Letting the power company control your thermostat?

[Koolau]

Agreed, it is definitely an irritant. Penalizing you for braking hard to avoid an accident doesn't seem to make a lot of sense.

However, over the 6 months the program tracks your driving before coming up with a discount, you can have several harsh braking instances with little negative impact to your score/discount. I think I was hit with seven or eight plus a handful of phone handling and hands free call dings and still ended up with a 27% discount.

Hmmm. How do they know about your phone?

 

[REWahoo]

Hmmm. How do they know about your phone?

Via the app.

The USAA SafePilot App runs in the background and gathers details about each trip you take, including:

Location
Time of day
If you’re the passenger or driver
Phone Handling
Hand-held Calling
Hands-free Calling
Harsh Braking
Annualized Hours Driven
Potential accidents detected

 

[Koolau]

Via the app.

Of course. I was thinking it was the old plug-into-the-obd-port thing.

 

[COcheesehead]

I have a pulsing device on my A/C. The power company can stop it for 10-20 minutes at a time while keeping the fan going during peak periods. We don’t even notice it. The house stays within a degree or two of our setting.
They paid me $75 to install it and give me a $40 credit annually.
I also recently signed up for another program where the power is supposed to come from solar farms. They said it will lower my electric by 10%. I haven’t gotten the first bill yet, but in summer, that would save us $10 or so a month. In winter, when I run heat tape on the roof, probably $20 a month.

 

[Sue J]

Of course. I was thinking it was the old plug-into-the-obd-port thing.

We changed to Progressive auto insurance a few months ago. We are doing the "Snapshot" monitor that goes in your car data port. It looks for hard braking, fast acceleration, and late night weekend driving. So far, we've only been caught for hard braking. The unit gives a beep and then it shows up in your trip report.

We chose the monitor in the data port, but we could have opted for the app instead. The app for the monitor shows us every trip, time and distance and if you had any of the issues that it looks for. I don't know how much of a discount this will get us as we are still in the first 6 month period. I don't know if we will stay with "Snapshot" as it's a little creepy that we are being monitored. But we chose to try it.

It certainly teaches you to drive like an old person!

 

[Jeffman52]

I am not surprised because this technology has been used for a long time. When I was just out of electronics school in 1982, I worked on load regulator circuit boards that were being used by Georgia power. At the time they used them to shut down AC units and Water heaters when they were doing power checks for areas so that those units wouldn't kick on, spiking the numbers. It was as simple as sending an RF signal that would activate a 555 timer on the board, that would keep the power off for those units for 5 mins.


If you think about it, even then they could have controlled people's AC usage and I would be surprised if they don't do the same today, to load balance zones of electricity, and you don't even realize it.

 

[rk911]

same program from ComEd here. There's not a snowball's chance in Hades that we would voluntarily participate.

 

[badatmath]

Was he driving in one of the areas where 75mph is legal?
If so, I’d ask the company about it and/or stop using the system.

On the other hand, if he was driving 75 in a 35mph zone, I’d give him a huge ding ;-)

It was just a pilot they were collecting feedback on the technology not assigning real penalties. I don't think they signed up when it went live though I have no idea how much discount their insurer gave.

 

[badatmath]

I have a pulsing device on my A/C. The power company can stop it for 10-20 minutes at a time while keeping the fan going during peak periods. We don’t even notice it. The house stays within a degree or two of our setting.
They paid me $75 to install it and give me a $40 credit annually.
I also recently signed up for another program where the power is supposed to come from solar farms. They said it will lower my electric by 10%. I haven’t gotten the first bill yet, but in summer, that would save us $10 or so a month. In winter, when I run heat tape on the roof, probably $20 a month.

It seems odd some of you are saying it will only be stopped for 20 minutes or whatever when the locals here say 3 hours . . . for a less generous rebate. I suppose it depends on the demand.

 

[Koolau]

We changed to Progressive auto insurance a few months ago. We are doing the "Snapshot" monitor that goes in your car data port. It looks for hard braking, fast acceleration, and late night weekend driving. So far, we've only been caught for hard braking. The unit gives a beep and then it shows up in your trip report.

We chose the monitor in the data port, but we could have opted for the app instead. The app for the monitor shows us every trip, time and distance and if you had any of the issues that it looks for. I don't know how much of a discount this will get us as we are still in the first 6 month period. I don't know if we will stay with "Snapshot" as it's a little creepy that we are being monitored. But we chose to try it.

It certainly teaches you to drive like an old person!

Yeah, creepy was the word that came to my mind reading this. Hope it doesn't listen to your conversations!

 

[Walt34]

Unfortunately, no. The app dings you whenever your phone senses any aggressive lateral g-force like when you do a very a sharp U-turn or floor it when the light turns green.

Interesting that it ignores dropping your phone...

Well, at least it's good that they don't ding you for crashing....

 

[Koolau]

I am not surprised because this technology has been used for a long time. When I was just out of electronics school in 1982, I worked on load regulator circuit boards that were being used by Georgia power. At the time they used them to shut down AC units and Water heaters when they were doing power checks for areas so that those units wouldn't kick on, spiking the numbers. It was as simple as sending an RF signal that would activate a 555 timer on the board, that would keep the power off for those units for 5 mins.


If you think about it, even then they could have controlled people's AC usage and I would be surprised if they don't do the same today, to load balance zones of electricity, and you don't even realize it.

15 years ago we gave our electric company permission to turn off our electric hot water heater (for a $3/month reduction on our bill.) It was never even noticed if it was even activated. They had to install some circuitry on our water heater and then a simple signal could actuate the shut down and return to service.

 

[Koolau]

Well, at least it's good that they don't ding you for crashing....

I wonder if they note that you're driving like some old guy (below limits, total stop at stop sign, etc.) (Does it hear the guy in the pick up behind honking to get the old guy to realize the light has turned green.)

 

[Piper20]

PECO in SE Pa had a program that gave you $20 a month if they had a event. 15 minutes off 15 on for AC. We had a 2 compressor Trane and would shut off the 4 ton compressor which was never used for AC anyway.
They dropped the program after a few years. Now they come out do an energy assessment for $25 and give you some LED bulbs and a blower door test for air infiltration etc.

 

[COcheesehead]

It seems odd some of you are saying it will only be stopped for 20 minutes or whatever when the locals here say 3 hours . . . for a less generous rebate. I suppose it depends on the demand.

Different programs. The pulsing switch as described by our utility:
Saver's Switch is a small device that cycles your central air conditioner on and off while the fan keeps cool air circulating through your house

 

[Koolau]

They dropped the program after a few years. Now they come out do an energy assessment for $25 and give you some LED bulbs and a blower door test for air infiltration etc.

Heh, heh, I'd love to see a blower test on our condo. We have jalousie windows on the trade wind side and huge sliders on the leeward side. So during normal weather, the trades blow in the "roughly" north side of the condo and the air flows out to the south. During that kind of weather, we never close a window. It's our free AC. Now in the rare event of cold snap (you know, like in the mid 60s at night) WITH wind blowing. We try to button things up - you know, so we don't have to throw an extra blanket on the bed. When we do close up - the condo sounds like Sgt. Preston of the North (he was a NW Mounted Police in a fictional show from the 50s.) The wind howls through the windows and curtains dance a veritable jig. IOW - we aren't very well sealed.

The scariest is when we get a "gale" out of the South - sorta like I expect is happening right now with Calvin just south of our Island. I can actually watch the sliders flex as the wind blows against their large square footage. I just keep thinking one of them is going to shatter - but, thank goodness - that's never happened yet. And they are original to the building.

The noise of a gale is "unsettling." YMMV

 

[Time2]

I would never let someone else control the temperature in my house.

I have a wife to do that!

 

[dheb]

I always knew I lived under a rock but TIL that local power companies persuade people to sign up for bill credits in return for raising your interior temp 3 or 4 degrees via your wifi thermostat. . .

Just wondering if anyone else finds this sorta creepy or if most locations do it and I just didn't know. It is supposed to help them manage demand. I feel rather like they could invest in infrastructure - maybe how about some solar - IDK - to manage demand instead.

I will never understand how EV are supposed to work if we can't keep up with normal AC demands in summer.

I did this at my old house (which had solar panels). I didn't find it creepy at all, in part because it was completely voluntary. They had a limit on how many days they would do it, and it never occurred on weekends. (And they gave you a couple times each summer when if you were home and really needed the AC, you could call and they'd turn it back on.) Generally they would cycle the AC off for a while, so the temp in the house might go up a little. They just didn't want everyone's AC running at once. And it's not "supposed to" help them manage demand - it actually does. Sure, they could invest in building more generating capacity, and then all the ratepayers would have to pay for that infrastructure. The way EV charging works is that a lot of people charge their cars overnight, when demand for electricity tends to be less, rather than at peak usage times. And, we mostly CAN keep up with normal AC demands in summer, but having people volunteer to cycle theirs off at peak usage times saves you money because the power company doesn't have to build another generating facility that would only really be useful during those peak demand times.

 

[Retired Expat]

I installed a smart thermostat with various room sensors. So for example it uses the bedroom temperatures over night to determine demand and we can schedule the over night for cooler temps which makes for better sleeping. Those remote sensors also have occupancy detectors so if a room is empty it basically ignores the temperatures there. but generally just being able to raise or lower the temp after we leave or before we get home is a pleasure. I remember getting to my country house late at night after work on a Friday in the winter and the sheets were like ice, the shower floors too cold to walk on.

 

[arch57]

I will never understand how EV are supposed to work if we can't keep up with normal AC demands in summer.
.

Oh boy here we go about EV charging vs. AC demand. Simple answer. Electric Vehicles charge at NIGHT when the demand is much lower. Power companies have excess capacity at night. Makes sense if you think about it.

 

[Koolau]

Oh boy here we go about EV charging vs. AC demand. Simple answer. Electric Vehicles charge at NIGHT when the demand is much lower. Power companies have excess capacity at night. Makes sense if you think about it.

You're probably correct, but do you have a citation about the mix of charging day vs night? I think that would be useful in this situation. Certainly when people travel long distances, they do need to charge during the daytime in many cases.

 

[CardsFan]

Oh boy here we go about EV charging vs. AC demand. Simple answer. Electric Vehicles charge at NIGHT when the demand is much lower. Power companies have excess capacity at night. Makes sense if you think about it.

What about all those vehicles parked at chargers during the day? I am pretty sure they are not waiting until night-time.

Sure, if you charge only at home, you can regulate when. But if your are on the road?

 

[Gearhead Jim]

It is USAA's "Safe Pilot" program, other insurers have similar programs. You install an app on your phones and allow the insurer to monitor your driving. You get a 10% discount for signing up and then up to a 30% discount based on how safely you drive. You are "dinged" for phone handling, harsh braking, taking/making calls while driving, etc. We've earned a 27% discount which works out to be a $600 savings per year for us.

More details on the program: https://www.usaa.com/insurance/safedriving/?akredirect=true

EDIT: Here is a thread from last year discussing these programs. https://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f28/auto-insurance-discount-115142.html

When our Corvette (2017) was new, the dealer set up the program where Onstar would monitor my driving techniques and send me a report occasionally, but didn't tell me he'd done that. Presumably, I could get a discount by letting the insurance company see the information.

Since the car was brand new, I was driving it like a real Grandpa to break in the new engine/transmission/brakes (as recommended in the Owner Manual).

When I got the first report, it showed something like 87 instances of excessive acceleration, 120 instances of excessive braking, and a bunch of other transgressions that I don't remember. So I immediately called Onstar and told them to discontinue the "service" immediately, and delete all previous data. They stopped gathering data, but said they couldn't delete the data they had already collected. After talking to several supervisors and some irate discussion, they finally said the old data had bee deleted. Maybe...

Paranoia can be useful. I'm sure that data previously collected can be subpoenaed, regardless of any promises.

 

[Raygun99]

Kind of a reverse scenario here in Dallas . Have a GENRAC 24KW to power house on Gas if the grid goes down. We received a notice from energy provider offerings $5 an hour if in an emergency they could switch off our electric and have us run on the generator. Thus taking some users off the grid for a duration of time. . Kind of like supplementing the grid? But I still wonder if there would then be a gas supply issue?

 

[BasketCase24]

They’d rather pay their customers to use a few kilowatt-hours less than buy those kWh from a nearby utility OR startup a jet-engine powered peaking unit.