Voluntary Energy Reduction Program
With the Voluntary Energy Reduction Program, your business gets paid for
voluntarily reducing electric use during peak times, such as on summer's hottest days.
In essence, your business "sells" electricity back to WPS.
By reducing your electric use when requested, you help make the most of
Wisconsin's power system. You also gain the opportunity to manage your energy
costs.
- Who is this program for?
- How does the program work?
- Are there any program limitations?
- Are any costs involved?
Please contact us to learn more about or to sign up for the Voluntary Energy Reduction Program.
- Who is this program for?
- The Voluntary Energy Reduction Program is for farms that:
- are electric customers of WPS, and
- have a back-up generator or the flexibility to reduce their electric use by at least 50 kilowatts at certain times.
- How does the program work?
- You choose from six price levels ($0.10, $0.25, $0.75, $1.50, $3.00 or $5.00
per kilowatt-hour) the price at which you're willing to reduce your electric use
if requested by WPS. You also estimate how much you'll be able to
reduce your use.
- You can change your price or estimated reduction by notifying WPS before 9 a.m. any business day, with the change going into effect the following business day.
- We compile all participating customers' bids and consider these when purchasing power. If bids from the Voluntary Energy Reduction Program provide a low-cost option, we ask participants to reduce their electric use.
- You will learn about the opportunity to reduce your use at least 30 minutes before the time when WPS will begin compensating participants. This is communicated through a paging system.
- Any compensation opportunity lasts for at least 2 hours.
- You have the ability to make a real-time decision about whether to reduce your electric use. If, at the time WPS pages you, you cannot reduce electric use, there's no obligation to do so.
- If you don't have staff on site to manage your electric use but want to participate in the Voluntary Energy Reduction Program, WPS can assist you. We'll install a switch that's operated by an FM signal, controlling your electric use when your chosen price level is reached.
Acme Processing joins the Voluntary Energy Reduction Program, selecting the $0.75 per kilowatt-hour price level and indicating an ability to reduce electric use by 500 kilowatts when requested.
Based on power supply needs, WPS sends a page to all program participants indicating that anyone who has selected the $0.75 bid level has the opportunity to be compensated for reducing their electric use β for at least 2 hours, but possibly up to 7 hours.
WPS's actual supply need lasts for 6 hours. Acme Processing reduces electric use by 500 kilowatts for 6 hours and receives a credit of $2,250 from WPS.
- Are there any program limitations?
- WPS cannot compensate any customer for a reduction that's greater
than 120 percent of the amount agreed upon.
Because this program is completely voluntary, WPS can't always count on electricity that will become available through the program. So voluntary bids will most likely be selected by WPS when other power supply options are priced significantly higher.