How It Works

Let us show you how to win the war against rising utility costs.

There are only two ways to lower your electric bill: USE LESS or PAY LESS for what you use. Conventional energy-related improvements that you may be considering to lower your electric bill are designed for you to use less electricity. These include in-line water heaters, solar water heaters, photovoltaic solar, high-SEER air conditioners, dual-pane, low-e gas-filled windows, insulation, urethane-injected window frames and radiant barriers. None of these will give you an exact or minimum savings guarantee, or a 100% MONEY-BACK GUARANTEE.

WE GUARANTEE IT OR YOUR MONEY BACK

Could you be using old technology in your war against rising utility costs?

Here is more indepth information about how the system works.

An Energy Management Computer is exactly that: A computer that monitors all energy used,and then manages that energy so the customer pays the least amount for it. Electricity providers (utility companies like Salt River Project and Arizona Public Service Co. in Arizona) have for 60 years offered commercial customers substantial discounts for the power they use, up to 80% off regular pricing if they work with the utilities' supply-and-demand problem. This allows utilities to operate their electric generation facilities more efficiently and save money, which they pass on to their customers for helping them. This is as green as you can get if you really want to make a difference. Now these discounted rates--also called tariffs--are available to homeowners; however, between APS and SRP, there are more than 20 residential tariffs to choose from, each designed with different lifestyles and savings objectives in mind. It’s hard to be specific about how it works when you consider 20 different rates that range from time-of-use, time-of-use demand, straight demand-based and time-of-use super-peak rates. Because our computer is not rate specific, it is not designed to operate just one rate. Instead, it can be programmed to operate and maximize any participation rate or lifestyle. We find there are basically three lifestyles and saving objectives: 1. Save all I can no matter what lifestyle change is needed to accomplish this; 2. Save as much as I can without altering my lifestyle in a negative way; and 3. Save, but I do not want make any changes in the way I live. Number 1 would see savings of 40% to 60%; Number 2 would see savings of 30% to 45%; and Number 3 would see savings of 25% to 35%. You don’t have to give up comfort to gain savings. With a simple turn of a knob, you can change your objective and your savings. There is no customer programming required.

Computers have entered our lives and made things quicker, easier and more organized. The Energy Management Computer's only job is to manage your utility rate to its maximum efficiency. Most homeowners are not aware of the different rates the utility companies offer. Utilities describe these rates in such a manner that it often discourages people from them. The descriptions, “Don’t use appliances and things during a certain time" and "Try to do things during a another time" make people think: "But that’s when I run the air conditioner and cook dinner. hat rate won’t work for me.” You’re not getting all the information. Those rates offer power off-peak for 80% of the billing month at the cost of what power was back in 1930s and 40s. The utility companies have excessive amounts of power during those "off-peak" times, and that is why they are selling it super cheap if you use it then. These off-peak rates are designed just like commercial rates, only commercial customers can take advantage of those inexpensive kilowatt-hours in ways we can’t. For example, huge commercial buildings freeze ice at night at the inexpensive time--a block of ice the size of a house. They then blow fans over the ice during peak hours when electricity is more expensive, and that’s how they cool people in huge buildings during the day. ASU has two huge water tanks buried under the football field that cool the water during off-peak hours when energy is inexpensive to use. Then it runs that water during peak times over its chilling towers to run air-conditioning on peak.

Take advantage of the inexpensive kilowatt hours off peak

We all know that as a homeowner, you can’t freeze huge blocks of ice or bury huge tanks under the ground. So how do you take advantage of these inexpensive kilowatt-hours off peak? Your home can be used as thermal storage. You can set your thermostats as cool as you like and leave them there. During off-peak hours, your home will be that temperature. Your walls, furniture, tile, carpet--everything is saturated with that temperature. That is how you treat your home as thermal storage. It really works. During peak hours/ the AC or heat doesn’t have to work as hard. Our computer knows everything in your home that is using power, right down to the light bulb in your refrigerator. It only engages during peak hours, and it turns itself off for all off-peak hours. It knows all the days, nights, weekends and holidays. A setting on the computer helps you maximize your savings. The computer's job is to prevent your home from using more than that setting during any peak hour. That setting directly reflects the comfortable temperature you want to keep your home at during peak hours. Your Energy Management Computer supercedes your thermostat during all peak hours. So the setting choose for your Energy Management Computer dictates how much your AC or heat can run on peak. The way to use the off-peak thermal storage temperature to its maximum potential is to allow your home to lose a few degrees during the peak hours. Most of our customers set their thermostats at 72º degrees, but no cooler than what is comfortable, so during off peak hours, which is 80% of the time, their homes are 72º. Then they find the setting in the Energy Management Computer that will allow their homes to lose temperature on-peak up to 77º degrees for an hour or so per day. In doing this, they're allowing thermal storage of 72º degrees to carry as long as possible into peak time. The Energy Management Computer knows what the home's appliances are contributing to each hour's energy use and how to minimize the amount of time the AC or heat needs to use energy during the more expensive on-peak times. So, unlike a programmable thermostat that only knows a certain time, an Energy Management Computer knows everything the house is using. That’s how an Energy Management Computer minimizes the kilowatt-hour usage on peak to the least amount possible. This gives you the lowest utility bill you can get your hands on, while living at temperatures you can fall in love with, without sacrificing lifestyle.

We could go into algorithms and how the parabolic curve of crystal frequencies work with those configurations. That is why residential Energy Management Computers have no equal in maximizing the load factor shift efficiently and the managing of residential utility rates. Now you know why we have our cartoon. It really does describe how most people look at this: “Who cares how it works?" As long as it works.

Advanced Home Systems has been helping Arizona homeowners lower their electric bills for over 25 years.