By Snohomish County PUD
During those frigid winter days, when we all turn up our thermostats, huddle inside and use more energy than normal, the PUD must ensure that it has enough power generation to meet demand.
Preparing for those energy peaks, which usually occur in the early mornings and evenings when people are waking up and getting ready for the day or getting home from work and starting dinner, is critical to the PUD continuing to keep power affordable, reliable and environmentally sustainable.
One way to meet peaks is to build more power plants. But because wind and solar power are not dependable during the winter, that would likely mean adding fossil fuels to the PUD’s power mix, something that would jeopardize the PUD’s ability to meet the state’s clean energy mandates.
Another way to meet those peaks is to not have them in the first place. To do that, the PUD must work hand-in-hand with customers and leverage smart technologies to decrease energy usage during critical time periods in the winter. Innovative technology like advanced meters, smart appliances and connected communication tools give customers more control over their energy consumption and the PUD more information on energy usage.
The PUD’s recently launched FlexEnergy pilots will help guide future plans for incentivizing behaviors that reduce energy usage during peak times. It’s important for the PUD to know how customers respond to time-of-day rate designs, and demand response and critical peak pricing programs and how smart technology can assist them in shifting energy usage away from peak periods.
The pilots are the first of their kind for PUD customers and will introduce PUD customers top the types of tools and programs that they will have the opportunity to join after the Connect Up program rolls out starting in 2023. With more customers taking part, little behavior changes, like scheduling an electric vehicle to charge overnight or changing the time they run laundry or a dishwasher, can help the PUD create a more flexible, clean and reliable power grid.
Residential customers can enroll eligible smart devices as part of the program. Smart thermostats from Google Nest and ecobee and connected EV chargers from ChargePoint and JuiceBox are eligible. Customers who do not register a smart device can join the Customer Choice non-smart tech programs.
The FlexEnergy pilots will focus on three approaches to shifting energy use:
FlexTime: A time-of-day pilot that offers an incentive and employs a new rate design providing customers a chance for costs savings by using energy during discount rate periods.
FlexResponse: A demand response pilot allowing customers to earn incentive payments by leveraging customer-owned smart technologies to lower energy use at certain times.
FlexPeak: A peak pricing pilot that offers incentives and employs a peak-pricing rate design that offers customers a discount rate and peak rate to motivate customers to reduce use at certain times the PUD designates.
Customers who sign up for any of the three pilots will receive bill credit incentives. Customers who enroll in the FlexTime and FlexPeak pilots will also receive discounts on their energy rate during specified times of the day.
The pilots are open to all residential customers who meet limited eligibility requirements, whether they own eligible connected devices or not. Want to enroll in a FlexEnergy pilot program? Visit snopud.com/flexenergy.
Operating since 1949, Snohomish County PUD is a customer-owned, not-for-profit electric and water utility that serves more than 360,000 customers in Snohomish County and Camano Island. For more information on conservation programs, visit www.snopud.com.
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