Powerstream to run 'floating' price pilot program
Powerstream will run a pilot program this summer charging participants extra-high prices during peak demand periods, but lower prices at other times

TheStar.com
Oct. 21, 2014
John Spears

Wanted: One thousand households who are willing to let the price of electricity float up during a summer heat wave.

But they’ll also benefit from lower prices when it’s not so hot.

Powerstream is seeking volunteers for a pilot project designed to give consumers an incentive to cut back during periods of extra-high demand, when the power system is strained.

Powerstream operates in a string of municipalities stretching from York Region north through Barrie as far as Georgian Bay.

The pilot program is a variation of the current system that prices electricity differently during the day — at peak, off-peak and mid-peak periods. (As of Nov. 1, those prices are 14 cents a kwh for peak periods, 7.7 cents for off-peak, and 11.4 cents for mid-peak.)

The six-month pilot project, called Advantage Power Pricing, kicks off May 1 and will have just two pricing periods: Peak and off-peak.

“The off-peak price will be lower than today’s off-peak price, so the customer will be saving money over 80 per cent of the time,” Powerstream’s Martin Rovers said in an interview.

The peak rate? That’s a bit different.

It could be one of three rates — low, medium or high — based on power planners’ projections of how demand is shaping up for the following day.

Households will get a text message a day in advance, letting them know which price level will apply the following day, so they can adjust their power use if they wish.

The price spread between low-price peaks and high-price peaks hasn’t been decided yet, Rovers said — but it will be noticeable.

“I’d say we’re looking for a spread of 10 or 20 cents,” a kilowatt hour, he said.
“We’re looking at creating a large enough price difference to encourage customer behaviour and energy shifts.”

Customers in the program will also get new thermostats that can be set to deliver “maximum savings.”

The maximum savings setting will throttle back air conditioning during high-price periods — allowing the temperature to drift up a few degrees, but saving money. That’s similar to the current PeakSaver program.

The new thermostats will also know if a high-price period is approaching. In that case, they’ll trigger an extra burst of cooling in the final minutes of the off-peak period, just before the high price kicks in.

Powerstream officials said that the pilot program will be risk-free. Customers whose bills climb under the new system won’t have to pay the difference, though they’ll get a statement showing what they might have paid.

But those who manage to cut their bills will be allowed to keep the savings.