Prices Are Temporarily Down

UPDATE: Prices are back up. The hourly prices on www.powersmartpricing.org are temporarily down. Please visit https://www2.ameren.com/RetailEnergy/realtimeprices.aspx for a list of today's prices.

Top 5 - Top Energy Sustainability Blog Posts

At this time of year blogs from around the Internet join in the holiday tradition of recapping the year that was in lists. So what better way to join than to appreciate the top 5 "Top list" blog posts of the year.

1. GigaOM’s top 10 green stories of 2011

2. Smart grid winners, losers (and fence-sitters) 2011

3. Top 5 Smart Grid Trends of 2011

4. Home Energy Management: 8 Big Trends in 2011

5. The Top 5 Smart Grid Disappointments of 2011

So now you have plenty to read so enjoy one of the Top 5 times of the year. Happy holidays!

How to Compare Savings with Power Smart Pricing

This year you may have noticed other companies offering discounted electricity supply rates in your area. These companies are referred to as Retail Electric Suppliers. Retail Electric Suppliers are companies that have received approval from the Illinois Commerce Commission to offer an alternative competitive price for the electricity supply that you use. Their offers cover the supply portion of your bill, but like Power Smart Pricing, do not change the delivery services portion of your bill. As a Power Smart Pricing customer, you need to be aware of the following in order to make an informed decision when considering switching to a Retail Electricity Supplier:

If you sign up for a Retail Electric Supplier, you will be removed from Power Smart Pricing. At this time, you cannot enroll in both.

Savings messages provided by Retail Electric Suppliers are not estimates of savings compared with the prices you pay with Power Smart Pricing. They usually reference how much you might save compared with the Ameren Illinois standard BGS residential rate. For more information about electricity supply prices with Power Smart Pricing and the BGS residential rate, go to www.powersmartpricing.org/about-hourly-prices/.

Savings messages in offers from Retail Electric Suppliers usually refer to the electricity supply portion of the bill only. To make an “apples-to-apples” comparison of these offers with the savings you are getting with Power Smart Pricing, log in to the online bill comparison tool at www.powersmartpricing.org and look at your percent saved on the electricity supply portion of your bill only, or your total dollar amount saved. Since 2007, Power Smart Pricing participants have saved an average of 25 percent on electricity supply costs compared with the Ameren Illinois standard BGS rate.

If you switch to a Retail Electric Supplier, you can switch back to Power Smart Pricing once you switch back to utility supply service.

If you have questions about Power Smart Pricing as it relates to your electric supply options, contact us at info@powersmartpricing.org or 1-877-655-6028. More information is also available from the Illinois Commerce Commission (pluginillinois.org or 1-800-524-0795) and from the Citizen’s Utility Board (citizensutilityboard.org or 1-800-669-5556).

Follow @PowerSmart on Twitter for Prices

Remember you can follow @PowerSmart on Twitter to receive a Daily Price Report that has the highest and lowest prices for the following day.

On days that have a high price alert there is a special message.

If you are an avid twitter user, and you are interested in getting the prices sent to you, follow @PowerSmart.

Power Hungry Set Top Boxes to be Regulated?

The Energy Department is considering to place new restrictions on the energy consumption of set top cable boxes and digital recorders. This would be similar to regulations that dramatically improved the efficiency of refrigerators. The announcement comes after the National Resource Defense Council published a new study of the usage of set top boxes. Their results are fairly staggering, and it shows how targeting set top boxes can make a big impact to both our energy costs and the environment.

Like a refrigerator, the television set top box is generally running at full power 24 hours a day. When the television is off and nothing is recording, these devices will still operate at a similar energy demand. Two-thirds of their demand for power comes when the consumer is not using the device. Since the companies who are supplying these boxes do not pay for the electricity, there is little incentive for them to invest in changing their products.

According to the NRDC study:

In 2010, set-top boxes in the United States consumed approximately 27 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity, which is equivalent to the annual output of nine average (500 MW) coal-fired power plants. The electricity required to operate all U.S. boxes is equal to the annual household electricity consumption of the entire state of Maryland, results in 16 million metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, and costs households more than $3 billion each year.

The NRDC study has also proposed some solutions and picked out the worst types of set top boxes. In some cases they have a greater energy demand than a new energy efficient refrigerators and 42" LCD HDTVs.

Check out the very informative, 5-page study here: http://www.nrdc.org/energy/files/settopboxes.pdf