Lift the hood on your electric bill for savings; Reduction strategies

Your electric bill comes like clockwork and if it's not paid like clockwork, you will need to get used to doing business in the dark. However, just because you need to pay your bill promptly, don't let it leave your desk without thinking through some ideas of how to reduce it. For small users (E 1 - Residential and E 2 - General Small) the bill primarily measures the quantity of electricity consumed. If you can reduce consumption, you will receive lower monthly bills. Reduction strategies might include efficient lighting, A/C temperature set point adjustments or engaging the services of a consulting engineer specializing in energy savings. It's a very different story for large users (10 KW or more). Large users (including EL 8 - Multiple Dwellings Redistribution and EL 9 - General Large) pay not only for the electric that they consume, but are also charged for how and when consumption occurs. Therefore, for large users to develop reduction programs, they need a multi-dimensional analysis performed, which would not only include KWh consumed, but also analyze when and at what levels consumption occurred. Because rates differ as to the time of day, the strategy is to shift electric consumption and demand from high rate periods to periods with lower rates. As for levels of consumption, the goal is to level it out and avoid any spikes. An accepted strategy to minimize charges associated with spikes is to spread out equipment start-ups to avoid occurrence within the same 15 minute intervals. Minimizing spikes will result in lower demand charges. For larger users, the process of developing an effective program to reduce their bills will generally require the services of an experienced engineer qualified to analyze consumption, time of day and peak demand issues. From the perspective of the small user versus that of the larger, there are two very different levels of complexity to achieve their common goal of lower electric bills. For the small user, the process is relatively straight forward, as covered above. The larger user, however, faces a far more complex process which might well become a barrier inhibiting the process. However, instead of allowing this barrier to become a roadblock, large users should see it as a gateway to meaningful savings. The larger and more complex the bill, the larger the savings potential just under the hood of your electric bill. George Crawford is a principal at NYG Green Partners, New York, N.Y.