Members enrolled in one of Todd-Wadena Electric Cooperative’s load management programs know that when extremely hot or extremely cold temperatures are in the forecast, it’s likely they will receive a notification of a scheduled control event. That’s because weather, particularly temperature, is the primary determinant for load control dispatch. Extreme weather events drive energy demand due to heating or cooling needs.
Load management is a strategy Todd-Wadena, and our wholesale power provider Great River Energy (GRE), utilize to reduce demand for electricity during high demand periods. These programs encourage members to voluntarily install equipment that stores energy when it is less expensive during off-peak times or appliances that can be temporarily controlled to reduce energy consumption during times when electricity is most expensive.
But there are also days when factors beyond temperature come into play when determining whether to initiate a load control event, including:
- Market position: GRE forecasts the demand needs of its member-owner cooperatives on a daily basis and makes purchases from the regional energy market to serve them. Similarly, generation is bid into the market daily, including wind energy. In instances where there is high demand, load management programs can reduce the cooperative’s overall market exposure.
- High prices: These can be driven by natural gas prices, which are often price setters in the energy market.
- Localized outages: Either generation or transmission outages can affect pricing.
- Reliability concerns: While not a frequent driver, there are instances where load control is used to help mitigate reliability concerns. During these events, load is reduced so transmission congestion is brought below a system operating limit.
- Monthly events: GRE will often initiate a load control event one time per month for contractual reasons, ensuring that member-owners receive the value from load management over the billing peak (i.e., the highest demand that is experienced on the system each month).
Using load management as a strategy saves our members money by helping mitigate high-cost market purchases. Additionally, there are capacity benefits that accrue to members, allowing the cooperative to better position its resources and reduce costs needed to acquire or build more generation.
Todd-Wadena members who choose to participate in our load control programs receive a reduced electric rate or credit for allowing their devices to be controlled when needed. Whether it’s your water heater or air conditioner, irrigation or electric heating system, we appreciate your participation in our load management programs.
As always, we are committed to providing you with affordable and reliable electricity for all of your energy needs.
Daniel Carlisle
President/CEO & General Counsel
