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If you are interested in signing up for this program please e-mail us or call 573-874-7325.
The purpose of Water and Light’s Load Shedding Program is to reduce Columbia’s peak demand through voluntary curtailment of loads at the customer level during peak afternoon periods. Participation in the Load Shedding program is open to all commercial and industrial customers who have demand levels of 250 kilowatts (kW) or higher during any month between June and September.
As an incentive for participation, Columbia Water and Light offers a monthly credit of $36 per year for each kilowatt of load shed. A maximum of 50% of the load is eligible for load shedding credits. Credits are paid to the customer in monthly credits, of $3 per kW, starting with the October billing.
Peak loads result when the overall demand for electricity in the community increases to the point that it reaches record levels. Typically, they occur on hot summer weekdays between 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. On these days, customers in the program are asked to curtail their demand for electricity for a three hour period. Columbia Water and Light can not anticipate the number of load shedding days expected during any one summer. Generally, an average summer will produce less than seven days in which load shedding is needed.
Columbia Water and Light will notify customers of any peak reduction needs by 1:30 p.m. on the day that load shedding is to occur. Notification is through a load management signal box that the utility provides to the customer. The signal box is equipped with a light to signal the need for load shedding and, optionally, will have an audible alarm to insure attention by appropriate staff. At the customer’s request, a faxed notification can be sent out, alerting a contact person that load shedding is being requested.
A recording electric meter will be installed to the customer’s facility to measure the amount of electric load that is being shed during the requested periods. Over the course of the summer, these load shedding levels will be averaged to arrive at an annual load shedding credit. For example, if four days of load shedding occurred during a summer and load reductions ran at 80, 90, 100 and 130 kW of power per day, the customer would receive an annual load shedding credit of 100 kW, which is the average amount of load shedding during the whole season. For 100 kW of annual load shedding, credits of $300 per month would be issued starting with the October billing. This would occur for twelve months, totaling an annual credit of $3,600. If no peak days occurred during a summer the customer would receive the same credit that was given the year previous. (First year customers would not receive a credit in a year which no load shedding occurred.)
To register for the program, a Load Shedding agreement must be submitted to Columbia Water and Light by April 15 in advance of the summer season. The deadline ensures that Water and Light will have time to install all necessary metering equipment before peak load days occur.
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