Now that summer has ended and the weather has cooled down, the coldest months of the year are quickly approaching. At this time of year, many Gorham residents are thinking of ways to reduce their energy usage and costs, and taking steps to implement those ideas. The Town of Gorham (including the Gorham School Department) is also aware of the importance of reducing year-round energy costs, which includes reducing the money paid year-round for electricity from the New England power grid.
As it turns out, some of the most important things that the town government does to reduce electricity costs take place during the hottest days of summer. That is because ISO-New England calculates the electricity rates for all large and medium size customers according to their electricity usage during ISO-New England’s highest usage hour on the peak day for electricity usage of the entire year. The purpose of ISO-New England having this rate policy is to lower peak demand as much as possible, in order to lessen the risk of brownouts and to avoid the need for building additional power plants.
Larger electrical customers have a significant annual “capacity charge” based on their electrical usage during that one hour of peak demand. Because of that, many larger customers, like the Town of Gorham, strategize about how to drastically reduce or eliminate power usage during that key one-hour period. The Town of Gorham actually purchases its electricity from Constellation NewEnergy; the contract is negotiated through a consortium known as Maine Power Options.
The peak day for regional electricity usage always occurs during the summer months, usually in July or August, due to high demand for air conditioning. Usually the regional peak electricity day is the hottest day of the year, or one or two days later. In 2017, the peak day occurred in June. This year’s regional peak day was August 29 between 5-6 p.m. This coincided with a day when school was in session in Gorham, one of the first times that has occurred.
On those hottest days of summer, the Town’s efforts to reduce energy usage are directed by Facilities and Transportation Director Norman Justice. When a heat wave is imminent, Justice begins monitoring the situation more closely. Justice tracks regional power demand through several web services, and when he believes New England’s power usage is about to peak, he has the authority to order almost all town-owned buildings to either close or switch to generator power. This is what Justice did on August 29 when he closed the town offices and library early.
Justice estimates that these actions on August 29 (similar to what was done in previous years) could save the Gorham School District as much as $86,000 during the next electricity rate period, from July 2019 through June 2020.
During the winter months, the town takes different steps to save energy in its buildings. As a general rule, the thermostat in all town-owned buildings is lowered to 60 degrees overnight, on weekends, and during vacation weeks, unless the building is occupied overnight.