"Leon" wrote in message
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"Lew Hodgett" wrote in message
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"Leon" wrote:

I replaced my electric water heater early in 2004. Looking at the
efficiency label on the old water heater and comparing to the new $300
water heater installed by me, I determined that it would pay for itself
in less than 2 years.

Does your utility offer discount rates for an electric hot water heater
that operates only during off peak hours?

Not yet! Before deregulation in TX I participated in a pilot program
with our only source for electricity. In 1995 they installed the fancy
programmable/hooked up to a modem central air thermostat. They also
installed a switch on the WH that was controlled by the central air
thermostat. During the Summer months I paid as little as 2.4 cents at
night, 3.4 cents in the late mornings, 12 cents in the afternoon and 6.5
cents early evening. Summer weekends an all Winter long never over 6.5
cents. The thermostac would control "what worked when" and inside
temperatures according to pricing tiers during the day and to what I
decided should be done at those points. Daily the thermostat would read
the digital electric meter and "phone home" the information concerning my
usage. At any time I could see how many KWh I had used for the day, week,
and month. I cold also see what the electricity had cost me for those
time periods and a projected estimated bill for the month. I LOVED IT!

I have not seen any thing like it since. However over the next 10 years
the Utility company is going to replace all the electric meters with
digital ones, like I had 15 years ago. Perhaps then I can get back on a
plan.


PGE recently replaced our analog meter with a digital one. So far it does
not 'phone home' to me and I only look at it when taking out the trash, but
the odd thing is my usage dropped by about ten percent since they put it in.
No changes at all in appliances or usage. I'm becoming very suspicious that
a faulty analog meter or reader's eyeballs have been charging me an extra
ten percent for years.