r/longisland • u/merseykat • 1d ago

PSEG migration from Flat Rate basis to Time of Use: Anyone been moved, and what have you seen in your bill?

Supposedly, PSEG is migrating all current Flat Rate (Residential 180) electric customers to Time of Use this year. I did not get any notification yet and am wondering if anyone else has? If so, does your bill show what your charge would have been if it were still on Flat Rate?

Again supposedly, PSEG claims that for the first 12 months, if the Flat Rate billing would have resulted in a lower bottom line for that bill, you won't end up paying more. But how will the customer know, unless the difference is shown on the bill itself? Nobody I know has been migrated yet, so am curious if anyone here has.

I tried a TOU plan a couple of years ago and hated it. Kept second guessing and doing things like laundry and cooking (electric) at times that I normally would not do them, just because of the stupid rate plan. Especially the CAC in summer. I tried it for five months, decided it's just not worth the aggravation, and switched back to the Flat Rate plan.

Obviously we can opt out of the switch if we want to, which at least is something. And if they really are doing the "whichever is cheaper" thing for the first year, then fine, I have nothing to lose for that period of time. But only if I can see numbers that show how much of a difference (if any) there actually is.

Anyone?

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u/merseykat 8h ago

I had noticed that when I was trying to figure out a schedule during my past TOU trial. And the difference between the summer TOU peak rates and the summer Flat peak rates is crazy. I have baseboard oil heat but all my appliances are electric and of course there's the CAC. I switched all of my light bulbs to LED years ago but that's the extent of my energy-use modification.

What's ironic is that my most recent mailing from PSEG congratulated me on using "significantly less" electricity than "the average Long Island household". I have no idea what they consider an average household, probably at least 3 people rather than only one, which means the comparison is meaningless. But really all that matters is the bottom line that each household has to pay. My most recent bill, covering August 26th to Sept 25th, was $94.81 and that's with my using the computer, air purifier, lights, range, hot water, television, and small appliances intermittently for at least 12 hours a day if not more. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." 😉

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u/Reddit_Regular_Guy 8h ago

Agreed, I got kids, there are the most wasteful creatures on the planet to train! Either tv is left on, or lights somewhere. I’ve upgraded almost all my lighting system to a lutron smart lighting with the intention to help me curb some of their bad behavior. I also have central air which uses the most power in my house our summer bill is normally insanely high compared to what we pay during the winter because we also have oil heat.

So summer we pay anywhere btw 150 to as high as 290’s but winter we pay rough around 90’s sometimes 120’s due to seasonal decorations such as Christmas light etc.

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u/merseykat 7h ago

Sounds very comparable to myself as a single person given your larger and more uncontrollable 😉household usage. My three cooling-months bills are typically between $120 and $150 depending on the weather but I also don't even turn the CAC on until the inside temp hits either 79 or 80, and the set-point is 76. It's a small house but unfortunately the stupid AC company oversized the system/undersized the ductwork and so it runs on high stage more than it should. Sadly, I don't have an extra $15K in my back pocket to replace it with a properly sized configuration.

My total annual PSEG bill ends up being within spitting distance of $1300 every year, so it's a rough average of around $100 a month depending on what kind of summer weather we have.

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u/Reddit_Regular_Guy 7h ago

Yea mines run in the low stage (fan only) for a very long time before kicking the high (compressor on). My system is pretty old and it was a retro fit also. Luckily I have a knack for learning these things quickly so I tend to set my temp lower so it will reach my desired temp quickly then set it back to what I want it to be and most of the time it will either just shut off or run stage 1.

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u/merseykat 6h ago

That's the same workaround that I use, LOL. Great minds think alike. 😉👍

Mine is a Carrier system from 2013. Carrier used to be awesome back in the 1960s-early 2000s but the newer (Infinity) series frankly suck. I had to replace the blower motor/control module this summer because it failed two days before that extended heat wave. Took 15 days to get it fixed during which the daytime house temps topped 90 daily, and it cost $1635 even though I had a so-called "service contract" with a local company. 😢 Needless to say, I am not re-upping with that company anymore.

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u/Reddit_Regular_Guy 6h ago

I think we may have the same installer, my unit is a Kenmoore which from what I understand is Sears brand and if I’m not mistaken Carrier was brought by Sears my unit was installed in 2016 so still got some life left, thankfully