Businesses and homeowners in Xcel Energy’s Minnesota territories have access to a program that can shave their electricity bills in the often-pricey summer cooling months.
The program is called Saver’s Switch. Here’s how it works: Xcel Energy installs a small switch on the customer’s central air-conditioning compressor unit. On very hot days –- when air-conditioning demand typically soars — Xcel Energy remotely turns on and off the air-conditioner’s compressor system on 15- to 20- minute intervals. The fan stays on, so the air continues to circulate even while the compressor is off in order to minimize the chance anyone will notice the cooling system is off.
The Saver’s Switch program allows Xcel to avoid buying high-priced electricity at peak-use times and reduces the risk of power outages due to excessive demand. Xcel Energy estimates that the Saver’s Switch controls are used no more than 10 to 15 days over the course of a typical Minnesota summer.
In exchange for installing the switch, Xcel Energy business participants get a discount of $5 per enrolled ton of air-conditioning, which often comes out to an $100-per-summer discount on electric bills. (Residential Xcel Energy customers get a flat 15% discount on the energy charges on their electric bills from June through September.)
According to a recent article in Finance & Commerce, about 24% of Xcel Energy’s 1.9 million residential and business customers in the Upper Midwest are currently enrolled in the Saver Switch program.
Interested in enrolling your business in the Saver’s Switch program? Call Energy Smart at (651) 292-4652.
