Southern California Edison’s New HVAC Duck Curve Means That Everyone Needs to Start Quacking

We’re Not Kidding: SCE’s HVAC Energy Savings Strategy Is Here

It sounds nutty, we know. Hopefully it may work. But according to Southern California Edison, the duck curve is upon us, and this requires proactive changes for your home or business energy strategy in order to take advantage of the savings involved. And by the way, there’s a duck in the story too.

What?

Bear with us. It starts with something called the duck curve. We’ve discussed it here. Basically, this phrase refers to a graph of energy supply and demand habits, a pattern that looks something like a duck, if you’ve had enough coffee and stare long enough at it (and who knows, after enough time the whole spreadsheet may start quacking!).

With solar energy in use across the Southland, it’s easy for utility companies to come up with cheap and plentiful power during the day. At night, when solar obviously isn’t an option, it becomes more difficult to supply energy to commercial and residential users. Unfortunately, this reality also coincides with the times most people are using their HVAC, along with other common appliances.  For these reasons, Edison has decided that peak usage times are now from 4PM-10PM. These will be the most expensive times of the day to use HVAC for your home or business.

Southern California Edison suggests that you plan ahead. At 2PM, consider lowering your thermostat to pre-cool your office or house so that when 4PM  and peak energy hours hit, you can in turn raise your thermostat to 78 degrees, avoiding these higher rates, and more expensive utility bills without sacrificing indoor comfort. You can turn everything down low again once the peak is over at 10PM.

This obviously requires planning. We wouldn’t even suggest bringing up ducks as you explain this strategy to others. But it will save you money. For commercial property owners and astute, energy-conscious homeowners, it might even save you a lot of money. Either way, the times are changing, as they usually do, and it’s part of our job here at Air-Tro to keep you informed of the latest in energy conservation and ways to save. Whether it’s installing a new thermostat to help you respond to this new mandate, or simply answer your questions about energy efficiency, we’re always here to help.

The HVAC duck curve is here from Southern California Edison, and you may need to implement a new energy conservation strategy to keep your utility bills low. Call Air-Tro today to find out more, at (626) 357-3535.