Homeowners Manage Variable Demand Costs

Challenge:

A homeowner wants to know how he can reduce his energy costs now that his utility company is using variable demand based pricing.

Solution:

The homeowner had his electrician install Akida’s e-LOK system to help regulate the home’s electricity demand during periods when the utility company’s variable pricing is high. The electrician configured the system using the utility company’s historical rate schedules to set the demand limits for various periods in the day. The homeowner identified the largest electrical loads that could be managed by the system and prioritized them for winter and summer. The electrician examined the loads to be managed to determine if any of them were already on a low voltage switch such as a thermostat or if they were on a timer switch. The spa was one of the loads to be managed by the e-LOK and since it was on a timer switch, the e-LOK was configured to operate it with the system’s timer settings. The AC/Heat pump, which was also to be managed by the e-LOK was wired by the electrician so that the thermostat switch was utilized to turn the system on and off. The e-LOK was connected to the homeowner’s router with an Ethernet cable so that it could be accessed via a computer in the home or via the Internet.

Results:

The homeowner was impressed with how quickly the utility bills were reduced as the demand was managed to be lower during the times of the day when the utility company’s charges were higher. With the multiple peak setting periods available in the system configuration, the homeowner fine tuned the settings based on the utility company’s rate schedules to achieve a tighter match of the home’s consumption to the higher tariff periods. The “set and forget” nature of the system meant that little time had to be devoted to manage and operate the e-LOK once it was configured. The load prioritization resulted in a minimal impact to the livability in the home. The ability to review energy consumption data on their computer allowed the homeowners to become much smarter in their energy consumption to further reduce their costs. The homeowner is reviewing internet based services that analyze energy usage data to provide tips on managing costs and he is happy that the e-LOK is able to forward data files in a universally accepted format so that decoding charges are not incurred.

Conclusion:

The e-LOK is a simple to use energy management system with a state of the art hardware system that delivers intelligence, flexibility and digital communication.