10/6/2014 10:10 AM
If you are on an off-peak demand program, using electricity during peak demand periods would result in much higher bills. We used to run into this all the time when we would overseed and be running water during the day. We are on what they call a GST-1 schedule which provides a lower electrical rate for off-peak use ($.02/kWh) vs. on-peak use ($.17/kwh). Higher on-peak charge is basically a penalty for using when we said we wouldn't. We could go to a non-demand GS-1 account(which allows use of energy at anytime for the same rate regardless of peak or off-peak), but then all usage would be around $.07/kWh, resulting in a much higher overall bill since most of our existing power is consumed off-peak.
It's also important to find out what hours are considered off-peak. Some utility providers have 7:00 pm as the start of off-peak, while others are 9:00 pm. Scheduling your irrigation to fall in this window would result in big savings if you are on an off-peak rate tier. So, based on the chart below, our irrigation starting at 7:00 results in a few hours of on-peak usage.
I am hit with a bill of around $800/moth prior to even using any electricity. That is the charge of just being connected to their grid with 3-phase power.
From the Duke Energy website for us:
On-Peak Periods for Time of Use Rates
On-Peak periods for TOU rates are Monday through Friday
as follows:
November through March
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
6am to 10 am /6pm to 10 pm
April through October
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Noon to 9 pm
All other hours, including Saturday, Sunday, and six major holidays (New
Year's Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving
and Christmas) and the adjacent weekday if a holiday falls on Saturday
or Sunday, are considered Off-Peak