What is Beat the Peak?
Beat the Peak is a free and voluntary program that helps control energy costs for all CHELCO members. When a potential peak demand for electricity has been predicted, members may receive phone calls or text alerts encouraging them to reduce electricity consumption during that short period of time.
Alerts are activated only when extreme weather conditions are predicted to cause unusually high energy usage by many people during the same time frame, such as unusually hot summer afternoons or extremely cold winter mornings.
Alerts are typically sent a week to a day prior to the expected peak demand.
Why should members participate?
Banding together and helping one another is the cooperative way. Our members collectively have the means to help control what CHELCO must pay for wholesale power, which affects rates for all members.
The single largest expense CHELCO has is the price of energy we deliver to our members. When demand for electricity rises, the wholesale cost to buy it rises. When CHELCO purchases large amounts of energy during these peak periods when prices are highest, it can have a significant impact on rates. Through our Beat the Peak campaign, our goal is to keep the amount of power we have to buy as low as possible so the rates are controlled over the course of the year.
What does a Beat the Peak alert ask me to do?
A CHELCO Beat the Peak alert asks members to reduce their electricity use during peak demand hours — usually by delaying the use of hot water and large appliances (like washers, dryers, ovens, and dishwashers), adjusting thermostats a few degrees, and turning off unnecessary lights or electronics.
The idea is to shift energy use to non-peak times so CHELCO can avoid buying high-cost power, which helps keep rates stable for all members.
Time of Use Rates
CHELCO offers Residential and Commercial Time of Use Rates to help control costs for the entire cooperative while offering savings on members' monthly bills.
Our Time of Use (TOU) plan charges different power rates based on the time of day members utilize energy. Rates are lower than our standard rates during off-peak hours and higher during on-peak hours.
Customer Charge, Wholesale Power Cost Adjustment, Distribution Delivery Charge, taxes and other subscription charges remain the same as standard service.
If you are interested in signing up for Time of Use, please call (850) 892-2111 or visit any of our area offices.
CLICK HERE to visit our rates page to learn more about Time of Use.
Load control efforts save $260K in January 2024
Want to do more to reduce energy (and save money!) year-round? By joining CHELCO’s Switch to Save program, we will give you a $25 bill credit when the switch is installed. Next, you get a $3 bill credit each month as long as you keep the switch.
Visit all of our Energy Efficiency pages located under the Energy Efficiency tab.
Visit our Switch to Save page for more information on CHELCO's water heater load control program.
