyond the Demand Manager. Here are a few to consider…
- time of use – stay on your plan – don’t turn up the AC or use electric appliances during high peak times.
- keep AC turned to 80 degrees when you are not in the home
- add sun shades to the east and west windows of your home
- change our your light bulbs that produce heat
- unplug electrical items that are not in use
- go on the yearly payment plan with SRP or APS. This allows you to average those payments throughout the year.
- add solar to your home (costly $20K plus in most cases)
- keep lights off when not in use
Let’s talk about one thing about the Demand Manager and Cooling Your Home. When we install a demand manager on your home your best savings will come when you set your thermostat between 68-72 degrees.
Yes, set the AC to 72 degrees and run at that temperature all day.
But won’t that increase my electrical cost? The A/C unit will run all day?
The fact is your electrical unit in Arizona will run all day because you set the temperature between 78-82 degrees.
Think about this, if you leave the house at 7am and return at 5:30pm you typically set the thermostat to 80 degrees while your gone. The thought is your not home so why keep the home cool and waste energy.
The truth is when you let your home heat up to 80 degrees through the day it takes more energy for you to keep that 80 degrees. The home has heated up…yes your walls, floors, ceilings, curtains, rugs, couches, etc. have all heated up. When your air conditioner turns on you are cooling all of these items. So it will keep turning on because all of these items are heating up the home.
So turn your A/C down and you keep your home cool. When you keep the home cool your air conditioner doesn’t need to work as hard and thus, you save money on your electric bill.
And that brings us back to the Demand Manager. When you leave the AC thermostat at 72 degrees your Demand Manager controls when the system turns on and off. Running more during off peak hours and working just enough during the on-peak hours to keep the homes temperature down.
So is the demand manager better for larger or smaller homes?
The Demand Manager works great for all size homes.
If you work from home wouldn’t you like to keep that AC lower and not heat yourself up during higher peak service times?