# My utility sent me a nasty letter



## Highbeam (Mar 24, 2014)

So my utility, Puget Sound Energy, decided to do a little public service and spend some of our conservation funds on education. They sent me and probably all customers a little letter with a graph on it showing similar houses, your "neighbors", within a smallish radius and compared their electric use to mine. Three lines on the graph. Average customer, the efficient neighbor (top 20% in green as a subtle indicator of success), and then me in black.

This last month I used 87% more electric than my efficient neighbor in a supposedly similar house. They really dwelled on punishing me for that statistic. I am capable of reading graphs though and can see that during the summer I use less than my efficient neighbors and in all cases I use less than average but I'm a bad guy because I'm not in the top 20%.

I don't use a single watt for house heating but I do run a hot tub on the patio.

I've got to wonder now how they know or if they know if my neighbors are using propane for house and water heat.

It's not a bad idea but I do see the black box output as a bit sketchy. The output is only as good as the input and they used some creative marketing tricks to make a point.


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## TimfromMA (Mar 24, 2014)

I get an identical letter from my electric company, National Grid. All they know is how much electricity you and your neighbors use. They don't care why you use more, just that you do.


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## Slow1 (Mar 24, 2014)

I was amused by mine from NationalGrid.  We've been running a credit ever since installing solar panels - didn't hear any cudos or complaints from them then.  So a couple months ago I started using more for a project I am working on - quite a bit more actually (about 500Kwh/mo), more than doubled my monthly 'burn' so needless to say I'm actually using more than I'm producing.  NOW I get a letter from them saying I'm less efficient than my 'green' neighbors.  If only they REALLY knew how much I am burning each month, not just the net from solar!

I wonder if when (in about a month) I reduce my consumption to where it was I'll get a note from them saying how much better I'm doing... They probably will count that 'success' as indication that their letter changed something and sparked me to be more conservative with my power on some report somewhere...


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## Highbeam (Mar 24, 2014)

Or they will change your meter, tell you the reading must have been bad, and charge you as though you had continued to consume at the same higher rate. Happened to be last year when I shut my hot tub off for the summer season.

For this letter process to be effective they would need to find homes with the same energy sources, same appliance types, same insulation levels, same occupant count, and same square footage. Heck, having teenage daughters puts you at a disadvantage compared to infants. I think it's a false reward/punishment.


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## Circus (Mar 24, 2014)

If you use to little they whine about not recouping hardware costs.


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## Redbarn (Mar 24, 2014)

Wonder if this is a national program ?
 I get the same silly letters from Met Ed. 
In PA, we choose our electric supplier so Met Ed is not even supplying our electricity. They do have a distribution charge based on usage so they have some interest in our use. 

We use these letters, unopened, as fire starters.


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## blades (Mar 24, 2014)

Well I am about due for my second annual gas meter sending unit change out, Course I haven't received the nasty cheating letter yet which precedes them changing the sending unit.


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## peakbagger (Mar 24, 2014)

They have to justify those darn smart meters somehow , The reality is that there are several studies out there that the average uneducated consumer is motivated to save power by turning it into a competition against the neighbors. I expect the local PUC is paying them to encourage customers to save energy and this is the utilities response  As long as they don't start putting up a sign on the meter that this house is a power hog, who really cares?  I would be far more pissed off if they started charging residential demand charges or coming up with a way of penalizing my net metering.

My former employer had to do a cold weather test on a piece of equipment, they insulated a large bay of the shop and rolled in the equipment and then rented several large electric chillers and ran them for a couple of days in July until the equipment was at - 30 deg F. They then did the test. No one figured out that they set a 12 month demand charge on their power bill until a few months later


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## AK13 (Mar 24, 2014)

I got the same letter. I didn't think there was anything nasty about it. Obviously its flawed because all homes are different and use different sources of energy in different ways. But I don't see anything wrong with it. The intent is just to make the average consumer (not your average Hearth.com member!) to consider their energy use a little bit.


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## Highbeam (Mar 25, 2014)

AK13 said:


> I got the same letter. I didn't think there was anything nasty about it. Obviously its flawed because all homes are different and use different sources of energy in different ways. But I don't see anything wrong with it. The intent is just to make the average consumer (not your average Hearth.com member!) to consider their energy use a little bit.


 
Of course it wasn't as nasty as it could have been but it was a negative letter meant to nudge me towards changing my behavior. The intent was obvious but for any customer with a brain it was obvious that the comparison is flawed and so the comparison is bogus. You would think that they could take this idea and make it useful with more effort on their end. At least group homes by age.


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## woodgeek (Mar 25, 2014)

There is a successful startup called 'OPower' which sells this info as a service to different utilities.  Many studies have shown that simply being told you use more than your neighbors, and maybe a single frowny face on your bills will do more t reduce your usage than just about anything else they could write.

So they are all doing it now.


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## Slow1 (Mar 25, 2014)

The "greenie" in me (as limited as it is) has to say that, even if flawed, if these letters get folks thinking a bit about their usage it may be a good thing.  Any data/information can be interpreted and used in multiple ways.  I really don't think a lot of people give much of a thought to how much power they used - getting some sort of sense of their usage vs averages may make someone think "gee, maybe I could do better".  If so, it has some value.


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## woodgeek (Mar 25, 2014)

Highbeam said:


> Of course it wasn't as nasty as it could have been but it was a negative letter meant to nudge me towards changing my behavior. The intent was obvious but for any customer with a brain it was obvious that the comparison is flawed and so the comparison is bogus. You would think that they could take this idea and make it useful with more effort on their end. At least group homes by age.



Customers with a brain need not heed the message....it is for the majority without a brain (for energy use).  In my bill, I get lumped with others that clearly have some electric heating, based on the profile, and my comparison group is similar square footage...that info is public and can be/ has been sucked up by OPower.


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## trailrated (Mar 25, 2014)

Tell them as long as you're paying the bill and they're are getting their money, to mind their business. It is not their concern.


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## TimfromMA (Mar 25, 2014)

They shouldn’t complain. The more power I use and the higher my bill, the more it offsets what they lose from solar users.


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## firebroad (Mar 25, 2014)

I get the same notice, only in e-mail form.  I was a little flummoxed, as I was getting the "top" score in the fall, then fell in the mid-way group later on.  I was confused as to why I was not as "efficient" as my 100 closest "efficient" neighbors (heck, there aren't 100 houses in the surrounding 10 miles!), until I figured out that there are very few households around here that use heat pumps and electric water heaters as I do now.  When I tell my neighbors what my electric bill is, they are usually amazed at how small it is. 
I think Woodgeek has nailed it.


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## tsquini (Mar 25, 2014)

I get the same letter. It is interesting to see. I don't understand what is in it for them.


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## begreen (Mar 25, 2014)

I got the same letter from the same power company but didn't take it as nasty. There are all sorts of customers. Some are aware and some are obtuse. Raising general knowledge of power consumption is a good thing. We have an all electric house so I expected to come in high for our neighborhood having an electric car. I was pleased to see we were more average. PSE also shows you how you are doing compared to last year which I find helpful.


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## DougA (Mar 25, 2014)

Highbeam said:


> I don't use a single watt for house heating but I do run a hot tub on the patio.



A few days from now you'll be posting ideas on how to balance a hot tub on top of a wood stove.


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## woodgeek (Mar 26, 2014)

DougA said:


> A few days from now you'll be posting ideas on how to balance a hot tub on top of a wood stove.



Only $900: https://snorkel.com/hot-tub-products/wood-fired-hot-tubs.php


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## begreen (Mar 26, 2014)

Made locally too!


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## Highbeam (Mar 26, 2014)

DougA said:


> A few days from now you'll be posting ideas on how to balance a hot tub on top of a wood stove.


 
That hot tub burns 20 kwh per day, roughly. 2$. Perhaps newer ones use less but not many people are capable of measuring consumption.


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## Mpodesta (Mar 27, 2014)

National grid bitches at me constantly with those letters.............4 computers running non stop + the cooling tower


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## 1kzwoman (Mar 27, 2014)

My gas co keeps asking for me to join their interior line insurance plan.. because lines can develop leaks and cost hundreds to repair, as well as their service plan for my furnace.  Their letters make good fire starters!


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## Where2 (Mar 27, 2014)

I'm disappointed I haven't received a letter like that, but I only bought 42kWh last month. I don't think my power company wants more customers like me. If they had more customers like me, they couldn't afford to fly the CEO up from Miami, over my house to the corporate HQ every morning in the company helicopter... (yes, it actually does fly over my house)


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## BrotherBart (Mar 30, 2014)

My electric co-op keeps sending me stuff wanting me to buy municipal sewer line maintenance coverage from a subsidiary of theirs. Me and everybody within eight miles are on septic systems.


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## jdp1152 (Apr 5, 2014)

Ok...great.  My neighbor spends 100 bucks a month on electric + 800 on oil whereas I spend 150-300 on electric.   I got a similar comparison letter.  You'd think they would have some idea of what was going on since they're paying the interest on a 25k loan used to produce that savings.


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## Highbeam (Apr 7, 2014)

Too funny. It's almost an insult. You're using ONLY 150-300, you should be getting an award.


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## firebroad (Apr 8, 2014)

Here's a good one--
Last night some fellow calls me, greets me by name, identifies himself and asks if I had received my last months BGE bill.  Uh oh, I think, maybe they didn't get their payment?  I am wracking my brain trying to remember when I sent the check out as I tell him, yes, I did receive it.
He asks, "May I ask if you are still using natural gas?"
Huh?  We have never had gas lines out here, and not likely to get them.
"What?"
"Do you still use natural gas for heating?"
I am wondering if this guy _did_ say he worked for Baltimore Gas & Electric. "Are you nuts?  We don't have gas out here, don't _you_ people know that?!"
The gentleman's tone becomes very indignant. (Maybe shouldn't have asked if he were nuts) "No, I _do not_ know that; that is what I was asking you!  Good bye." and hangs up.
Go figure.  So much for Smart Meters.


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## Lake Girl (Apr 15, 2014)

woodgeek said:


> Only $900: https://snorkel.com/hot-tub-products/wood-fired-hot-tubs.php


You beat me to it; my sister has one in her yard...


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## woodgeek (Apr 16, 2014)

The 'authors' of that little letter just had their IPO:

http://blogs.wsj.com/venturecapital...-opower-scored-where-google-microsoft-failed/
http://gigaom.com/2014/04/03/opower-prices-ipo-at-high-end-at-19-per-share/

The kids that came up with a smiley or frowny face are now worth about $100M.


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## firebroad (Apr 16, 2014)

You know, we have come a long way.  There was a time when the utility companies wanted you to use more electricity, before the war.


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## Highbeam (Apr 16, 2014)

firebroad said:


> You know, we have come a long way.  There was a time when the utility companies wanted you to use more electricity, before the war.


 
Deep down, they still want you to use more electricicity. That is how they pay for everything including their salaries. We are seeing that in the water industry, the use is lowered by conservation efforts but that means that we need to raise rates (on a per gallon basis) to make up for the loss. Sure, we could just raise the base rate but politically, folks really want "control" of their bill on an as used basis.


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## Lake Girl (Apr 16, 2014)

woodgeek said:


> The 'authors' of that little letter just had their IPO:
> 
> http://blogs.wsj.com/venturecapital...-opower-scored-where-google-microsoft-failed/
> http://gigaom.com/2014/04/03/opower-prices-ipo-at-high-end-at-19-per-share/
> ...



Or did Opower just hit the market at the right time with climbing electric rates, more people going to solar, and more government/power company incentives to purchase items that use less electric  so it appears to make Opower look like they are effective... Just a thought.

Investment folks are predicting another tech bubble burst...


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## Where2 (Apr 16, 2014)

Highbeam said:


> ...We are seeing that in the water industry, the use is lowered by conservation efforts but that means that we need to raise rates (on a per gallon basis) to make up for the loss. Sure, we could just raise the base rate but politically, folks really want "control" of their bill on an as used basis.



I actually saw that happen locally back when we had a drought. A "surcharge" popped up for about a year because fewer people watering their lawns with potable drinking water cut back the volume the water utility needed to make. The base rate on my water+sewer bill is so high that increasing my use by 2,000 gallons changes my bill by less than 10%. The utility tipped the base rate in their favor "to avoid seasonal fluctuations in revenue due to the influx and exodus of snow birds".


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## firebroad (Apr 17, 2014)

Tomorrow I have my energy audit.  Overly sensitive person that I am, let's see if I get defensive when the auditor finds room for improvement.


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## woodgeek (Apr 17, 2014)

firebroad said:


> Tomorrow I have my energy audit.  Overly sensitive person that I am, let's see if I get defensive when the auditor finds room for improvement.



My advice: Take your own notes.


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## Grisu (Apr 22, 2014)

Woodman37 said:


> As long as you are paying your bill it's your business how much power you use. How rude to send a letter like that.



Since you are consuming away the energy sources future generations would also like to use, no, it is not just your business. It is not a free market when a large group of market participants have not been born yet.


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