The summer in Phoenix is brutal. This is our expensive time as far as utilities are concerned. I know in other places it’s the winter that is the expensive season, but not around here. With the air conditioner running pretty much constantly to keep the house at a reasonable temperature it gets expensive quick. See the pic? It's 114 in the shade, at 6:00pm.
Our electric company has a time of use plan that we could sign up for. It provides cheaper electricity during off peak hours, and more expensive electricity during peak hours. They advertise that it will lower our electric bills, which can get as high as $280 a month. During the summer (May 1 through Oct 31) the peak hours are weekdays from 1pm to 8pm. We would pay an average of 18 cents per kWh on the time of use plan vs. an average of 10 cents per kWh on the regular plan. During off peak times we would pay just under 6 cents per kWh on the time of use plan vs. just under 10 cents on the regular plan. There is also a $3 monthly fee to be on the time of use plan.
This is a great plan if you work during the day. I’m kinda temped to give it a try anyways. But I don’t know if it will work for us. Since I’m home all day we keep the air on all the time. Granted we do the laundry, cook, run the dishwasher, watch the most tv, and have the lights on during off peak times. I’m just not sure that is enough to combat the 7 hours of the air running at the expensive rate.
What do you guys think?
Pic by: Foxicat
1 comment:
It might be worthwhile to try it for a month or two, if you can go back to the regular billing if it is not for you. Our electric co-op has a level billing plan that we are going to look into in January. They average the cost of electricity usage over a 12 month period, and we would pay the same amount each month. Definitely going to check into it.
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