It’s Time to Help Beat the Peak

Join in on the movement to help the environment and save money

By Glen Fillmore, February 2, 2023

Brace yourselves, Saint John: The peak is coming.

According to weather forecasts, we’ll experience the coldest temperatures so far this winter this weekend.

And that means Friday into Saturday we could use your help to shave the peak of energy demand that is bound to accompany the deep freeze.

Thousands of Saint Johners have joined in our Shave the Peak efforts by lowering their energy needs during times of highest demand.

Last winter, thousands of Saint Johners joined in our Shave the Peak efforts by lowering their energy needs during times of highest demand.

By doing this, they helped the environment by curbing carbon emissions associated with generating peak energy.

Peak energy is also the most expensive form of energy – peak energy charges can consume a third of our entire energy purchasing budget for the year.

Costly to the environment

To give you a sense of how meaningful our Shave the Peak efforts have been, consider the results from 2022.

Between the actions by our customers and those we undertake, nearly 420 tonnes of CO2 emissions were avoided – roughly the same amount of carbon dioxide that would be emitted by using 950 barrels of oil.

And we saved more than $1.1 million in peak energy costs.

Those savings are significant, and certainly our hope is that we can improve on those as awareness grows.

Not surprisingly, the biggest peaks tend to be in the winter. This is especially true in a province like ours, where the majority of homes are heated with electric baseboard heaters.

Saint Johners want to help

Peak demand energy is costly because it means our wholesale supplier needs to turn to generation stations that rely on fossil fuels in order to meet the demand. And in New Brunswick, that can as much as double carbon emissions from generation compared to off-peak times.

Because it is so costly financially and environmentally, Saint John Energy undertakes a series of actions at peak times

Because it is so costly financially and environmentally, Saint John Energy undertakes a series of actions at peak times to help lower the demand, and I’ll explore some of that later.

Most Saint Johners want to know what they can do to help.

Sign up for peak alerts

If you aren’t already, we encourage you to sign up to receive peak alert emails from us. To do this, login to your account on the Saint John Energy customer portal and sign up to be notified by email under Be Energy Smart.

We also publicize peak times on social media.

When you see those, it’s time for action. There are many small things we can do to stay comfortable in our homes and still use less electricity:

turn down the thermostat, especially in rooms you aren’t using.
put off laundry to another time, and
defer using the stove or shower until later.

In helping out in this way, you are not only helping us and helping the environment. Small changes can make a positive impact on your energy bills, particularly if you can extend these habits beyond the peak.

Significant steps of our own

Here at Saint John Energy, we’re able to take significant steps of our own as we go into – and through – a peak energy event.

First, the advanced smart grid we’re continuing to build right here in Saint John is key: it helps us better predict peaks and will go a long way to help us shift demand away from peak times by managing a growing array of what we call “distributed energy resources.”

One of the biggest steps we take here is to dial down the voltage on our system for the peak. Our customers don’t notice we’ve done the voltage reduction, but the energy savings can be significant.

Another is our Tesla Megapack, the huge battery that can store up energy at off-peak times for use during peak.

Generators owned by The City of Saint John as backup power sources for Saint John Water are also deployed. The generators need to run monthly for maintenance anyway, so putting them to use during peak helps us at critical times.

The collective actions our customers take during peak times advance the impact of Shave the Peak.

Will you help us?

The collective actions our customers take during peak times advance the impact of Shave the Peak

As more and more smart devices such as smart water heaters and smart thermostats become fixtures in customers’ homes, the ability to beat the peak will intensify. In working with our smart grid, they will be able to conserve energy at key times behind the scenes, without customers having to worry about it.

These are exciting and important times at our utility, and it’s particularly exciting that we can invite the people of Saint John along for the journey.

Will you join the movement to help us Shave the Peak?