Thread Number: 75177
/ Tag: Other Home Products or Autos
Flat Rate Electric Water Heating |
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Post# 989925   4/8/2018 at 14:45 (2,202 days old) by jamiel (Detroit, Michigan and Palm Springs, CA)   |   | |
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Was wandering through an open house in the neighborhood and saw an interesting period piece in the basement. It was a Square D junction box with some interesting labeling (I didn't have my phone otherwise I would have snapped it) with four circuit-breaker like switches. It was labeled FOR WATER HEATING and had wording indicating that there were two circuits: one FLAT RATE for the lower element and the other METERED for the top element. It was noted as "PROPERTY DETROIT EDISON COMPANY". The Flat Rate/Metered were pretty well obliterated with a grease pencil (the house had a gas furnace/water heater). House appeared to have been built (in roughly the 20s) with coal gravity furnace (octopus type) and, I guess, an electric water heater. Has anyone ever seen anything like this?
Detroit Edison likes their separately metered services (interruptible air conditioning, for instance) and this might have been the forerunner of separately metered water heating (which they do continue to offer now). |
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Post# 989926 , Reply# 1   4/8/2018 at 15:07 (2,202 days old) by Eronie (Flushing Michigan)   |   | |
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The top element was switched by a timer located outside next to the regular meter. Very popular in the genesse county area. |
Post# 990012 , Reply# 5   4/9/2018 at 05:34 (2,201 days old) by polkanut (Wausau, WI )   |   | |
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Post# 990014 , Reply# 6   4/9/2018 at 05:46 (2,201 days old) by polkanut (Wausau, WI )   |   | |
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Our electric provider (WI Public Service) used to offer three rate savings plans. However, this program is no longer accepting new enrollees, and once you leave the program you're screwed. We've been enrolled in Option 1 since we bought our home in 1998.
Time-of-Use savings rates$0.06070 per kWh Rate during Time-of-Use off-peak (electric savings) hours. $0.18470 per kWh Rate during Time-of-Use on-peak hours.
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This post was last edited 04/09/2018 at 07:20 |
Post# 990157 , Reply# 10   4/10/2018 at 05:56 (2,200 days old) by polkanut (Wausau, WI )   |   | |
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Post# 990161 , Reply# 11   4/10/2018 at 06:30 (2,200 days old) by jamiel (Detroit, Michigan and Palm Springs, CA)   |   | |
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We commonly have two meters in metro Detroit; one for standard usage, the other for air-conditioning...actually our next door neighbors have that setup. I think they also offer the alternate rate/second meter if you have electric heat (a lower rate for wintertime heating a.k.a. improving the electric company's base load), or if you have an electric car charging station. This seemed, though, to pre-date that. Detroit Edison advertised a lot in the 50s to sell appliances (as many utilities did) and they would offer you a price (payable in small installments on your electric bill) which included the appliance (dryer/stove) and the connection necessary to take advantage. This seemed a little more like a security light--billed at a flat rate. (We had a similar situation in Atlanta, where there were gas lamps at our subdivision entrances which were flat rated/unmetered by the gas company)
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Post# 990198 , Reply# 14   4/10/2018 at 12:39 (2,200 days old) by ea56 (Cotati, Calif.)   |   | |
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We are all electric and for the first 22 years we lived here we had TOU service, Mon thru Fri. the peak rate,or highest rate was in effect from 12pm thru 7pm, Mon. thru Fri., all other times, including weekends were off peak, or the lowest rate.
Then about 2 years ago they installed a SMART meter and the new TOU plans were crazy. Different time frames and rates through out the day. Not compatible with our usage patterns, or convienent in any way. At least with the old TOU plan we only had to be careful from 12pm to 7pm, Mon-Fri. So we went on the standard rate plan, with the same rate 24/7. Surprisingly, the bill only increased about $10, or less per mo., something we are perfectly OK with. We are just careful with our use. And we now use the hydronic electric baseboard heaters, instead of the pellet insert. And factoring in the cost of pellets and fire starters, we only spend about $10 to $20 more per mo.during the cold months, and we’ve never been more comfortable and warm during the winter months in the past 24 yrs. we’ve live here. We have No Burn Days here courtesy of the Bay Area Air Quality Control district on days when the air pollution is bad. During those days we froze our asses off from 12pm-7pm, because I refused to use the electric heat at the peak rate when we unable to use the pellet insert. Now, No Burn or not we are comfortable and warm. We will stay with the standard rate plan service. And I really like the SMART meter, because I can go online 24/7 and monitor our usage, so there are no surprises when the bill is due. Eddie |