• Saving Energy
• Billing & Payment
• Start or Stop Service
• Electric & Natural Gas Rates and Programs
• Helpful Resources
  • Training Opportunities
  • ENERGY Newsletter
  • Business Connection
  • Farmnews
  • Agriculture Department Staff
  • Brochures & Fact Sheets
  • Online Resources
  • Energy Terms
  • Stray Voltage
  • WPS Farm Show
  • For Small Businesses
• Energy Information System
• Power Quality & Reliability
• Outages and Service Problems
• Safety
• Doing Business with WPS

Home Page  > For Businesses/Farms  > Helpful Resources  > ENERGY Newsletter  > ENERGY Newsletter  >

ENERGY Newsletter

Can You Be Flexible With Energy Use?
(Energy News - July 2010)

Rates Allow Businesses To Adjust Electric Use And Save Money

Energy is a big operating cost for most businesses. Specialized rate options from WPS can help companies save money when they control their energy use during peak times.

If you can cut back on operations, use on-site generation or delay production to a later time, consider taking advantage of these opportunities.

Response Rewards

Response Rewards participants achieve energy savings by cutting electric load during Critical-Peak Pricing (CPP) hours — times of high electric cost. By doing most energy-intensive activities during Off-Peak times, customers avoid higher rates and help ease pressure on the electric power grid.

When CPP is imminent, WPS contacts participants via e-mail, text message or pager. Businesses benefit from significant savings if they can curtail energy use in the next two to eight hours. Participants also receive reduced Off-Peak (20% lower) and On-Peak (40% lower) rates. Response Rewards is available to Cp and Cg-20 customers who do not have interruptible electric service or direct-load control. Companies can sign up for this rate at any time but must make a one-year commitment.

Next-Day Pricing

Just like other commodities, the price of generating power fluctuates each day. Next-Day Pricing businesses receive day-ahead pricing signals so they can cut back on energy consumption when prices are high and ramp up activity when prices are down.

Each day, late in the afternoon, participants receive an e-mail informing them of the next day's pricing category:

• Critical (most expensive), five days per year.
• Peak, 100 days per year.
• Mid-Economy, 100 days per year.
• Economy (least expensive), 47 days per year.

Businesses also can check WPS's website for a 10-day pricing forecast and a year-to-date summary.

If participants cut back on electric use during critical and peak times they can save money. There is no penalty if a company does not curtail use, but they will be charged the rate that applies to the day's pricing category.

Next-Day Pricing is available to Cp customers. This rate requires a one-year commitment.

For More Information

If you have questions about how Response Rewards or Next-Day Pricing could help your company save energy and money, contact your account executive or call the Business Solutions Center at 877-444-0888.