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Residential Customers Offered Market Price Electricity
The Community Energy Cooperative, a Chicago-based non-profit, is beginning
their second year of offering residential customers a market-based price for
the electricity they use through their Energy-Smart Pricing Plan (ESPP). In
the program’s first year, the 650 participating Chicago households saved
an average of 17% on their electric bills. For a household with a $75/month
electric bill, that’s $127 a year. And while they saved money, they helped
the environment. The program is managed by the Community Energy Cooperative
and is offered in cooperation with ComEd.
This pioneering program utilizes market-based prices - prices which vary across
the seasons and during the day. The Energy-Smart Pricing Plan takes advantage
of the fact that there are relatively few times a year that electricity use
“peaks”, causing the price of electricity to rise above the flat rate
that we currently pay. As building engineers are aware, price peaks typically
occur on hot summer afternoons.
On the ESPP program, residents are informed about what they can do to reduce
their energy use. The average residential customer is expected to save money
on their electricity bill on this market-based rate, even without changing their
pattern of electricity use. When participants choose to change their behavior
during times of peak demand, they can save significantly more.
“ESPP is the first real choice that’s being offered to residential
customers in Illinois,” said Kathryn Tholin, general manager of the Community
Energy Cooperative. The success of the first year demonstrates the benefits
of this rate. First, participants can save money through low off-peak power
rates. Second, they can increase their savings by taking simple actions to reduce
demand on days when the prices are high. “This represents a different way
of thinking about your electricity use, and we have set up this program to make
it easy for people to learn how to benefit,” Tholin said. “The Cooperative
provides straightforward information on participants’ energy use patterns
and helps them learn how to maximize their savings.” Easy-to-use tools
to manage energy use include day-ahead high price alerts and access to view
the energy consumption patterns of their home on a security-protected website.
In addition to the bill savings, there are other goals of the Energy-Smart
Pricing Plan. One is to use market-based prices to reduce peak demand. When
peak demand is lowered, the environment benefits, too. Reduced peak demand for
electricity helps take the stress off the electricity system at peak times,
reducing blackouts and allowing it to work better for everyone. In the long
run, less electricity used at peak times also reduces the need for more and
bigger power lines to transport electricity. The Cooperative also believes that
the success of this residential program will provide guidelines for similar
beneficial rates in the commercial and industrial markets.
To find out if you are eligible visit www.energycooperative.org or call 773-486-7600
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