Saint John Energy customers were encouraged to limit their use of major appliances for several hours on Tuesday.
It was part of a new #PeakAlert initiative to alert customers when the utility anticipates it will experience a spike in electricity demand.
Chloe Murphy, a spokesperson for the utility, said when they experience peak demand, their wholesale prices go up and fossil-burning peakers are turned on.
“By being able to reduce the peak, we can reduce the environmental impact and also reduce the cost to help us keep our rates stable for customers,” said Murphy.
Each month, the utility pays a standard energy rate and a peak energy rate. The peak energy rate works out to $14.64 per kW for the maximum kW reading each month, or more than $25 million a year. The higher the monthly peak demand, the more the utility pays.
Saint John Energy first posted about the #PeakAlert on Monday and Murphy said the community response was overwhelming.
“We were flooded with messages from customers telling us about the different actions that they were taking to help us through this peak, so it’s really an initiative Saint Johners have really got behind,” said Murphy.
Murphy said the utility has worked to reduce peak power usage in the past, such as using its new Tesla battery to store energy during off-peak times and then discharge it during peak times, but this was the first time they have asked the public for help.
Tuesday’s peak was expected to last from 9 to 11 a.m., but instead, it started shortly after 8 a.m. and continued until around 2 p.m.
Murphy said staff at Saint John Energy are looking at the data to see how successful the #PeakAlert initiative was.
“There’s quite a few different things that we need to pick apart to be able to determine the effectiveness,” she said.
Murphy said the initiative would only be used during extreme events in the winter months, such as during the frigid temperatures and wind chill values we saw Tuesday.
Saint John Energy customers can sign up for Be Energy Smart email alerts through the utility’s customer portal.
The peak is over! Thank you so much for your participation, Saint John! The peak did last longer than we expected and we leveraged all of the resources at our disposal. We are going to review the data and provide summary insights when available. Lots to learn! #smartenergy pic.twitter.com/GwbzGzQMkk
— Saint John Energy (@SJENERGY) March 2, 2021