Try Duke Energy Power Manager

Want to save $32 on your Duke Energy bill this year?  Then consider signing up for Duke Energy’s Power Manager program—it’s free to enroll (you used to have to pay a one-time fee to enroll), and you get an $8 credit on your bill each month from July to October.

What is Power Manager?

The Power Manager program is designed to periodically turn off for short periods of time your air conditioner’s compressor during times of high electric usage—typically seen in the hot summer months.  For instance on a steamy 95° day with 95% humidity at 4pm in the afternoon businesses all have their air conditioning on and folks are starting to come home from work and school and turn on their air conditioners, which means a lot of electricity is needed!  So, Duke Energy will remotely turn off a whole bunch of air conditioner compressors simultaneously for a short while (somewhere between 10-20 minutes we have heard), turn them back on, and then turn off another set of air conditioning compressors in waves.  This can make a big difference in the amount of peak electricity used and at a relatively minimal inconvenience to most customers.  Folks usually don’t even notice that the compressor has been cycled off and are just as comfortable—especially since the blower fan stays on during this period to continue recirculating air.  Also, many folks are out at work during the day, so they are in a position to not be affected by the program much at all.

So, why does Duke Energy bother with this?

During peak times it is much more expensive to generate electricity, transmission lines can exceed their capacity, and electrical shortages can happen (leading to what is called a “brownout” or even “power outages” or intentional power outages called “rolling blackouts”).  So, Duke Energy benefits from less demand for high-cost electricity and potentially exceeding their capacity.  It is also during these peak times that older more polluting means of power generation are typically used to fill the high demand.

Why sign up?

1. You want to save $32 a year on your Duke Energy bill!
2. You don’t want to risk losing power when it is 95° out because having 98%+ access to air conditioning (due to Power Manager cycling your air conditioning compressor off) is better than 0% during an outage on such a hot day!
3. You care about the environmental effects of peak energy generation.
4. Did we mention you might want to save $32 a year for not much of an effect on your comfort?

Tom