{"id":4420,"date":"2013-07-01T18:52:26","date_gmt":"2013-07-01T22:52:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/?p=4420"},"modified":"2017-07-14T11:16:40","modified_gmt":"2017-07-14T15:16:40","slug":"hows-your-electric-bill-treating-you-time-to-give-it-some-thought","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/2013\/07\/01\/hows-your-electric-bill-treating-you-time-to-give-it-some-thought\/","title":{"rendered":"How’s Your Electric Bill Treating You? Time To Give It Some Thought"},"content":{"rendered":"

This commentary originally appeared on EDF’s California Dream 2.0 Blog<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"When was the last time you really gave a lot of thought to your electric bill?<\/p>\n

If your answer is \u201cnot very often\u201d, then you\u2019re not alone. In fact, the typical household thinks about their electric bill only six minutes a year<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) now has the opportunity give people another way to control household energy bills by creating a system where changing the time you use electricity can save money. This won\u2019t mean you\u2019ll need to invest more time thinking about energy use, but you\u2019d be well-served to think about the timing<\/em> of it.<\/p>\n

Last week, the CPUC held a public workshop inviting stakeholders — PG&E, SCE and, SDG&E, along with consumer, industry, and environmental groups — to present and discuss their proposals for revising the system of charges for residential electricity use. I had the pleasure of presenting EDF\u2019s proposal for a time-of-use (TOU) pricing system<\/a>: For customers looking for another option for saving money on their monthly bill, EDF sees TOU as the best pricing policy for both people and the environment; customers uncomfortable with this option would be able to \u201copt out\u201d and choose another pricing structure.<\/p>\n

Currently, the standard \u201ctiered\u201d rate charges customers higher prices for higher electricity usage. The approach is intended to send the message: \u201cThe more you use, the more you pay.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yet, current rates hide the true cost of electricity service at certain times of the day \u2013 and most customers don\u2019t know where their usage falls until they actually see the bill at the end of the month. Ultimately, this lack of information prevents customers from making informed decisions about their energy use, limits their options for keeping bills within budget, and makes the overall energy system in California dirtier and more expensive.<\/p>\n

As detailed in our proposal<\/a>, EDF has found that updating the current pricing policy to be based on the timing of actual energy use will empower consumers to save money, dramatically lower overall system costs, facilitate more efficient usage of electricity generation assets, lower peak energy demand, provide more accurate and effective energy conservation incentives, and more equitably share energy system costs amongst customers. Here is a short list of what TOU can do for you, and California:<\/p>\n