The season of skyrocketing electric bills is fast approaching for many AECI customers who rely on electricity for heat. Much has been published since AECI dropped many of the heating plans they had convinced customers to take advantage of. Those choices typically involved construction that is not changeable without major costs.
Those on the “general” rate, paying approximately two and three times as much as others for electricity, are being overcharged and appear to be subsidizing those paying lower rates. That is unconscionable. I can understand that nighttime generation rates are lower due to lower demand. However, the low “interruptible” rate during daytime hours seems particularly unfair and all “general” rate customers should get a lower rate since it means that electricity is not costing what the “general” rate customers are paying. They in fact are subsidizing those customers paying less.
In addition, the high “general” rate encourages those using electric heat to reduce their usage (and put up with a cold house), which in turn reduces system-wide demand, which in turn allows those with “interruptible” heat to remain on low cost electric heat for longer periods.
It appears that the major pain of reducing system-wide electricity demand and/or meeting revenue requirements is being placed on one group of customers while AECI continues to encourage the use of more low-priced electricity for select groups.
Having read in AECI newsletters about “smart grid and meters,” I called to see if I could buy a “smart meter” so that I could take advantage of lower rates. I was informed that AECI had no capability to even implement such a meter.
However, there should be a silver lining on the horizon with AECI’s routing broadband to every customer. Such a capability is required to implement “smart metering” which should be worth $100s if not a $1000 or more per year for those using electricity for heating but not on low-rate plans. “Smart metering” should be a top priority for AECI and planning should be done concurrently with broadband implementation efforts.
Everyone will not be happy with “smart metering” since the revenue requirements of AECI are probably pretty much a “zero sum game” meaning that if there are winners, there will also be losers but there is a more important concept— fairness. I believe that given the opportunity to pay a “smart meter” rate, AECI customers would significantly adjust their electrical usage to take advantage of lower rate periods.
Glenn Gilyard
Hovland
Leave a Reply