I've heard speculation that we can expect minute by minute rates in the near future. Power companies are already experimenting with data transfer over power-lines. Once it's perfected, they'll be able to put meters that can be monitored and controlled remotely, and delineate a fee structure down to the minute.

My friendly local electricity monopoly, Portland General Electric (a former subsidiary of Enron) allows me to enroll in 2 rated electricity.

Insted of paying a flat number (can't remember the specific number, let's call it N) at any hour of the day of the night, I can chose to pay 140% of that number for daytime (6am - 11pm) and 90% of N for night time (you guessed it, 11pm-6am)

Amazingly I passed.

Back in the day (1990s), before data transfer was conceivable over power lines, the electric cooperative in a nearby town looked at the cost of reading meters and determined that it would be cheaper to install coaxial cable to enable them to "phone home" with usage information. The net effect was that the citizens of that town got cheap cable modems before anyone else nearby did...

Anyway, most consumers are not charged a different electricity rate at different hours of the day, as their meters are not equipped to monitor peak vs. off-peak usage. Some electric companies are set up to offer peak/off-peak billing to their customers, though.

If this kind of thing is common, an appliance manufacturer could make a lot of money selling stuff like dishwashers and washing machines that operate on a timer, allowing people to set them to be run automatically when the electric rates are lowest.

If somebody using these fancy meters got a solar panel and sold power back into the grid, would their rate vary by hour too?

I just don't understand what happened when " . . . the building cut demand as much as 42 percent and sold the unused capacity for about $3,000." What exactly were they selling?

Re: the Portland General Electric plan that solo just posted about-- would anyone go for the second plan?? The only people that would even conceivably help are people who work second shift and have no one at home who doesn't--that just can't be that many.

"Did you know that you are charged a different rate for electricity during the peak hours of the day?"

Actually the typical situation is that the only information the power company gets about your useage is your meter total when they scan the information once a month. Take this month's number less last month's number and multiple by one rate.

@He: I believe (not 100% sure), that if you generate power (i.e. wind, solar, etc) privately and you are on the grid (connected to the power system) that the power company has to buy the unused power back from you.

I have a cousin that had a wind turbine and he would get checks from the power company for like $1.00 every few months, he was using a little less than he made.

The most significant power loads a typical person has is A/C and their refrigerator. If you aren't home during the day hopefully you are already turning yout thermostat up or turning it off completely. As to your refigerator, it's pretty hard to switch that to run only off peak. And if you aren't home opening and closing it during the day, it's already running pretty efficiently. Unless the utility is offering some pretty hefty rate cuts there wouldn't/shouldn't be a whole lot of change in your bill. Otherwise they were just plain overcharging you to begin with.

Regarding the re-purchase of generated electricity varies from state to state, as do the prices.

I knew utilities used a varying rate, kind of like telephone companies used to (still do, I don't know). That is why our dishwasher only runs after 11pm (timer) and laundry is done on weekends.

Speaking of power, anyone watch "Living with Ed Begley Jr."? I caught it last night.

"Did you know that you are charged a different rate for electricity during the peak hours of the day? It's true!"

Actually, that's not true for the vast majority of residential customers in the U.S. Only a very small fraction of residential customers are billed on a "real-time rate" -- like the one used by members of the Community Energy Cooperative -- or a similar, but less-sophisticated "time of use rate." The rest of us are billed based on total kilowatt-hours used during the month, irrespective of when we
use the energy.

It's hard to get firm data on this, but here's one data point: At Pacific Gas & Electric, one of the largest utilities in the U.S., only about 2% of residential customers in 2005 were on a rate that varied by the time of day.

My washer and dryer both have delayed start buttons, which i presume to be so that I can hit the start button and the wash runs while i'm sleeping, during off-peak usage time. I don't use them because A: I never could understand how the electric company would know how much juice I used and when, and B: When I start my washer, it's because I want my laundry done in 30-40 minutes, not tomorrow morning.

He: "I just don't understand what happened when " . . . the building cut demand as much as 42 percent and sold the unused capacity for about $3,000.""

Electric lines go both ways. In many places, you can "sell" that electricty back down the lines to the electric company. This is a far more convenient way for many people to go solar, because let's say in the middle of summer you're generating tons of electricity on a nice sunny day when nobody's home at your house so nothing much is on ... all your extra goes back to the electric company. But then when it rains for a week and you're producing NOTHING, you just get power from the electric company as usual. It means you don't have to go with battery arrays for your solar (which can be expensive and sometimes are difficult to maintain, although I hear that's improved) or go off-grid or anything.

It's also good for the electric companies because home solar production peaks when it's sunny and generally fairly warm, which is also when urban electricity usage peaks as all those office buildings try to keep cool with their A/C. If enough homeowners put up solar panels and tie into the grid, the electric company can get a noticeable boost during peak A/C hours and do fewer rolling blackouts or power rationing schemes.

When I worked in Chicago's Loop (this is only tangentially related to my prior comment), we used to get calls from the electric company to the building on the hottest days of summer saying, "You've got to cut your usage -- you can turn off your lights, your computers, or your A/C." We always picked lights. If buildings didn't comply and cut peak usage, we'd start getting blacked out, usually with the non-compliant buildings getting hit first. (Although since ComEd can't tie its own shoes, I can't imagine how they managed to figure out who was compliant and non-compliant.)

Anyway, enough home solar usage tied back into the grid would help reduce the amount of that kind of thing in urban areas.

Not only would there be electrical production from homes that have solar cells, but imagine if cars were required to have solar cells on their roofs. You go to work, park in the parking lot, and plug your car in, generating electricity for your office, or municipality.

Energy prices understandably have to fluctuate with time, based on usage. When its the early evening, and everyone is at their homes and has to have electrical lights on, and are using their tvs, radios, computers, etc, the electricity companies will have to ramp up production, such as with hydroelectric generators, to maintain adequate output. That, clearly, will cost more money.