Energy Usage
Levelized Billing May Help Balance Costs
If you are concerned about fluctuating electric bills, you may want to take advantage of the levelized billing program. Levelized billing will help even out your monthly payments. Your usage for the past 12 months will be averaged each month to come up with the balance due. By eliminating the peaks and valleys of monthly usage, a member’s monthly bill becomes more stable.
Several of our members have contacted us in relation to energy usage this winter.
Where do our energy dollars go?
When Moreau-Grand Electric Cooperative first began, the typical residential installation was a 60-amp range circuit, a 20-amp kitchen circuit and a couple of 15-amp lighting circuits. This is sparse when compared to the services Moreau-Grand Electric Cooperative is installing today. The chart above from the Alliance to Save Energy is an indication of where, as South Dakotans, our energy dollars go.
How does this, the spring of 2009, stack up to others?
This really turned out to be an interesting subject. The State of South Dakota has an extensive archive of data located at your fingertips. The heating degree days for northern Dewey County indicate that the energy needed to keep us warm this last winter is above the 30 year average.
What are degree days?
Heating degree days and cooling degree days are used as a measure of the heating and cooling needs of buildings. Both are referenced to 65 degrees F. If the average of a given day’s high and low temperature is 65 degrees, then there are no (zero) heating or cooling degree days. If the average temperature is 72 degrees F for a given day, then there are (72 minus 65 equals) 7 cooling degree days. If the average temperature is 50 degrees F., then there are (65 minus 50 equals) 15 heating degree days. You can add up the degree days for any time period, say the month of January, and get an idea of how much heating was required to heat buildings. The energy industry pays attention to heating and cooling degree days as a way to predict energy prices.
More detailed information may be found at http://climate.sdstate.edu.
