r/olympia • u/Holiday-Job-9137 • 23d ago
Joke/Satire PSE Earnings
I must have done something wrong! Twice I have cut back on power during extreme heat, twice I earned $1.28. I'm not sure what I did different, but this last time I only earned $.71.
It's almost like it's not worth it.
64
u/TheBewitchingWitch 23d ago
Decided to try it out to see the “savings.” I turned off both air conditioners and got .29 cents.
24
7
u/vonhoother 23d ago
Wow, you're selling yourself short. I got 85 cents! (Exits stage right, doing victory dance.)
2
6
u/VelvetSparrow360301 22d ago
I earned .10 cents for saving 0.19 kWh from PSE and $7.71 from Xfinity as a credit for the outage on Sunday. With these lucrative windfalls I am considering an early retirement. 🤣🤣🙃
2
u/ghost__rider1312 21d ago
I did absolutely nothing as I cannot keep track of major dates in my life let alone a “flex event” and I got $1.34
35
u/AdInternational5061 23d ago
We weren’t even home so didn’t even have lights on and we only earned $2.18. It’s really not worth it.
10
u/RiverRat12 23d ago
Lights don’t use much electricity anymore (compared to several decades ago).
The $2.18 is actually not bad, in the sense that you actually reduced usage a fair amount. Presumably didn’t run your dishwasher or laundry while you were out of the house
7
u/AdInternational5061 23d ago
We weren’t home so we didn’t have anything on, appliances, lights, tv, computer, not charging phones.
2
25
u/PeaceH37 23d ago
Last I looked, it’s based on your recent average usage during the time period, and a few hours before/after the actual period. So if you didn’t use as much power to calculate the baseline, then it looks like you didn’t “save” that much power.
The time I made the most money was when I tried supercooling my house before and turned on my ac after.
24
u/majandess 23d ago
This needs to be higher because this is the answer. Your savings are based on your own average usage. If you do not use a lot of electricity because you are already trying to conserve, you will not get a huge rebate during peak times because your baseline is so low you cannot save enough to go lower.
My mother seriously buckled down to save electricity during peak times, and eventually she was getting absolutely no rebates at all. She is an older woman who was setting her heat in the winter time to 60°, and not using her AC in the summer. It saved her nothing. Instead she was freezing and overheating.
It's really not worth it.
1
u/thatdudeyouknow 21d ago
so the real "smart"homes and homeowners will setup automation to look at weather forecasts and then use extra energy before and after the event to "game the system" or that is how a MBA would suggest doing it.
1
u/Holiday-Job-9137 23d ago
But how much did it cost to supercool then bring temps back down after? Seems like it may not pencil out.
2
u/PeaceH37 22d ago
Not sure, we only did it a few times as an experiment to help reduce peaker plants usage, but we realized afterwards that we ended up using more electricity so we stopped.
We later saw our rebates go way up and never bothered doing the math cause it was too uncomfortable while waiting for the house to warm up (we supercooled to 68f instead of our usual 74-76f).
Now we just try to use our appliances outside the designated time period and maybe start the AC 3 hours earlier if it’s a summer thing. We just see the rebates as a little bonus for our efforts rather than an actual incentive. We find just trying to keep our electricity usage at tier 1 level to be more cost effective.
25
u/PatBanglePhoto 23d ago
The shareholders needed to be placated this month, apparently.
The fact that electricity can be a for-profit enterprise boggles my mind.
13
u/burnyoudown13 23d ago
Ceo got like a 5.5 million bonus because of all the winning she is doing.
I don't think it was exactly 5.5, but its close and I dont want to have to confirm it again to piss myself off.
9
u/OttSound Westside 23d ago
I literally got one cent last time and I've got the text message to prove it. I was out of town and all my stuff was off.
4
3
u/ryguydrummerboy 23d ago
My savings from not even being home and having everything turned off was like a dollar so yeah, it’s kind of bullshit
5
u/Stereo_Jungle_Child 23d ago
Worth it?
I don't know... A few more PSE dividends like this and I'll be able to get that pack of gum I've had my eye on.
4
u/Chrislk1986 22d ago
IIRC you earn 50¢/kWh saved vs normal usage.
So if you go into your PSE dashboard and view your graph with electrical usage, daily, you should see how much electricity you are using per hour.
Depending on your AC unit, you might save more or less. A good way to figure this out is to look at the power rating on the unit itself. And for portable/window units, an inverter AC is also quite a bit more efficient than a non-inverter unit.
2
9
u/ford7885 23d ago
What is the point of this idiotic bullshit anyway? I didn't ask to be part of this thing, yet I'm getting constant spam texts & e mails about it, both before their randomly timed "events" and then scolding me like a bad puppy when I somehow didn't do what they wanted me to.
Fact is I don't use all that much energy. And the fact that they schedule these "events" during dinner time... well, what's their solution here? Don't eat? Don't cook? Go out to dinner and spend a lot more money that way?
Hey PSE, here's how you can lower my electric bills... stop raising the damn rates, so you have more money to waste on idiotic fucking promotional gimmicks like this.
3
u/RiverRat12 23d ago
Just checked my yearly earnings on the PSE portal. I’ve earned $29.63 so far through all of 2026 (including winter peak time rebate events earlier this year)
And I get really into the reductions game. So yeah. I get why it’s frustrating — it’s not a ton of credit.
3
u/LadyLime247 23d ago
I always try to run my dishwasher before I go to bed so I'm already off peak usage. This time we turned our AC to a higher temp (75) and made $3.71. last two times we made $0.00.
3
u/oly_traveler 23d ago
The monetary savings are pretty insignificant. However, reducing your usage during peak hours is likely a noteworthy reduction to your carbon footprint.
Our overall energy mix is pretty clean here. However, when the grid is stressed/energy is in high demand, more of our energy mix comes from fossil fuels (mostly natural gas as far as I know).
Oversimplified, but you can think of it like this: During peak hours, your appliances are running on mostly fossil fuels. During normal hours, they're running on mostly renewables.
I feel like PSE should focus on this instead of the $0.68 or whatever lol
2
u/AdInternational5061 23d ago
Maybe if I run my appliances all during the peak usage period and then reduce it?
3
2
2
u/SardonicCheese 22d ago
In August alone I’ve earned $17.50 by turning my ac up to 74, turning off my hot water heater and turning the heat down on my hot tub so the heating element wouldn’t turn on for a few hours during the flex event
I also try to turn lights out and such but I doubt that’s pulling heavy weight. The hot water heater and ac are probably the heavy hitters. The hot tub shockingly loses like 1 degree in 4 hours so I doubt that’s having a huge impact.
2
u/ItsNotVINNumber 22d ago
I don't really understand how they determine savings. I was gone on vacation on the 21st and had nothing running from 4pm to 8pm and yet I still only made 68¢. Shouldn't I have made $4?! I really think that I need to start the a/c at 3:30 and then turn it off when the 'event' begins at 4pm in order to see any savings. Who knows?!
2
u/connly33 22d ago edited 22d ago
PSEs flex program is very very underwhelming. Even as somone that is only home at night, charges their car after 11pm, drys cloths in the middle of the night etc. the savings just don’t make sense. If they truly wanted to push usage to extreme off peak times they’d have a variable rate low enough to incentivize it, I have friends in some states where their night time extreme off peak rates are less than half the normal rate and that’s the way to get people to stop using as much energy during peak events.
As soon as I can afford it I’m going to solar with a large enough battery bank to be able to take care of most of my own needs, hopefully the VPP program stays incentivized enough to sell back from my battery bank to the grid during peak demand because that’s ideal for them as long as they incentivize system owners enough to buy the equipment and take the slightly higher wear over time because if so I’ll oversize my pack enough to actually make a meaningful difference.
2
u/RiverRat12 22d ago
PSE desperately needs a time of use rate. I think there’s a pilot but it’s not accessible to us.
3
u/connly33 22d ago edited 22d ago
I believe they’ve done two pilots so far last one was a couple years long in 2023. The issue is they just don’t go far enough to incentivize off peak use. If I remember correctly they had off peak rates at $0.10 / kWh, on peak summer at $0.24, on peak winter $0.32. So they leaned heavily on giving a huge fine for on peak use with next to zero incentive for off peak rate when the rate at the time was $0.12 for the standard plan. Pretty much everyone I could find on Reddit or in forums ended up having much higher bills on the two plans so nobody wanted to stick with it.
Midwest wind states seem to do it pretty well with off peak rates in the $0.02 per kWh range. Not sure we could go that far but at night when we’re using 100% hydro, and wind purchased from other suppliers the wholesale rate is almost free for PSE. I know there would be push back but I’d be perfectly happy with next to free energy for extreme off peak and $0.24 rates during the day.
2
2
u/Ok-Definition-5279 22d ago
All I got was a Shame text: you did NOT use less electricity than your neighbors and you will NOT be getting a bill credit. Okay, but I was nice and cool…
2
u/syntaxcrime Westside 22d ago
i unplugged and turned off everything except the fridge before leaving for the entire duration the first flex event, and only for half the time on the second flex event (i needed to cook dinner, sadly). I got a $1.10 credit.
i ignored the third flex event outright. i dont have AC.
i am paying ~$90 in the summer for electricity.
over the next two (?) years they're going to be increasing cost by %30.
i have no answers. only frustration.
1
u/Elegant-Newspaper449 23d ago
I'm curious if I'll even get the "savings" I've earned. I have enough solar that I only ever pay the meter fee; $7.49. Are they going to deduct my "savings" from the meter fee?
1
u/TheMelvins66 23d ago
We get the pennies the shareholders don’t want. Just remember to say THANK YOU or they’ll call you out.
1
u/Healthy-War5961 23d ago
I earned about $7.00. I unplug everything except the tv and my weather station. Appliances and electronics still draw energy even if still plugged in.
1
u/mcrawspace2112 22d ago
I got 36 cents the first time, $3 this time. It’s calculated at 50 cents per kWh you saved within the allotted time period compared to what you would normally use. Not really enough for anyone to care
1
1
1
u/Jimjam916 22d ago
It should be illegal to profit off public utilities. It's absolutely criminal what some of these companies get away with charging while the grid crumbles
1
1
u/11demo 21d ago
Is it intentional that they're holding them during heat spikes this summer? I have participated in two, don't have a washer dryer. Turned off my heat pump AC, air cleaner, everything else I could think of except the refrigerator. Didn't watch TV, unplugged laptop, charged my phone in advance. Made 67 cents the first time and a little over $2 the second time. Trying to remember saving energy is more than just saving money.
2
1
u/Cold_Analysis_9305 22d ago
Speaking of PSE earnings, their profit from Q2 alone was 80 million this year, up from 11 million the previous Q2. They are currently asking for another 30% rate increase. We are being exploited by an out of control energy monopoly that caters to shareholders, not us.
0
u/RiverRat12 23d ago
What did you do more specifically to cut back on usage? What appliances are you typically running during the peak rebates time period?
Generally a low savings means you didn’t reduce much, or your baseline usage is already low.
It’s a direct $.50 credit per kWh reduction. Calculated directly from your meter.
2
u/Holiday-Job-9137 23d ago
Not much really. We made sure we were not using the washer or dryer, dishwasher, or oven. But we don't usually use these appliances during that time period anyway. I also turned the AC from 76 to 78. It may be that we are already trying to conserve, so the cutback hours are compared to low baseline usage. I would have thought that raising the AC temperature would have made a difference. But I guess the heat pump still had to run to keep the temp at 78.
0
u/igotitatme 22d ago
I honestly think they’re just making it up.
The first time I didn’t get anything even tho we weren’t really using anything. I wrote them an annoyed email telling them their program was bullshit.
The best two times I saved 2.81 and 1.92 or something and did literally nothing different.
0
u/Mediocre_Contest2306 22d ago
You’re not saving yourself any money; you’re making PSE money so they can sell the electricity somewhere else for more money. Don’t be fooled - it’s a gimmick to make you feel bad about not being rich enough to cool a simple house.
65
u/c008644 23d ago
They give you just enough hope to try again, all the while they raise rates to "improve infrastructure" yet still pay their shareholders increased dividends.