OG&E Smarthours

[kukblue1]

I did a search and didn't find anything recent. Do you think smarthours are worth it? Has anyone compared to another home in your area or from one year to another? I been on it for 6 years and now that i'm home a few days during those hours I wonder if I'm really saving much. I don't run the AC from 2-7 I pre cool can get it down to 70 degrees. It gets up to 78-79 by 7pm. The last 2 hours from 5-7 gets rough. I run ceiling fan but then my AC has to run for hours to get it back down to 72 for bed time. My AC runs from like 11:30-2 non stop than from like 7pm until 10 pm non stop. How much money am I really saving. Is it worth it? What is the current rate without smarthours? What are your thoughts?

[chssooner]

If you are home during the day, it is not worth it. If you are away from most of the day, it is worth it.

[scottk]

Although you are saving money (half price) by running your A/C after 7 PM, in your case, it sounds like your savings are canceled out by having it run continuously in the off-peak hours to get back down to a reasonable temp. We have had Smart Hours from nearly the program's inception. Initially, we did what you were doing with the pre-cool and then catching back up after 7 PM. Our house was still 78 degrees at 9 PM and our AC ran for hours in the evening.

Now, we keep our air at 74 during the 2-7 time, and then drop a few degrees when going to bed. Our A/C doesn't run nearly as much with a constant temp, and our house stays comfortable. Our house is around 1800-2000 square feet and we usually have an electric bill just around $125-150 in the summer. We do shift all of our laundry to off-peak time and try to only use the oven occasionally when making dinner before 7 PM.

[Midtowner]

My office landlord installed it. It's not something we enjoy.

[oklip955]

Have you considered the averaging program or the flat rate? I am on the flat rate. Same cost each month through the year based on last years usage. My bill is up to around $375 a month for total electric house 1700 sq ft with extra frig and 2 freezers. I am retired so I stay home and yes run the ac. I could not handle 78 at night. ugh I keep mine at 68 but with that said some of my rooms run alot hotter then 68. Hall is 68 but the rooms are 70ish. yes I have R48 in the attic. I'm just total electric so my winter heating is a bit expensive. No natural gas and I did not do propane when I built my house.

[scottk]

My office landlord installed it. It's not something we enjoy.

Wow! I thought it was only for residential. Can't imagine turning up the thermostat in the business to save a few bucks at the expense of employee and customer comfort.

[Bullbear]

My office landlord installed it. It's not something we enjoy.

the program is just a rate and not an actual device. are you saying they have programmed a thermostat? thermostat programs can help people manage the program but aren't required and can be set to any temp you wish. I wouldn't enjoy working in a warm office for sure.

[Bullbear]

Wow! I thought it was only for residential. Can't imagine turning up the thermostat in the business to save a few bucks at the expense of employee and customer comfort.

it is only residential. its a residential rate. so if it is an office it must be set up as a residential account.

[bombermwc]

I had it and hated it. The amount we saved wasn't worth the sweating or the anger when we saw the red light for the high rates. That $20 a month wasn't worth me sweating my you know what's off and having to not use the dryer or dishwasher/etc until after 7.

If they really want this to be a program people are willing to enroll in long-term, then the savings needs to be a LOT more than it is. Especially now that so many people work from home and have to sit in the heat during the "smart" hours now for a lot longer than they used to. Not being home for so much of it made it tolerable for a while. There's no way you would catch me doing this now.

I'd rather put solar panels on my house and say F it to OG&E.

[king183]

I had it and hated it. The amount we saved wasn't worth the sweating or the anger when we saw the red light for the high rates. That $20 a month wasn't worth me sweating my you know what's off and having to not use the dryer or dishwasher/etc until after 7.

If they really want this to be a program people are willing to enroll in long-term, then the savings needs to be a LOT more than it is. Especially now that so many people work from home and have to sit in the heat during the "smart" hours now for a lot longer than they used to. Not being home for so much of it made it tolerable for a while. There's no way you would catch me doing this now.

I'd rather put solar panels on my house and say F it to OG&E.

If you put solar on your house and OGE is your electric provider, you have to use Time of Use, fyi. If you produce enough energy to power you're entire time, it won't make a difference whether you're on TOU or standard rates because you'll have the minimum bill either way. My understanding is most people with solar do not produce enough electricity in July and August, but their bills are still very low, even with TOU. I'm anxious to get my solar installed ASAP with this heat.

[kukblue1]

Well this thread is about ready to exploded if what Aaron Tuttle and others are saying on his facebook page. Sounds like smart hours customers are being you know what over.

[PaddyShack]

If you put solar on your house and OGE is your electric provider, you have to use Time of Use, fyi. If you produce enough energy to power you're entire time, it won't make a difference whether you're on TOU or standard rates because you'll have the minimum bill either way. My understanding is most people with solar do not produce enough electricity in July and August, but their bills are still very low, even with TOU. I'm anxious to get my solar installed ASAP with this heat.

I think the corporate commission should step in and force OGE to allow free and open use of private solar panels without penalizing customers for generating their own power. It seems very backwards to me that I can't simply go and buy my own panels, generate my own power, and then have OGE gripe that I am not using their power.

[Anonymous.]

Well this thread is about ready to exploded if what Aaron Tuttle and others are saying on his facebook page. Sounds like smart hours customers are being you know what over.

I am not on SmartHours, but I went to the website and it looks like they publish rates for every today and tomorrow here: https://apps.oge.com/OK_PriceSignal/

What is the complaint exactly? It looks to me if you can wait until 7pm to run AC and appliances, then you would save money.

[kukblue1]

I am not on SmartHours, but I went to the website and it looks like they publish rates for every today and tomorrow here: https://apps.oge.com/OK_PriceSignal/

What is the complaint exactly? It looks to me if you can wait until 7pm to run AC and appliances, then you would save money.

Some people are saying that the rate for people on non Smart hours is 7 cents all day and Smart hours are 7 cents most of the time but then between two and seven it could be much more expensive. Others are saying the rates 12 cents all day for non-smart hours but even so are you really saving any money when like today it's 43 cents between two and seven. They claim you're saving up to almost 50% are you really though?

[king183]

I think the corporate commission should step in and force OGE to allow free and open use of private solar panels without penalizing customers for generating their own power. It seems very backwards to me that I can't simply go and buy my own panels, generate my own power, and then have OGE gripe that I am not using their power.

I believe OGE makes a legitimate argument that even those who are getting 100% of their electricity from solar panels still utilize OGE's infrastructure and should pay a minimum fee to account for the use and maintenance of that infrastructure. I would be concerned, however, if they continue to increase that access cost in lieu of increasing energy costs to account for increases in energy prices.

They also allow solar users to bank their excessive energy use for 24 months, which I believe is rare amount electric utilities.

[LocoAko]

I believe OGE makes a legitimate argument that even those who are getting 100% of their electricity from solar panels still utilize OGE's infrastructure and should pay a minimum fee to account for the use and maintenance of that infrastructure. I would be concerned, however, if they continue to increase that access cost in lieu of increasing energy costs to account for increases in energy prices.

They also allow solar users to bank their excessive energy use for 24 months, which I believe is rare amount electric utilities.

That's right. As someone who is actively in the process of installing solar, I think it is totally fair to still charge grid-tied solar users a "grid/infrastructure" fee, which has in fact been argued to be more equitable than states that allow net metering customers to completely get rid of their electric bill despite utilizing the grid's infrastructure. In that case the (generally) more affluent customers who can afford to install solar panels are being subsidized by (generally) lower-income customers who have to pay for the grid themselves. I do agree it would be unfair to increase that fee beyond what regular OG&E customers are paying, which I don't think is what is currently happening. It is possible to go totally off the grid and ditch OG&E, but those systems are expensive and risky (i.e., if you don't produce enough power, oh well and good luck to you) and there's a reason most people don't do it.

So far, I haven't actually had any issue with OG&E's practices when it comes to solar (and believe me, I am not fan of my experience with OG&E more generally). The bigger issue compared to other states is the complete lack of incentives from the state legislature and things like Solar Renewable Energy Certifices (SERCs). But from what I can gather OG&E's practices are largely in line with the practices of other states.

[Anonymous.]

I am on the regular plan and it looks like I am being charged between 11.5-13 cents per KWH at any given time.

I went ahead and totaled up all my hourly cost from a normal day last week where it was mid 90s and here are the results. This is a day with me being away at work from 730am-530pm and not running AC until 5pm.

Taking no power usage considerations into account:
Without SH: $2.38 non-peak + $0.98 peak = $3.36 for the day
With SH:$1.39 non-peak + $3.50 peak = $4.89 for the day

Now I went and took into account smarthours usage rates by extrapolating the 'power used' data from 9am-2pm (as it was basically flat @ around .27 per hour.) and continued it until 7pm (so I would not run AC or appliances until 7) and here are the results:
With SH: $1.39 non-peak + $1.77 peak = $3.16 for the day


So from those results, Smarthours will cost me more if I was to proceed with normal day operations when I get home around 530pm. However, if I sweat it out until 7pm, then I save about 20 cents each day.

In conclusion, if I was enrolled in smarthours, the 43cents rate would murder my bill from turning my AC on @ 5pm. To me, 20 cents per day is not worth sweating it out until 7pm, so no smarthours for my house.

[DowntownMan]

Early on in the program there seemed to be more normal and low days in June and September but the last few years I feel there had been more high days so it eliminates the savings you had from the lower days. The early years of smart hours seemed to actually make for savings. Now it just seems to make for hot evenings in the house.

[Bill Robertson]

I think the corporate commission should step in and force OGE to allow free and open use of private solar panels without penalizing customers for generating their own power. It seems very backwards to me that I can't simply go and buy my own panels, generate my own power, and then have OGE gripe that I am not using their power.

Does OG&E charge if you build a house with solar and no meter set and connection to OG&E at all? I don't know the answer but I would think no. I do know of a couple barn type buildings on lots in OG&E's service area that have no power at all and I know the owners of those don't pay OG&E anything. But if you're going to connect to OG&E for backup or to sell excess to them than yes you should have to pay a minimum to cover line maintenance.

[kukblue1]

From OG&E facebook page: We’re aware there is some confusion about SmartHours rates, and we recognize that we have an opportunity to make the pricing information on our website clearer. SmartHours is an energy saving program that has saved OG&E customers more than $7 million since its introduction in 2012. We also understand it might not be the most cost effective option for every household depending on electricity usage behavior. We are working to make improvements to our online pricing breakdown to help our customers make the best decision for their household. We appreciate your patience as we work to provide more transparent and easier to understand information. If you have questions about SmartHours, please call us toll-free at 800-272-9741.

[Midtowner]

the program is just a rate and not an actual device. are you saying they have programmed a thermostat? thermostat programs can help people manage the program but aren't required and can be set to any temp you wish. I wouldn't enjoy working in a warm office for sure.

It's more an annoyance than anything else. It just requires you to get up and manually reset it every few hours. The landlord thought he could save a couple bucks. Where he'd be saving is investing in newer HVAC equipment. But as long as we're at 70 degrees, I don't really mind.

[Sydonesia]

Early on in the program there seemed to be more normal and low days in June and September but the last few years I feel there had been more high days so it eliminates the savings you had from the lower days. The early years of smart hours seemed to actually make for savings. Now it just seems to make for hot evenings in the house.

I've had SmartHours from day one and it's gone from "critical days" meaning highs in the upper 90s-low 100s to already having 4-5 critical days the last two weeks even with highs only getting to like 92. Them raising the low rate from 5 cents to 7 cents without saying a word about it hasn't helped either (standard went from 10 cents to 11, so the 50% savings is now more like 33%.) I was probably saving $20-$30 a month easy. The way it is structured now (and if a "critical day" is now "any day that is hot") I'm probably breaking even at best and having a much hotter house for it.

[kukblue1]

https://kfor.com/news/local/oklahoma...Y6N1MN9fldBT_M

[scottk]

I've had SmartHours from day one and it's gone from "critical days" meaning highs in the upper 90s-low 100s to already having 4-5 critical days the last two weeks even with highs only getting to like 92. Them raising the low rate from 5 cents to 7 cents without saying a word about it hasn't helped either (standard went from 10 cents to 11, so the 50% savings is now more like 33%.) I was probably saving $20-$30 a month easy. The way it is structured now (and if a "critical day" is now "any day that is hot") I'm probably breaking even at best and having a much hotter house for it.

This sounds accurate with the change in price structure. We have been Smarthours customers since the beginning too. This past week of straight Critical Alert days every afternoon has cancelled any savings that we get in the off-peak time.

[DowntownMan]

This sounds accurate with the change in price structure. We have been Smarthours customers since the beginning too. This past week of straight Critical Alert days every afternoon has cancelled any savings that we get in the off-peak time.

In the early years of the program. It was very rare to get a critical day. Maybe less than 5 a summer. Now it seems it’s frequent and at least once a week the entire summer.
Does anyone know what they utilize to deal high or critical and any way for customers to know what it is based on and why they deem more that way now

I have unsubscribed as I looked and last year I saved just $9 on June and September bills but l paid more on July and august bills for an overall more expensive summer on smart hours plus had to deal with hot house until house cooled down after system running for an hour after 7 pm