EclecticLip

Got our BC Hydro bill in the mail this week — since a financial institution System Adminstrator friend staunchly refuses to do any web-based billing (!) we’ve only gradually started shifting to electronic.

The bill came with a leaflet explaining that in BC we’ve now got a new two-level Conservation Rate.  Relative to the previous rate, for each two-month period you get a 10% discount on your first 1350 kWh…   …but for any energy consumption in excess of that, you pay an extra 10%.

Hydro says about 70% of residential consumers will see reduced bills, based on current usage rates.  But with changes in consumer behaviour even from this very rough and approximate price signal, I’m sure many others — say 10% as a guesstimate? — will take steps to successfully reduce their net bills, also.
Exactly the kind of price-signal we want to drive in consumer behaviour! 

I also met a Hydro engineer at a public event this past week, who informed me that Hydro is planning to roll out smart-meters to (all?) its customers in the next few years.  These would give consumers real-time feedback on their energy consumption.

This would be an in-house equivalent to the instantaneous mileage readouts on the Prius and Civic which seem to entice people to start hypermiling.  Hypermiling — the OED’s 2008 Word of the Year — basically means focusing on maximizing fuel efficiency instead of minimizing travel time.

If residents get real-time feedback on their energy use, we could see substantial changes in behaviour — abandoning wasteful habits (e.g. using the dryer when unnecessary) and developing new habits month to month, to “beat” their previous usage.  That should modestly reduce our overall energy consumption, allowing us to export more power to regions which aren’t as energy-frugal as us.