If you have ever dieted, you know that you will never get your desired results unless you make a full dedication. There is no such thing as “trying” a diet, if you actually want to see results. Often, a lifestyle change is involved, as one must change their habits and at times, there may even be some slight discomfort involved in order to reach your goal. Any cheating from the plan will result in diminished results and continually cheating may even wipe out all your results.

At this point, you may be wondering… Why are we talking about dieting on a blog dedicated to HVAC and saving money on energy bills? For illustrative purposes, they work hand in hand. In order to see real savings on the new APS plans, you must make a full dedication. It is not something you can “try” and expect to see savings. This will often mean lifestyle changes and may even involve some discomfort in the form of temperatures to truly save. If the plan is not followed, you will likely diminish savings or even INCREASE your bill. A seemingly small “cheat” such as running the pool pump during on-peak hours for a Friday evening get-together; doing a quick load of laundry or turning the AC unit on for a short period, can easily increase your bill $45-$60 for the month, when on a demand charge plan.

There is, however, some good news! We compared summer bills from a customer who was formerly supercooling on the Combined Advantage Plan, to the rates of the new “Saver Choice Max” Plan. We calculated the cost of the bill as if the customer was on Time Advantage (no demand charge) for comparison purposes, using both the “old rates” and the “transition rates” that went into effect August 2017. In all instances, the customer would be close to the same (sometimes less) than the old time advantage rates, and even save over the transition rates.