In Terry writes:

I have not been able to get a Google hit on a good explanation of
"storm recovery usage." Maybe you could enlighten me.

One example of how your usage can go up after a storm would be backed
up dirty clothes. Another would be to have to reheat your house and
hot water. I guess you do need to heat hot water.

There are, indeed, a couple of cases where "recovery" will cause
an increase in electrical cost.

a: if you've got an electrical heat pump that keeps
your place warm, it usually runs as a "reverse air
conditioner" and is reasonably efficient.

However, many also have a straight "resistance heater"
strip in them that gets called on for extreme conditions.

This costs a _lot_ more per BTU, so you generally don't
want it to kick in.

(most, not all, thermostats have a "lock out the strips"
button on them so they won't come on unless you really,
really, want them).

After a day or two of no heat, your home might be
down to 40 degrees, so when power comes back the
heat pump assembly _will_ turn on the strips.

b: if you're a larger customer (business, etc.) you're
generally paying a "peak usage charge" that gets pegged
at the highest demand you pull - even if it's only
for an hour one afternoon.

So if you've been powerless fo a day, all the refrigerators
will kick on at the same time, and all the air compressors
and pumps and lights and everything else... will _all_ turn
on for the first couple of hours after power is restored.

(Generally these things cycle a bit so they _won't_ all
be on. There is, in fact, a pretty well developed science
of "load management" to spread them out. For example, if
you've got a car garage, you might lock out that 25 kw
air compressor from 3 pm to 4 pm and instead let the
air tank drop pressure a bit).

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