In an increasing number of homes in the largely residential coop, a meter with green, yellow and red lights went from green to yellow to red on Monday and Tuesday this week, signaling a demand event from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. The DEC developed the meter with Cooper Power Systems. It plugs into any outlet - most households place it in the kitchen - and gets its signal via power line carrier (PLC).
The yellow light gives a one-hour-ahead warning that a demand event is imminent, then the light goes to red for the four-hour event. It is the latest method of communication between the coop management and members, building on email and radio and television advertising and public service announcements.
"Last year we lowered [collective] rates by $10 million," Andrew told me. "That's a true price signal and it builds credibility."
"We're having success with behavior modification because of our credibility," added Gary Cripps, the DEC's chief information officer and chief financial officer. "The coop culture yields high benefits and we leveraged this relationship to make 'Beat the Peak' a success."
The program began in 2008 as a cost-control measure - peak summer loads are "severe" and costly, Andrew told me. The coop already had a voluntary, automated load control program that cycled down central air conditioning and hot water heaters for members who opt-in, but wanted to expand its effectiveness.
(As background, in 2006 the coop campaigned to place itself under the control of an elected board, rather than the state public service commission. The state legislature set a condition that 15 percent of coop members would have to vote for board election results to be valid. So the coop began an aggressive communications outreach for its members' support, which resulted in nearly half the membership voting, with 96 percent approving the governance change. That paved the way for closer ties between members and management, which had gathered about 35,000 email addresses.)
In 2008, when a voluntary "Beat the Peak" program was established, participation was high - the coop saved 10 megawatts of power at a cost of $14,000 per megawatt - and communication began with email and mass media.
According to Andrew, one member told him she had missed the email and that planted a seed. DEC then worked with Cooper, its contractor for automated metering infrastructure (AMI), to create the "Beat the Peak" signaling device, which costs about $50. The coop gives the device away, along with three CFL light bulbs, to encourage participation. According to DEC, the resulting load shift and cost reductions are on target to payback the costs within two-and-a-half years.
The demand-event device became available in March of this year and DEC estimated that 5,000 signups per quarter would constitute a good response. In reality, demand outstripped supply and all 20,000 devices that DEC contracted for are in the field in use as you read this column. DEC and Cooper now are scampering to meet excess demand.
DEC simply asks its members to either cut use in real time on peak event days or leave the house anticipating the peak by turning off unnecessary appliances and setting air conditioners three degrees higher than usual.
The coop attempts to limit the number of such demand events, because during long, hot spells, the membership "loses tolerance" for taking action, according to Andrew.
As things stand today, DEC members - and, incredibly, non-members - often stop Andrew in the street to say they've "Beat the Peak." (Not incidentally, Andrew said that when he and his staff appear on television, they routinely offer their personal cell phone numbers to coop members with concerns. "We work for them," he said simply.)
Granted, the cooperative business model and the rural residential nature of the DEC's service territory play a big role in this scenario. But it works and DEC is getting enquiries from coops across the country.
Andrew said that saving costs is undoubtedly the top motivator for DEC members' behavior. But they "also want to 'do the right thing,'" he said, which he identified as preventing peak power plants from running and dirtying the air.
"They're willing to put a little skin in the game," Andrew said.
In an increasing number of homes in the largely residential coop, a meter with green, yellow and red lights went from green to yellow to red on Monday and Tuesday this week, signaling a demand event from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. The DEC developed the meter with Cooper Power Systems. It plugs into any outlet - most households place it in the kitchen - and gets its signal via power line carrier (PLC).
