Energy conservation at Heritage Ranch

So. California Edison has offered Heritage Ranch an opportunity to conserve energy and save as much as $3,000 a month on our electric bill.

Commercial accounts such as ours are charged Off Peak, Mid Peak and On Peak rates. These rates are applied for the highest 15 minutes of usage in a given month. In the month of July, 2008 our rates were:

Mid Peak: $5.24 per Kilowatt.. Our Park used 486 KW for a one time total charge of $2,546.64

On Peak: $15.48 per Kilowatt.. Our Park used 499 KW for a one time total charge of $7,724.52

Southern California Edison has offered us an opportunity to cut those charges by as much as 50 percent, by turning off many unnecessary appliances and lights.

The program is called Critical Peak Pricing (CPP).

CPP events will only be activated during SCE’S summer season between noon and 6:00 PM, Monday thru Friday, excluding holidays. There are a maximum of 12(3 times a month) CPP events per summer season including up to 4 test events (6 hours per day during on-peak periods, for a maximum of 72 hours per summer season) The summer season begins at midnight on the first Sunday in June and continues until midnight on the first Sunday in October.

To activate the critical peak pricing SCE will notify H.R. a day in advance. H.R. will notify residents either by e-mail, or messenger.

Rather than shut down everything for 6 hours we have recommended the following procedure:

The park is divided into 5 zones for delivery of electric bills.

The park will be divided into the same zones and each zone will be asked to turn off all electrical appliances (including A/C) for a period of One (1) hour and (15) minutes, starting with zone 1. Example: Zone 1 will shut down from 12 noon to 1:15. Zone 2 will follow, then zone 3,4 & 5.

In order to further accommodate this shut down, the laundry room will also be locked up from 11:45 AM to 6:05 PM. In doing this we hope it won’t be necessary to increase your machine use cost.

It has been urged that all chargers for electric vehicles be put on timers that charge batteries between the hours of 8PM and 6AM which is our lowest use time.

If everyone participates in these shut down’s it could save the park as much as $3,000 each month during the summer months. This naturally would be passed on to the residents in lower KWH charge.

To Implement the Critical Peak Pricing (CPP) program

So. California Edison, when they implement the CPP program, will notify Heritage Ranch the day before. Our energy reduction program should start at 11:55 and end at 6:05 PM, to assure that no one is going to cause the energy use to spike because their clock is off a minute or two.

The park has been divided into 5 zones.

Each zone will be asked to conserve for 1 hour and 20 minutes.

Zone 1: 11:55 AM to 1:15 PM Lot No. 1 thru 19 & 68 thru 128

Zone 2: 1:15 PM to 2:35 PM Lot No. 20 thru 53 & 129 thru 169

Zone 3: 2:30 PM to 3:50 PM Lot No. 1A thru 73A

Zone 4: 3:45 PM to 5:05 PM Lot No. 74A thru 100A & 163A thru 216A and 54

Zone 5: 5:00 PM to 6:05 PM Lot No. 55 thru 67 and 101A thru 162A

Each residence is asked to turn off computers, tv, set down refrigerator thermostat, turn off all lights, shut down washers and dryers and refrain from using microwave or cooking on electric stove or toaster oven.

Electric vehicles (golf cart) chargers should be turned off during this time.

If you cannot leave your home for an hour, set your thermostat for 80 degrees. Try to turn it off for as long as you can handle it without risking your health.

The laundry room will be closed from 11:55 AM to 6:05 PM.

We hope this does not inconvenience anyone too much, but in reducing energy consumption we can reduce our electric bills each month thru the end of September

If you have any questions please feel free to call either;

Hal Spangenberg: 487-0325

Dave Bridgeman: 654-5358