Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Pastimes : All Clowns Must Be Destroyed -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Glenn D. Rudolph who wrote (29183)	4/25/2000 9:20:00 PM
From: yard_man	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 42523

Glenn, Really -- IDKJS. I am trying to learn when my job doesn't get in the way. <ng> Your confusion about which deal is the best is what I predicted when I was discussing retail wheeling in our state with commisioners when I worked in regulation. It is telephone dereg all over again. I was screwed by my last long distance company because they offered me a teaser rate and then changed the rate and I was slow in switching to another provider. I get to pay a LD rate that is almost 5 times the rate I signed up for because I didn't pay attention to the date of the change. I think your best bet is to find a consumer group in PA that rates the different deals. They may be primarily focused on residentials, but there are also groups that lobby, look out for, the interests of commercials in particular. I'll see if I can find anything on that. You will probably need to have an idea of your typical usage to assess the different plans. As a commercial customer -- your business is probably open from 9:00 Am to what? 8:00, 10:00 PM. Your load factor (ratio of peak usage to average usage) is probably not much better than a residential customer. Hence, plans with a surcharge for peaks may not be that great for you, but you have to do the math to really know. Are you demand metered? I would suspect not ... but you may be ... Also, you mention that your AC load is increased due to lighting. I think you should look into the advantages of flourescents. Incandescents not only increase your heating load, but they waste energy, too. I am installing compact flourescents at home in most fixtures as the old incandescents go out. They cost more but they last longer and use about 1/4 the energy and do not add to the heat load. I am not directly involved in load forecasting so I cannot answer generally how commercial loads have grown with respect to residentials -- I would expect the growth to be similar. I look primarily at overall trends in forecasting the need for new generation. I will try to find some info in this area as well as the AC saturation issue. National trends in these areas I really should have at my fingertips for what I do, but right now I don't have them. Many utilities have "energy assessments" that they will perform for free or a small charge. Lighting would be one of the things that they would look at if they visited your stores. If you are evaluating different plans, have some billing history, I'd give it a crack helping you determine which looks to be the cheapest for you. Just PM me. I'd be interested -- we do not yet have retail choice in my state.