Alabama Power wants to control my A/C

[AlistarWills]

So I got a letter in the mail from APCO wanting to install a device on my A/C that during the dog days when power consumption is at its highest, that will allow them to cut the compressor off on my A/C to only let it run 10 minutes every half hour. The fan will still circulate the air in the house, but it won't produce any more cool air while they have it cut off. They say they will only do this a certain total number of hours.
Did anyone else get this letter in the mail?

There's a snowball's chance in hell that I let someone else control my A/C.

 

[AlistarWills]

There was some spill about keeping things cheap for me the customer by not having to build new power plants. (Ahem...we had to shut the coal burner down...ahem) and that by lowering consumption it helps keep their prices low. APCO kills me! Every winter we get the commercials to "check 'yes' on Project Share'" to pay someone else's power bill, and they show you an old lady freezing. While I don't doubt those situations exist, APCO is a multi-million dollar monopoly. They can probably cover the old freezing lady's bill without blinking, she's likely from a generation that lives on very little anyway. They are wanting me to pay some low-life's bill that keeps the A/C on 55 and the heat on 80, leaves the fridge open and never cuts out a light, so they don't have to cover that.

 

[CajunCrimson]

You are helping stop global warming....

 

[TIDE-HSV]

Back in the mid-80s, TVA had a program where you received bargain basement interest rate, financed by TVA, on a new heat pump - if you agreed to let them install a device which gave them control over the operation of the unit at peak operating conditions. I bit, buying a new house after a divorce. The program failed, gradually. The little box remained and they wouldn't let you take it off. Occasionally, it would fail and bring down the whole heat pump. Finally, one day, a serviceman told me it could be legally removed. I immediately approved. Something to be learned by this...

 

[crimsonaudio]

There literally isn't one single aspect of my life that's currently not under government control that I'd prefer being under government control - even something as simple as how much my HVAC is running.

 

[jthomas666]

Oh, HELL, no. Alabama Power will just have to be content with controlling the Public Service Commission.

 

[Bamabuzzard]

The government can't run a lemonade stand without it being a billion dollars in debt yet we've got people wanting them to be in charge of healthcare.....and are serious about it.

 

[tidefanbeezer]

Is it mandatory?

Georgia Power has had a program for years that if you allowed them to do something similar, you got a flat credit on your bill ($15 or $20 per month maybe) in addition to the actual savings from the lowered energy usage. It's optional, but the folks I know who have participated have been pretty pleased. They get the savings and generally the time that GA Power is shutting off their AC they aren't home anyway. It's not a huge inconvenience.

 

[bama_wayne1]

Not me! I don't think I could live with my wife if she couldn't run the thermostat up and down like a yoyo...

 

[G-VilleTider]

Not me! I don't think I could live with my wife if she couldn't run the thermostat up and down like a yoyo...

So she's chill and hawt. Good for you!

 

[AlistarWills]

Is it mandatory?

Georgia Power has had a program for years that if you allowed them to do something similar, you got a flat credit on your bill ($15 or $20 per month maybe) in addition to the actual savings from the lowered energy usage. It's optional, but the folks I know who have participated have been pretty pleased. They get the savings and generally the time that GA Power is shutting off their AC they aren't home anyway. It's not a huge inconvenience.

Not mandatory. They want your permission. It found it's way into the trash. Quickly!

 

[bamacon]

All I can say is that they better confiscate my guns first b/c they touch my thermostat and they gonna have problems.

 

[Tide1986]

Not me! I don't think I could live with my wife if she couldn't run the thermostat up and down like a yoyo...

Yeah...mine is getting to that certain time in life which is miserable for husbands. Thank God for air conditioning.

 

[TrampLineman]

Like Earle said, most of them are for "peak hours" meaning the hottest of the hot days and coldest of the cold days. I still wouldn't do it.

 

[TydDFens]

Yes I also got the letter in the mail here in Birmingham. Mine went in the garbage can too. There was some minimal incentive that you would receive in November iifc. My dog probably wouldn't appreciate APCO cutting his air off mid day.

 

[uafanataum]

I believe I watched a Glenn Beck episode on this 5 years ago. (I was very confused when I was younger)

 

[64met]

Not surprising, given the idiot in the white house

 

[bamachile]

Not surprising, given the idiot in the white house

If Obama sent you that letter, I understand why it upset you.
If Bush sent you that letter, I understand why it was eight years late.

 

[AUDub]

I would just note that it's unlikely Alabama Power would discourage people from paying them for more power, unless they were doing so because of outside pressure.

Negotiating load distribution has been a common tactic by power companies for quite a while. Earle mentioned a similar situation from the mid 80s with TVA a few posts back.

Hot weather places a tremendous load on the grid.

 

[mikelove]

Heck no fat boy don't like to sweat.

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