Utility offers summer incentive programs

This summer, Delmarva Power customers could earn some extra credit on their power bills.

Delaware Public Service Commission approved a plan Dec. 21, to reward Delmarva Power’s Delaware customers who reduce electricity use on hot summer days when demand and market price of power are at their peak.

Delmarva Power supplies energy for about 300,000 Delaware homes and businesses. Starting next summer, Delmarva Power will open the incentive program to 7,000 residential, or Standard Offer Service customers.

Delmarva Power media representative Bridget Shelton said the first phase of the program will include customers in Sussex County.  "There's fair representation when you compare it to Kent and New Castle.  We definitely want residents in all three counties as part of this initial 7,000."

The program is scheduled to expand from 2013 to 2014 to include all Standard Offer Service customers, including residential and small and medium-sized businesses.

“We’re going to help our customers understand that when they reduce electricity use on the hottest summer days, it will help reduce what we all pay for energy,” said Delmarva Power Region President Gary Stockbridge, in a press release.

Under the incentive program, customers can earn money back on their monthly electricity bill if they reduce power usage during peak times.

Customers can be notified by phone, text message or email the day before an expected peak.  Peaks will likely occur between noon and 8 p.m. on hot summer days.

Using the company’s website, delmarvapower.com, customers can view their typical hourly electricity use and plan to reduce it to receive credit on their power bill.

The incentive program is possible because of smart meters, which over the past two years were installed in every home and business that uses Delmarva Power.

Like old electricity meters, smart meters measure energy to calculate a customer’s monthly electric bill.  But smart meters allow two-way communication between the utility and the customer, making the measurements more up-to-date and accurate.

Smart meters alerted Delmarva Power of many power outages during Hurricane Irene in August, instead of forcing customers to notify the utility by phone.

“With our smart meter technology now in place, we can begin to roll out the customer programs, such as this one, that will reward our customers with savings for using less electricity on those costly summer days,” Stockbridge said.

Delaware PSC voted Oct. 18 to raise Delmarva Power customer fees.  The vote allowed Bloom Energy to build a manufacturing center in Newark. Delmarva Power became a customer of Bloom Energy, and its customers are charged a renewable energy tariff to help Bloom pay for two fuel-cell generating stations.  Reports predicted Delmarva Power customers would see $1 to $1.40 per month added to their electric bills.

But Shelton said the incentive program was not created to offset the renewable energy tariff.  “It’s apples and oranges,” she said.

Shelton said the incentive program was created to help Delaware residents become smarter and more efficient with their energy use.

Gov. Jack Markell signed a bill into law July 29, 2009, which set a goal to reduce energy consumption in the state by15 percent by 2015.  Shelton said, “These programs are going to help customers do just that.”