New website helps members save energy and money
MORE THAN 7,250 MEMBERS
of electric cooperatives around South Carolina, including more than 550 members of York Electric Cooperative, are already helping their fellow cooperative members to reduce energy use and costs through our Beat the Peak program.
In April, the cooperatives introduced a new website to encourage more members to join in this truly cooperative effort. By joining the Beat
the Peak program, you are teaming up with the co-op
to save on power costs for everyone. If you’d like to join us, sign up at BeatThePeak.com.
By lowering total energy use when it is most expensive, the co-op can lower total power costs. Because electric cooperatives are not-for-pro t companies, the savings can
be passed on to all the co-op’s members. As BeatThePeak. com also details, here are some powerful reasons to support the effort.
First, what is Beat the Peak?
Beat the Peak is a co-op member noti cation system that:
X Teaches you how electricity use varies during the day and across the seasons of the year.
X Helps you understand that you can help reduce electricity use at speci c times of the day across the whole electric system.
X Relates your choices about electricity use to the broader effort to control costs.
X Allows you to voluntarily
sign up to receive notices of peak demand periods.
X Sends you noti cations (via text, email and/or voice messages) at times when you can help reduce electricity use.
Electricity prices vary hourly?
Even though your electric rate is  at, the cost of the power we buy on your behalf does vary from hour to hour. Higher demand for electricity causes utilities to use more expensive fuels. Utilities
use their most ef cient and least costly generators  rst. Then, as electricity demand increases, utilities turn on generators that are less ef cient or that use more expensive fuels. That’s why higher electricity use can mean higher costs for your cooperative. The demand for
electricity is greatest between 6 a.m. and 9 a.m. in winter months. In the summer, peak electricity demand occurs between 3 p.m. and 7 p.m.
How does it work?
Your cooperative and its power suppliers continually monitor the demand for energy. Using weather
forecasts and historical energy use data, they predict when peak demand for electricity will occur.
In advance of that time, you can be noti ed by:
X Email
X Text message X Voice message
During a Beat the Peak peak period, you will receive a noti cation asking you to take certain actions. Those actions could include:
X Adjusting your thermostat by 3 degrees.
X Turning off lights.
X Delaying the use of major appliances, such as dishwashers, washing machines and clothes dryers, until after the predicted peak demand period has passed.
X Postponing hot water
use, which will delay the activation of electric water heaters.
Sign up for Beat the Peak notifications at BeatThePeak.com.
If you’re already supporting the program, be sure to like our Beat the Peak posts on Facebook!
  SCLIVING.COOP | MAY 2018 | SOUTH CAROLINA LIVING 5