Utility shenanigans

[arrow]

Here in the Northeast, most of us are supplied energy by a company called National Grid. This company has instituted what is called a "demand charge" This is a charge that is added to a usage charge. NGrid has convinced state authorities that in order to supply the region enough electricity or natural gas, they have had to build equipment and facilities that are most often in "stand by mode" because it is only used in peak operations. Ngrid feels they should be paid for the construction and upkeep of this equipment when it is not making them money though energy use. So one account of mine used 19 kwhs last month. The electric bill came to $346. About $40 for actual electricity used and fees and then "demand charges" were $305. No matter how little electricity is used, the bill will always include these demand charges. I was wondering if anyone else across the country has put up with this kind of charging from their utility provider.

 

[DocHeb]

Why shouldn't they be paid for this? Everybody expects the light to come on every time the light switch is flipped, 24/365, no matter how high the load being requested by the users. Everyone pays for facilities for peak generation one way or another - yours just happens to be a line item. Pretty soon you will be charged for windmills, and then be charged for the plants that will need to be built to operate when the wind isn't blowing. All courtesy of those who know what is good for us.

 

[Mousefield]

NGrid has convinced state authorities that in order to supply the region enough electricity or natural gas, they have had to build equipment and facilities that are most often in "stand by mode" because it is only used in peak operations. Ngrid feels they should be paid for the construction and upkeep of this equipment when it is not making them money though energy use.

If you and other users don't pay for this stand by equipment who should??? Not sure from were this company would get free? money to build and maintain the stand by infrastructure. It sounds like a guy who complained about not enough planes on the long weekends and they had to wait several hours. Figured "someone" should have hundreds of millions of dollars in planes and thousands of staff just sitting there for peak demand. Not only do you have capital cost but also maintenance, insurance etc. that has to be paid. As an earlier post said, they show it as a line item or they could hide it in the overall charge.

 

[dex3361]

In our area we pay a demand charge for Industrial Power. The charge is based on the Peak KW demand for a 15 minute period. It is the biggest part of the industrial bill. The rate is about $13.00 per KW Demand and then the KW usage is on top of that.

 

[ultrarunner]

More of my neighbors have gone to solar... and so far, all have been pleased.

The only difference I see in providing service is that Utilities are granted a monopoly of sorts and with that comes concessions....

The rural electrification act made power available to many even when it would take many years to recoup the cost if that.

A friend was on a CA Public Utility Commission and he was surprised that many times there was almost no one from the public attending.... he also said, public input does have an impact.

Right now, some CA cities are in the planning stages to take control of utilities in their cities and the Utilities are fighting back...

 

[forgeblast]

Poster is right 300 on a bill is nasty on the old checking account. My max with electric baseboard and a small space heater is about 210, in the dead of winter. If i was paying that much i would look into getting off the grid, or at least panels that would earn some money back. ouch it should be a sliding scale, based on usage.

 

[Cat_Driver]

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[dave1949]

Something doesn't sound right Arrow. Is this for a commercial/industrial account?

My last residential bill was $51.75 for 334 KWH without any demand metering.
Dave.

 

[tallyho8]

We have had demand charges on commercial and industrial accounts for many years. There are none on residential accounts.

I used to take a 3 month winter vacation and close my air conditioning shop during this time. Although I used only about 1 KWH a month for a night light, I was charged about $100 a month for 10 cents worth of electricity.

After awhile, I learned how to reduce my peak demand by limiting the number of air conditioners that I would test run at one time. By cutting my demand in half I was only charged about $50 a month during winter after that for 10 cents worth of electricity.

 

[SPIKER]

They are doing some advertising locally about demand metering and that the big city elec utility is going to start doing this and charging people when demand peak days are higher they will add FINES on top of the higher cost for the power at those times.

I'm on rural coop. so they only want to maintain low rates. but we hear all summer long peak energy alerts, I worked electrician maintenance in factory and we had to cut usage on several times a year on hot days... running around a BIG factory turning off stuff that was running in standby or not directly used when called for, killing 1/2 ights while people working & all...

Mark M