Here comes the heat...

Well, not THAT Heat. But while I think of it, thank you Oklahoma City Thunder for an exciting playoff and finals extended season. It was kind of fun how fans (recent and die-hards) supported our wonderful team.

We are back into those 100˚ days since Tuesday and for the next several days. This is a great time to put SmartHours to the test!

SmartHours pricing with OG&E began at the beginning of the month and runs through the end of September. In a nutshell, we pay 4.5 cents per kWh (instead of 11.3 cents per kWh all of the time for non-enrolled customers) for all of our electricity usage over these four months, with the exception of no more than 30 hours a week—2–7 p.m. Monday–Friday (excluding national holidays). Our SmartHours price may be the low 4.5 cents per kWh; standard 11.3 cents per kWh; medium 23 cents per kWh; or high 46 cents per kWh (see graphic above).

I am notified (via text and/or email) the day before of which price point I may expect for the following day's SmartHours, and plan accordingly. In addition, I have, thus far, received two additional Critical Price Alerts which notify me of an even higher billing rate per kWh within the 2–7 p.m. window. Today's Critical Price Alert was from 4–7 p.m.; yesterday's was from 3–6 p.m. Both times, the rate bumped up to 50 cents per kWh. See the graphic to see how the rate fluctuated through the day (light red line).

In addition to consciously planning extra power usage outside the 2–7 p.m. window, using my thermostat is a tool that regulates our AC usage. Several days ago I tweaked some of my setpoints and edited my schedule. The temperature is still quite comfortable. In addition to setpoints and schedules, there's also an Conservation setting where the thermostat takes my settings and applies my choice between Comfort and Balanced and Savings. As you can see, I keep our setting between comfort and balanced, so it keeps temps a bit cooler than if it were set more toward savings. Again, it is MY option to adjust/modify these settings.

There's already good news for tomorrow, Friday. I've already received my alert that the cost per kWh for 2–7 p.m. tomorrow is the standard 11.3 cents.

I took a look at my OG&E bills from 2010 and 2011 (before SmartHours enrollment) and our June bills were in excess of $500 each time. I look forward to not only a lower total bill but am also excited about how much SmartHours usage will save us. Remember, it was $143.70 last month! Stay tuned for more!

*This is a sponsored post. As always, my thoughts and opinions are my own.