Originally published January 23, 2010:

Just looking at the latest newsletter from Hydro One (the publicly-owned corporation responsible for Ontario’s electricity grid). Rural “hydro” customers like me get their electricity directly from Hydro One rather than through a Local Distribution Company (read: your local town/city utility).

This newsletter tells us about the upcoming switch to Time-of-Use pricing for electricity. TOU pricing means that the price you pay for electricity varies depending on the time of day it is used. Ontario can only move to this type of pricing because it has spent several years installing “smart meters” that track useage by time. The idea is that by shifting elecricity use to so-called off-peak hours (overnight), we can all smooth out the demand for electricity which is intended to make the life of the generators, transmission and distribution companies easier. To make this happen, we consumers need to adjust our patterns of electricity use (if we can) and hopefully either save a bit of money or keep our electricity bills about the same. We’re about to find out if practice supports the theory.

On the front page of the newsletter, my eye went immediately to the pie chart showing the different prices for electricity at different times of the day (and across summer, winter, and weekends and statutory holidays). Given that we’re in winter right now, I’ll just take a peek at those numbers:

On-Peak Hours (7 to 11 am and 5 to 9 pm): electricity used in that timeframe will cost me 9.3 cents per kilowatt-hour.

Mid-Peak Hours (11 am to 5 pm): electricity used in that timeframe will cost me 8.0 cents per kilowatt-hour.

Off-Peak Hours (9 pm to 7 am): electricity used in that timeframe will cost me 4.4 cents per kilowatt-hour.

My latest Hydro One bill says I’m currently paying 5.8 cents a kilowatt hour regardless of time of day. In winter, my off-peak electricity use is mostly for 24/7 appliances and space heating; it accounts for about a quarter of total electricity use. That means that 75 per cent is in the on-peak and mid-peak hours. When I crunch the numbers for a typical winter month, I find that my cost of electricity (“electrons only”) will be going up by about 22 per cent (from 5.8 to 7.1 the latter being a weighted average). In my case, that’ll be about $15.00 a month more for the same amount of electricity. And that’s based on the 8.0 cents/kWh for daytime use, which is clearly low.

Naturally, one’s mind turns to saving electricity and shifting time of use. After all, the second issue is the one of greatest concern to the Province right? So what can I do? Given that I run a business out of my home, I’ve got both the standard household uses of electricity and office uses. Most of these uses are packed into that 7 am to 9 pm timeframe (on-peak and mid-peak). And I’m not sure how much of those uses I can actually move to off-peak hours. Sure, I can do laundry then and I guess I could wait until the National is on to do the dishes. I doubt that my employees want to work “midnights” although I guess I could ask. I’m quickly starting to realize that I’m not going to be able to make much of a contribution to the Province’s TOU gameplan. Pretty much caught in the crosshairs…. just like most other homes and businesses will be. I’ve long since implemented a whole raft of conservation measures; the low-hanging fruit has already been picked. Hopefully others have more options than I do. Otherwise, I can hear it now: “Quick Billy, let’s get your breakfast in you… it’s almost 7 am. And by the way, you’ll be having your shower at 3 am. It won’t cost as much to heat the water or to have the light on in the bathroom. How would you feel about this miner’s light in case you have to get up in the night? Just think: you can wear it when you’re doing your homework. How cool will that be?”

Net, net, it’s going to be tough to even hold the line on electricity costs, even if I am able to timeshift a bit. So what are the options? I’m probably better off than most. I just happen to have some solar panels, a wind turbine and an EnerWorks hot water heater that captures most of the required energy from the sun rather than needing electricity or oil for heating purposes. So in my case, it’s really a question of reducing/conserving and shifting use of electricity by capturing and storing it in a battery system. But what options do others have? Not many I suspect. In my view, conservation is always the best place to start. After that, it’ll be a “load” by “load” analysis that will help you identify any ways to timeshift. If you feel as though you’re standing on a railway track with the TOU Train hurtling toward you… you’re probably right!

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