OG&E - New Program

**Thunder** · 05-02-2009, 01:57 AM

OKLAHOMA CITY -- A program from Oklahoma Gas & Electric can drastically cut your electric bill, company officials said.

It's called the Time of Use plan, and it is geared for this time of year when it starts to get warmer.

Rather than being charged a flat rate of close to 9 cents per kilowatt hour all day, like most customers, OG&E can charge for electricity depending on the time of day.

Company officials said from 7 p.m. until 2 p.m. the next day, customers will be charged 3 to 5 cents per kilowatt hour.

The catch is that in the afternoon, from 2 to 7 p.m., customers are charged 23 cents because it costs more to produce energy.

OG&E Program Could Save You Money - Money News Story - KOCO Oklahoma City

I'm not sure, but it depends on some people. The AC runs 24/7, so I'll be slammed with that 23 cents increase. Maybe it is wise not to be lured into a program such as this and just continue to conserve energy.

**Charlie40** · 05-02-2009, 12:00 PM

Agreed, this proposed program is the devil in disguise, if this takes off and is implemented in all OG&E areas your electric bill we be higher because the new meters are more accurate as well as have a rate increase tacked on on top of the higher bill so they can recover the cost of the new meters and digital readout devices inside your home. I wish this was put to a vote of the customers because if it was I would vote it down. I hope it does not catch on and just dies due to lack of interest.

**Thunder** · 05-02-2009, 12:36 PM

Yeah, I heard about the new digital meters. I don't like it. I hope not to get one for many years.

**TGall** · 05-03-2009, 03:02 AM

This is not a plan I would consider the summer afternoons is when greatest use of A/C. I agree the A/C runs 24/7 some months so where is the savings.

**TGall** · 05-03-2009, 03:25 AM

This is not a plan I would consider the summer afternoons is when greatest use of A/C. I agree the A/C runs 24/7 some months so where is the savings.

**Thunder** · 05-03-2009, 10:49 PM

This is a clever trick to lure people into paying them money.

Just how do they track the usages during certain times? Of course, the new digital meters. Anyone wanting to enroll in this trick program will pay for the meter replacement and setup. There are fees as well.

There is no real savings. Don't join the program. Hang onto your old meter for as long as you can.

**oneforone** · 05-04-2009, 04:11 AM

This past year at the fair OG&E had a display of a inside monitor you could read from inside the house. It was about the size of a GPS Unit. The display stated real time data of how much energy you were using and how much it was costing you.

As far the posted news story is concerned that is a horrible idea. The number of people dying from heat exhaustion would triple. We have not had a triple digit outbreak in a few years now. I predict this summer will be nasty in July and August just simply because we have not had one in so long.

**Insider** · 05-04-2009, 08:25 AM

This is not something they are proposing for all homes, nor is it anything new. This is a program that you can sign up for and has been around for at least a year or two. It is something to help **SOME** people save money. It would benefit me because I am at work during those hours and can throttle back the A/C. Someone who is home during those hours would obviously not benefit from it.

Do not be so quick to rip apart OG&E as ALWAYS trying to rip off the consumer. I agree that they are not the best company as they routinely increase rates on the ratepayers. But this is a legitimate program that does have a place here in Oklahoma.

**ms7168** · 05-04-2009, 08:29 AM

My next door neighbor used to do that but not because it saved money but because their air conditioner is old and running it in the hottest part of the day would put so much stress on it that it could fail. So they would run it from like 10pm until 10am straight through and then turn it off. I guess they were used to it and they thought it was perfectly comfortable though I never thought their home was particularly comfortable in the evening.

I personally don't care how much the electric bill is. I run the air as much as I want and just pay the bill when it comes. It helps a lot keeping your unit clean and serviced.

**Heyuri** · 05-04-2009, 10:33 AM

Obviously this is not for everybody, but for some people this makes a /huge/ amount of sense. Since my house is empty from 9AM until about 6PM 5 of the 7 days a week, I turn off the AC during that time. Since a large portion of the US is in the same situation, that would create a huge savings for them.

This is in no way anything sinister, or any attempt to get more money from people... This is just an attempt to get people involved in using less electricity during peak usage. I highly doubt this will change your bill in any appreciable way unless you proactively alter your electricity usage to use more electricity during off peak times and less during peak times, and then your bill will only go down.