By using the Beat the Peak app, participants receive notifications to their mobile device announcing upcoming alert periods. The app will then guide participants as they prepare to take action to lower electricity usage in their household during the over a peak period of a few hours.
These peak timeframes, in which our cooperative members use an abundance of electricity all at the same time, are called “peak” hours. Put more simply, peaks occur when the majority of buildings on an electrical grid are using the most electricity or power at the same time (mostly during the afternoon hours during the summer months and early mornings during winter months).
The power cost is higher during these times because of the additional demand for electricity resulting in the need for additional generation.
This is why on very hot or very cold days during the peak timeframe, Corn Belt Energy may send alerts to through the Beat the Peak app to ask that you to reduce electricity usage. Beat the Peak alerts may be called any time throughout the year. Members are encouraged to minimize the amount of electricity during these control periods in ways such as avoiding use of appliances, adjusting thermostats, and turn off unnecessary items.
Your active participation during these peak times, helps to keep Corn Belt Energy’s electric rates stable and affordable.
Warm weather tips
Below are some tips on how you can reduce energy usage and conserve energy during a Beat the Peak control period.
Thermostat – Create a schedule for your smart thermostat or remotely shut it off.
Air conditioner (AC) – Shut off the AC unit. If you don’t want to shut the entire AC unit off, you can run the furnace fan or ceiling fans during that timeframe.
Pool pump – Shut off your pool pump. If you don’t want to shut the pool pump off manually, use a mechanical timer or put it on a smart plug that links to your Wi-Fi network.
Hot tubs – Consider shutting down your hot tub during the control period.
Irrigation systems / lawn watering – Limit watering your lawn during the daytime hours and using large scale irrigation systems. If the irrigation system is wired directly to water supply or lake pump, set a schedule.
Large appliances - Avoid running the dishwasher. Avoid doing laundry or drying clothes. Consider hanging your clothes to dry. Do not cook on an electric stove. Consider using an outdoor grill, microwave, slow cooker or air fryer. Adjust the temperature settings on your refrigerator or freezer to the recommended operating range.
Electric water heater – Verify that your water heater is set to 120 degrees. Consider upgrading to a hybrid water heater. (Contact Corn Belt Energy for rebate information or click here to view rebates.)
Lighting – Utilize LED lighting as much as possible throughout your home. Consider installing occupancy sensors. Manually shut off as many lights in your home as possible. In addition, you can use Alexa or Google Home to shut lights off if you have smart lights.
Electric vehicle (EV) or electric bike – Set a schedule to not charge your EV or electric bike during the control period.
Dehumidfiers – Shut off or unplug dehumidifiers during a control period.
Small appliances and electronics - Unplug small appliances including gaming systems, TVs or coffee makers.
Other tips – Keep the garage door closed and close curtains/blinds on a sunny day. If you are working from home, utilize the control period time to take a break, take a walk or stretch, and shut your computer down. You can monitor your usage on our SmartHub app or SmartHub online to see additional energy conservation measures.
App privacy information
Upon loading the app, you will be asked to provide a phone number. This is simply so we can gauge repeat participation in future events. If you do not want to share this, you are welcome to skip this. Phone numbers collected for this will not be shared with outside parties or used for marketing. The sole purpose of this collected data is to identify if an app user is participating in different ‘Beat the Peak’ events. Any answers that are provided to ‘How are you beating the peak’ will be saved in a report and linked to this phone number. This information will simply be used to estimate aggregate system-wide power savings based on responses. This benign data will be analyzed for program participation and improvement over time.
