CPS Energy's Peak Saver Program (Spring: rent, homes, live in)

[The Man in SATX]

Originally Posted by sapphire

That seems like a significant savings to me. 10% off a $200 bill is $20--half a tank of gas!

I wish I could say 20 bucks was half of a tank of gas for me.. but that doesnt even put gas in the gas lines...

[mrstxcop]

Originally Posted by BrianTX

I had the programmable thermostat installed a few months ago. I was going to buy one and figured this way I'd get it free, and the idea of them cycling the unit at times didn't bother me. Friends who had it said IF they had ever been cycled they didn't know it.

Today around 6pm I noticed it was getting warm in the house and the thermometer showed 4 degrees above the setting. I could tell the fan was on, but I checked and the outside unit wasn't going. In a bit it turned on, but then went off again (I don't know if it was a half hour or not since I was in panic mode already - we were without AC for 8 days last August - don't ask...).

I went out and took the cover off the AC unit and pressed the restart button and nothing happened immediately, but then the unit turned on a few minutes later - only to shut off again and the temp in the house remained 4 degrees above the set temp.

Assuming my extremely old AC unit was acting up again I assumed the worst and called our home shield company to set up a repair call - and they are supposed to call me tomorrow.

In the meantime - just after 7pm the unit turned on and has been running ever since trying to get the house to the right temp. That's when it dawned on me that possibly CPS had shut me down during those times.

I found this forum just now and saw where someone posted that you can tell if they are doing that by seeing "peak saver" on the thermostat. If it was on there I didn't see it - but I wasn't really looking.

Is it obvious? Is there a way to tell if they cycled you?

I'll call the Peak Saver people in the morning assuming the AC is still working then (fingers crossed) to see if I need to cancel the repair call.

Any advice you experts can give would be appreciated :-)

actually what it says is "saving" with a little box around it ... it says it on the bottom of the thermostat screen --- the unit can be cycled off for 10mins every 30mins and yes, after 7pm they stop cycling it off

are you sure you did not have the HOLD function set on your thermostat??? where it will hold the temp at whatever you set it at??? it will blink between what you normally have it set up and what you have the hold set at --- for example, we normally have the temp set up 78, but i can make it warmer in the house, say up to 80, and if i push HOLD the temp will be held at 80 until i turn the HOLD off

[Paka]

Originally Posted by sapphire

That seems like a significant savings to me. 10% off a $200 bill is $20--half a tank of gas!

Or at least 3 gal of gas the way things are going...right?

[sapphire]

Originally Posted by Paka

Or at least 3 gal of gas the way things are going...right?

Well, that was written way back in May of '08 when it was lower. I'm still getting by with just under $40 in my car--but my son's Escape takes $60.

I would love to find an extra 8,000,000,000,000 on my next check to help me catch up!

[BrianTX]

Thanks for the reply. The day after I posted my question I saw the "saved" on the thermostat - in fact I got to see it a lot since they "cycled" every half hour between 5:30 and 7pm for several days. I guess I just wasn't expecting it since friends had told me they never actually did it :-)

After getting last month's gas/elect bill I'm doing more "cycling" of my own....sheesh.

Thanks again.

[HillCountryHotRodMan]

So, I am considering trying this Peak Saver thing. I have a few questions.

Has anyone realized any savings on their CPS bill with this program?

Also, what are the requirements to qualify for the program? the CPS website states that there are requirements.

One more- has anyone had an older (15 years old) Trane heat pump unit and had any success with this program?

Thanks for any advice.

[elnina]

Originally Posted by HillCountryHotRodMan

So, I am considering trying this Peak Saver thing. I have a few questions.

Has anyone realized any savings on their CPS bill with this program?

Also, what are the requirements to qualify for the program? the CPS website states that there are requirements.

One more- has anyone had an older (15 years old) Trane heat pump unit and had any success with this program?

Thanks for any advice.

I did sign to it maybe 5 years ago (or maybe longer). I don’t remember that there were any requirements to join the program other than submitting an application.
After that, few days later someone called me from CPS and set up an appointment to visit my home. I got a nice, modern unit installed in about 15 minutes (you can install it yourself if you handy), and user’s manual how to set up it. If you want you can make the initial setting with the help of the technician.
This unit allows you to make multiple settings customized for every day of the week. You can bypass the setting with a temporary setting (if you want to heat/cool the house faster) , and what was really important for me – you can access the settings from your computer remotely.
I travel a bit and sometimes I forget to set it accordingly for the time of my absence – I can do it remotely later. I also like to be able to change the settings in case I am going home early/late, so it can start cooling/heating it before I arrive.
In all the years I didn’t notice any cycling done remotely by CPS, but I did noticed some savings ( about 15-20 % a month).
You can set up your access page and be notified about cycling done by CPS. Mine said always that: “ you were not cycled today”. I didn’t observe any cycling on the days I was working from home - maybe because I already set up the cooling temperature pretty high and heating low?
In overall I like the thermostat and all the functions available to me. I don’t think that there is anything like that available to buy anywhere in the store or online.
After 3 years the unit is yours and you can stop participating in that program if you chose so.
( BTW, later I installed ridge roof vents which lower my energy bill even more

PM me if you need any additional info or screen shots of the unit or settings.

This program is not available in Houston

[BrianTX]

Originally Posted by HillCountryHotRodMan

So, I am considering trying this Peak Saver thing. I have a few questions.

Has anyone realized any savings on their CPS bill with this program?

Also, what are the requirements to qualify for the program? the CPS website states that there are requirements.

One more- has anyone had an older (15 years old) Trane heat pump unit and had any success with this program?

Thanks for any advice.

I don't know if I can say we saved any money using this program - it's hard to tell since rates and weather conditions make comparing difficult (apples and oranges most of the time). But there were days during the 40 or so 100+ degree days this summer that the program kicked in - so we "assume" we saved some - but when you consider how hard the system has to work to get the temp back to normal once the "program" time is over, it's just hard to say.

Our AC unit is now 20 years old and is a Trane but it's not a heat pump. I expect this will be the last year before we swap it out and that will probably save us much more than the "program." But you wonder - I saw a bit about the new electric GM car this morning. It costs $20,000 more than a Prius, and you can get $7,500 back from the govt. That means it's only $12,500 more than a Prius - and according to the stats it will take you 20 years to get enough savings on gas to cover the additional cost. Sure, let's put $10,000 worth of new energy efficient windows on - we can save 10% on our electric bill ($20 a month savings...) Oh well :-)

[HillCountryHotRodMan]

Thanks for the info, folks! I do appreciate the assistance.

This website is great for information.

[akona88]

I have the newer touchscreen peaksaver thermostat installed...based on the Honeywell VisionPro thermostat. It looks quite modern and you can have it stay dimly lit (option the installer can set up) all the time so you can read it in the dark without having to poke at it. CPS did cycle it quite a bit last summer but it was hot so I expected it. I didn't see too much of a difference but the few times I did was about when the 10 minutes were up so the compressor then kicked back in. If your house does not have much insulation, then it might not work too well for you since it would heat up quickly. You really don't have much to lose since if you are not happy, CPS will reinstall your old thermostat. The more people who enroll in the progam means the less often they have to cycle since they can spread it out over more houses. I do like the internet control function as I travel a lot. It is one way only so it's not like I, or anyone else, can look into my house to see what the temp is.

Also, don't expect any real energy savings since as soon as your 10 minutes are up, the compressor will start up. You'd only see a savings if your compressor never turned off, but then that would mean it was maxed out on a hot day and was barely keeping up with the heatload.

The only requirements I remember is that you have to participate in the program for 3 years, or else they will take the thermostat back. My sister has one installed with a variable speed heat pump and it works fine. Mine is regular central air / gas heat. The only thing I don't like is there is a slight click when it turns on, whereas my other thermostat was completely silent. Not a big deal.