Time of Use Electicity Blues

[Mensa]

I have two Hydro One (Ontario) accounts on tou. What I've noticed is that each account has the same percentage on use spread over the three tiers. The breakdown goes: 19% use at peak, 19% at mid-peak and 62% off-peak. The breakdown is the same each and every month. What I find odd about this is that neither of these accounts is for a household. One is for water pumps and disinfection equipment for 96 households. The other is for a meter which sees less than 1 kWh of use a day.

I can't help but wonder how it is that my tenants (most of whom are retired) all use 62% of their water overnight, which is what makes the pumps run and sucks the electricity. Surely more than 38% of the water I supply is used between 7am and 7pm? I also can't reconcile the comparison between the accounts. The 1 kWh/day meter has to do with a television feed for my tenants. Now THAT one I can see being used in the evenings more than the day. So why would the percentage breakdowns be the same, month in and month out?

It's just all too mysterious for me.

[Tom Dl]

^ I generally agree. Although, I think natural gas prices will stay low unless there is a moratorium on hydraulic fracking. There is just so much shale gas out there.

If they keep up the fracking, they will develop the infrastructure to sell it to the world. Right now, the fact that this is an NA market is a terrible tragedy from the industry. They no more want to have gas to heat Canadian homes than they want a made in Canada oil policy. So buckle up.

As far as TOU is concerned, it seem pointless for most people. The difference of a few cents a KW is pennies, the larger heating appliances are probably 1-2 KW, but everyting else is so low, and we are only talking about the marginal price, that I can't see responding to it.

Does anyone know what happened to the plan to ban incandescent lights?

[andrewf]

I have two Hydro One (Ontario) accounts on tou. What I've noticed is that each account has the same percentage on use spread over the three tiers. The breakdown goes: 19% use at peak, 19% at mid-peak and 62% off-peak. The breakdown is the same each and every month. What I find odd about this is that neither of these accounts is for a household. One is for water pumps and disinfection equipment for 96 households. The other is for a meter which sees less than 1 kWh of use a day.

I can't help but wonder how it is that my tenants (most of whom are retired) all use 62% of their water overnight, which is what makes the pumps run and sucks the electricity. Surely more than 38% of the water I supply is used between 7am and 7pm? I also can't reconcile the comparison between the accounts. The 1 kWh/day meter has to do with a television feed for my tenants. Now THAT one I can see being used in the evenings more than the day. So why would the percentage breakdowns be the same, month in and month out?

It's just all too mysterious for me.

All weekend and holidays are also off-peak.