Energy Management: A Guide to Summer

Summer is the most expensive time of the year for us in Southern California. It's not just vacations and weddings that ramp up the bills, mostly it's trying to stay cool in our homes and at work. 

Reasonably, we can expect our electricity bills to jump by 40% in the warmer months, because our systems have to work much harder and pull more energy from an aging grid to keep life clement. 

However, in our 'Guide to the Summer,' we'll share regular tips to help manage your energy during the hot months and keep your bills - and footprint - as low as possible.

Here's Tip One: Simultaneous Switch-On:

For faith-based organizations and SMBs alike, we all have a tendency to "turn on for the day" when we arrive on a morning. But when you turn on a lot of equipment at the same time, there will be a spike in power usage, which impacts your demand charges. Charging for demand is the utility company's way of determining the maximum amount of power you need at any given time. This means you are effectively paying to have your maximum amount on standby every minute of every day - even though you'll only hit that peak once per month. Managing your peak demand means you're not being charged a premium for energy you don't use or need. 

Solution: Synchronize your start up at the beginning of the day. Don’t switch everything on at once. Instead stagger the switch-on so you can spread the demand on the utility over a longer period during the morning. Or even better - only turn on equipment when needed. 

Stay tuned for more tips during the next few months - and happy summer from all of us at Sunistics!