Dynamic pricing and Hilo: Wise choices for consumers

Dynamic pricing and the services provided by Hydro-Québec subsidiary Hilo have helped tens of thousands of customers save this past winter.

By making small changes to their habits for 100 hours, these customers have saved significant amounts during peak demand events that occurred when electricity use was at its highest, i.e., early in the day or in the evening.

Results for winter 2020–2021

Hilo: A smart home that works for you

Hilo’s smart home offer was made available to customers for the first time in winter 2020–2021.

By participating in 26 events during that period, Hilo customers helped reduce electricity demand during peak periods. Thanks to Hilo technology and automated participation in the challenges, they will receive an average cumulative reward of $124.54. What’s more, estimates show that using Hilo’s connected devices helps customers decrease their total annual electricity consumption by about 15%.

Hilo has set an ambitious target: to decrease capacity needs by 620 megawatts (MW) by 2028–2029, which is equivalent to the demand of over 114,000 households or the power generated by Romaine-2 generating station.

Dynamic pricing: Small lifestyle changes that pay off

Hydro-Québec customers can sign up on a voluntary basis for the company’s dynamic pricing offerings, namely Flex rate and the Winter Credit Option. These offerings attracted 61,000 customers in winter 2020–2021, and that number is expected to reach 90,000 next year. Rollout is taking place gradually to ensure participating customers receive adequate support.

With these offerings, customers can save money by making an effort to reduce their electricity use during peak demand events. No investment is necessary. In winter 2020–2021, customers who signed up for the Winter Credit Option received an average credit of $40.The average savings of residential customers who signed up for Rate Flex D is $48.

In total, 65 MW were curtailed thanks to dynamic pricing, which is equivalent to the demand of 12,000 households per event or the power generated by the Rapide-2 run-of-river generating station on Rivière des Outaouais (Ottawa River).

These results show an increase compared with those of winter 2019–2020. This suggests that our customers are becoming more familiar with our new rate offerings and are better able to take advantage of them, thanks in part to our support and to the advice provided by the online community we created for dynamic pricing customers.

Our customers’ willingness to modify their habits should allow us to curtail power demand by nearly 190 MW by 2028–2029, which is equivalent to the demand of more than 30,000 households.