Beat The Peak

Verdigris Valley is introducing a new program for our members called “Beat the Peak”.  We want to help members in these tough economic times to become more energy conservative.  As a whole our members can do this by using energy more efficiently and reducing our Cooperative’s demand for energy during peak time periods.

The major factors that affect the price of the electricity that VVEC purchases are the price of fuels such as coal or natural gas and the demand for power.  When these costs go up they are reflected in a Coop’s power cost adjustment on the members bill.  As a Cooperative, we cannot control the cost of generation but our membership can control the demand for power during peak times, which typically falls in the hot summer between the hours of 4pm to 8pm and in the winter time on very cold days from 6am to 9am and 4pm to 8pm.

Members can participate in this new program by submitting their email addresses or cell phone number on the program form indicating they would like to receive a notice via email or text messaging from VVEC on peak alert days in the summer or winter.  VVEC will notify the member on these days to adjust their thermostats and delay usage of major appliances such as dishwashers, clothes dryers, washing machines and hot water usage to help conserve energy.  The VVEC website will also have a posted bulletin on “peak” days and reminders to conserve during the indicated time periods.

This is all in an effort to help our members take control of higher power costs.  Because we are a non-profit company owned by our members, we want to help our members make conscious decisions in their energy usage.  The more members participating in the program, the better for the Cooperative membership as a whole.  With the rising costs associated with generating electricity, and legislation and regulation that is forthcoming at a federal level, we have to think forward and start controlling the factors that we can control.

The following form can be filled out and returned to the Cooperative for our members wishing to sign up for this new voluntary program.