Nils Holland wrote:
On Wed, 16 Dec 2009 08:44:21 -0600, The Daring Dufas
wrote:

I think it's better to have the power usage spread out. Imagine what
would happen if all the laundry equipment in a community kicked on at
3:00am. Guys I know who work for the city water department tell me
that when something like The Super Bowl or big college game is being
broadcast, they can tell when the commercials come on because there
will be a drop in water pressure.

Hey, good idea, then they'll turn on all the washing machines one
after another or in small groups. So when your washing machine kicks
in at, say, 3:15 am, you can give your neighbor Jimmy a call that his
washing machine is probably due by 4:15 or something. ;-)

Personally, I find this interesting: I remember not too many years ago
when you had to pay by the minute for your Internet usage or phone
calls. Then flatrates became common (earlier over there in the US than
here in Germany and probably Europe in general), and all of a sudden
you could be on the net or call people as much / long as you wanted.
With electricity, "they" seem to want to take the opposite route.
While we certainly don't have "flatrate electricity" today, we do have
- for the most part - fixed (throughout the day, with some exeptions)
rates. I remember times when using the phone for long distance calls
was postponed till after 6 or 9 pm because rates got cheaper then -
that's what might happen with electricity now. Interestingly, in the
telecommunication business, the move to flatrates was sold to us as
"the great revolution", while in the electricity field, they're trying
to sell us the smart grid stuff with its possibilities for varying
rates based on time and load, as "the great revolution". Strange
world. ;-)

The special rates for peak and off peak times is nothing new in the US.
It's been available everywhere I have been for 30 or more years. An
old boss of mine had a heating system based on off peak rates. In his
basement were two... I'll guess about 12' round by 5' tall tanks that
held either water or some type of anti freeze with a heat exchanger.
During off peak times the electric heated these giant tanks and the
house. During peak times the house was heated from the heat stored in
the tanks. It was great during the fall and spring, but nowhere good
enough for mid winter. They would run out of heat and then had to heat
the house on the special peak rate electric. I think he had it
disconnected and changed the electric service to a flat rate plan.