The functionality of the smart electricity grid - including detailed information about electricity use and lower rates when demand drops – is now available to Texas electricity customers with advanced smart meters. Reliant Energy is offering two new smart energy services that give customers the tools and information they need to manage their energy usage better - the Reliant Energy Weekly Summary email and Time-Of-Use plan.
The weekly email provides an overview of weekly and daily usage, including a summary of usage and cost, an estimated monthly bill amount and a comparison to the previous week’s electricity use. Along with valuable insights into usage, the weekly email is a way for customers to discover how simple changes can save energy and money.
Time-Of-Use is designed to help customers better manage their electricity bill by shifting the times when they use power. Under this plan, the cost of electricity changes during the day based on overall demand for electricity, allowing customers to benefit from making choices about when and how to use electricity. By shifting high-usage activities – like doing laundry or running the dishwasher – to lower-priced times, customers may be able to reduce their overall cost.
The Weekly Summary email and Time-Of-Use plan have been offered on a pilot basis since April 2009 and are now available to all Reliant customers in Texas with advanced meters. More than 782,000 consumers in Houston and North Texas have smart meters right now. By the end of 2010, about 1 million consumers in the Houston area and over 1.5 million in North Texas are expected to have smart meters installed by their local utility.
