David Trebacz Blog

I'm always looking for way to save money and decided to focus on a big energy abuser in our household - for this blog post - our dehumidifier during the summer time. My problem is an old inefficient dehumidifier combined with summertime energy price spikes from the real time pricing program (RRTP) with ComEd. Background: 20 Year Old Dehumidifier We had a dehumidifier that was almost 20 years old. It still "worked", but was really bad at reliably removing moisture from our basement. It had gotten to the point where it would run 24/7 constantly, freeze up from time to time, and remove moisture at a slow rate. I had to empty the bucket about every 4 days. My target moisture level in our dry basement was 45%, but that unit would only keep it about 55%. We recently joined ComEd's real time electricity pricing program and have saved a lot of money ( http://blog.trebacz.com/2013/03/comed-electrical-rrtp-savings-program-6.html ). I knew that a 24/7 dehumidifier (esse...

I've been on the Chicago area Commonwealth Edison RRTP (Residential Real Time Pricing Program) for about 6 months. I've been extremely happy with the savings that we have seen on the program. I blogged about the setup and equipment a couple months ago in this blog post ( http://blog.trebacz.com/2012/10/comed-residentipricing-rrtp-program.html ). That blog post show what the equipment, installation time, and billing cycle look like. Now I wanted to share what the savings look like to my house in just 6 months with the program. Conveniently ComEd has a referral program. They sent me an email with my savings and encouraging me to tell my friends (in turn I get a $20 credit for each person who mentions my name when they sign up). So here it is (in ComEd's words). Hi,  I’ve been taking control of my electricity bills with an innovative program called ComEd Residential Real-Time Pricing ( ComEd.com/RRTP ).  This program is special...

This blog is about my experience with Illinois ComEd's (Commonwealth Edison) Residential Real Time Pricing (RRTP) electrical rate program installation process.  According to ComEd's FAQ page, "The majority of RRTP participants who participated in ComEd RRTP for all 12 months in 2010 experienced electricity savings ranging from 5% to 16% on their annual electricity bill, as compared with what they would have paid with ComEd's fixed-price rate." My friend Steve had also had an electric energy audit done and the auditor highly recommended the program. The Signup - day zero: I went to the ComEd website and signed up for the real time pricing program and the air conditioner cycling program on August 26th 2012. There is no charge to participate in either program. The premise is by charging you based on real time fluctuating electric rates and  allowing the utility some control over your air conditioner usage - you can help them to lower the cos...