i just realized our power company has an option to pay less for electricity, but more between 4 and 9 PM, so i programmed my central AC to blast cold air between 12 and 4 and i feel extremely clever
Lots of power companies have this and it's (1) designed to exploit customers who can't carefully manage this, and (2) incentivizing behavior that's ultimately wasteful/harmful.
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eh????? the purpose is to incentivize reduction of energy usage during peak times, to reduce peak load on the electrical system
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what's the reason to reduce peak load, though?
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because peak load is *fantastically* expensive. it means you're turning on every last generator you have, even the lowest efficiency ones that pollute the worst, in order to avoid a brownout.
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4-9 PM is also the worst possible time: your solar is petering out as the sun approaches the horizon, but everyone's AC is powering on full blast from the heat
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PG&E is clearly pretty desperate because they even have a plan option where you can get a discount, on the condition that you power off high-power appliances (like A/C) on up to 15 days a year (they'll text you). presumably the 15 days where load is worst
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as a general principle, base load is "always on" -- and if it doesn't get used, it goes to complete waste. power companies, in general, want you to use as much of their base load as possible during off hours -- as long as they don't have to turn on the gas turbines, it's free
End of conversation
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