Peak Load Management Programs
Each year, businesses pay Peak Load Contribution (PLC) charges that account for 20 to 30 percent of their total electric bill. But there is a simple way to significantly lower these charges - and overall energy costs.
Through our exclusive Peak Load Management programs, Constellation notifies business customers of predicted peak hours, approximately 10 times per year, in which the customer may voluntarily decide to curtail its load.
These are the hours utilities may use to determine a customer's capacity and/or transmission charges for the following year. The less energy used during the Peak Hours this year, the lower the costs for next year.
Constellation's Peak Load Management programs are available to both fixed price and index customers. Customers with a fixed price still enjoy greater budget certainty, plus they gain the potential for their capacity and/or transmission costs to go down.Customers buying their power on index may secure additional savings, as peak load hours generally coincide with some of the highest energy price hours of the year.
A Three-Step Strategy
Here’s how Peak Load Management works:
- Constellation's load response team monitors grid consumption and weather to predict the peak setting hours of the year.
- The team alerts customers of the predicted Peak Hours with a Day-Ahead email notification, as well as a Day-Of reminder.
- When peak days and hours arrive, businesses simply curtail their energy use (on a strictly voluntary basis).
The Constellation Advantage
Constellation leverages its wholesale electric market expertise to predict peak-setting hours. Constellation will attempt to correctly predict these hours with the fewest calls possible to help minimize the impact on your operations and maximize savings opportunities.
Constellation Peak Load Management programs are entirely voluntary and there are no obligations to participate. If you do not respond during an event, there is no penalty and you merely forego the savings opportunity.
Two Payment Options
- Bill savings - By utilizing the Peak Load Management programs, you may be able to reduce the your monthly commodity bill during the year following participation in the program.
- Quarterly Check - If your participation in the Peak Load Management programs results in your capacity and transmission tags being reduced, Constellation will pay a check to you within 30 days after the close of each quarter during the payment year following the successful participation in the program.
Constellation has a proven track record of correctly forecasting the peak setting hours with a limited number of calls , minimizing the impact on your operations and maximizing savings opportunities. To show your our confidence in our peak management service, Constellation will only charge for this service if we correctly predict the peaks and your capacity and transmission tags are reduced.
If you have the ability to reduce load within your facility, Demand Response may be a program you can participate in to earn additional revenue. Have one of our specialists contact you.
Planning to Save with VirtuWattTM
VirtuWatt - Constellation's intuitive, online technology solution for managing and analyzing energy usage - enables Peak Load Management program customers to better control and track their energy use.
Upon receiving a curtailment notification, customers can use VirtuWatt to adjust settings of building lights, thermostats and more during peak hours in conjunction with a building automation system.
VirtuWatt also offers several dynamic portals and functions to easily:
- Track real-time and historic usage information across multiple facilities and regions
- Compare current usage to program targets
- Monitor total grid load and pricing per zone
- Bid in to Economic and Ancillary Programs
- View accurate weather forecasts to predict possible demand surges
Customers can access VirtuWatt from desktop computers and mobile devices, including iPhone® and iPad® devices, iOS 4.0 or later.