Sylvia Else wrote:
D Yuniskis wrote:
Sylvia Else wrote:
Dave M wrote:

Starting about 25 years ago, the local power company started a
program whereby they installed these boxes to home AC units and
electric water heaters, supposedly to reduce peak demand on the grid
in times of high demand.

Wonderful idea. If the AC units are creating an excessive load, just
turn them off remotely. Beats investing in grid infrastructure.

The problem is getting people to buy into this idea. It
usually is under a different tariff than "normal service".
And, utilities often don't price those tariffs rationally.
People are hesitant to let someone else turn off a "comfort
feature" if they aren't getting something "significant" for
their potential inconvenience [1]

There's not much point in having a comfort feature if it's likely to get
turned off at the time of greatest need.

It's not "turned off", per se. Rather, it is *deferred*.
I.e., maybe 10 minutes later your ACbrrr will kick in
instead of at the (slightly) earlier time when the
thermostat called for cooling.

Chances are, a normal user wouldn't really perceive the fact
that the ACbrrr kicked in "late" -- the house may rise some
fraction of a degree beyond the thermostat's set point?
But, the *idea* of this is unnerving to many people:
"Oh, I am going to be *so* uncomfortable!"

OTOH, if they were to raise their thermostat's setpoint
that degree (or two?) all the time, they would probably not
notice the difference.

I'd only go with it if the saving were enough to finance a petrol
generator to supply the power instead.

frown Defeats the purpose. The utility can produce electricity
far cheaper/cleaner than you can.

The point of ToU and load shedding is to let the utility
cut back on peak loads. This lets them use things like
nuclear energy (good for big, steady loads) instead of
having to fire up coal/gas generators to respond to short
term fluctuations in the load.

The same is true of ToU tariffs. Its as if the utility
*wants* the benefits that these tariffs offer *and* wants
to figure out how to get more money from the subscriber at
the same time!

Well, they probably do.

The (new?) tariff here borders on ridiculous. You'd have to
shift 2/3 of your load to off-peak to break even.