Summer is coming — and so is peak season. If you've ever wondered how the Peak Charge on your bill actually works, or how to keep it as low as possible, now is a good time to get familiar with the basics.
As a co-op, our peak demand in the summer has a huge impact on our annual cost of power. When members reduce their peak demand by, for instance, waiting to run their dishwasher or dryer until after 8 p.m., it doesn't just help their own bill — it helps the entire cooperative manage its wholesale energy costs and keep electric rates stable.
The Peak Charge of $5 per kilowatt (up from $4 per kilowatt last summer) is in play for June, July, August and September. In each of those months, your Peak Charge will be based on your single highest hour of use between 3 and 8 p.m. on any declared Peak Day. Not every peak day. Not every peak hour. Just one hour.
Want the full picture? We put together a short video that walks through exactly how the Peak Charge is calculated, with a real-world example.
