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I learned a few months back that it can be very profitable to read through the different APS electric plan options offered to residential customers.
My girlfriend lives in the APS service area. I did a little research into the electric plans when her summer bills were running about $290/month. She lives in a modestly-sized 1,400 square foot single-family home with eight-foot ceilings and a standard 10,000-gallon swimming pool. That seemed to me like a stiff amount to pay for electricity in her scenario.
Here is how we fixed it.
After reading through the options at the APS billing plans site, we flipped her to the time advantage 7pm-noon plan by calling APS customer service.
The fat savings were apparent by the next billing cycles. With mid-October afternoon temperatures still in the mid-90s here in Phoenix, the most recent electric bill (representing most of September) was only $89.51.
It’s a move that is on track to save her over $1,200 a year with a 5-minute phone call and a few quick changes to her daily routine. That amount alone will pay for a vacation or cover the annual pool maintenance service fee.
The time advantage 7pm-noon plan offers significant savings over the APS standard plan, but you will need to modify your electricity usage during peak weekday hours to optimize your savings. The daily delivery charge was a few pennies higher, but this will be offset by the lower kilowatt hours (kWh) rate.
Here is a list of the incremental changes she has made in her daily routine to optimize utility usage:
- dial the thermostat up about 8 degrees on weekday mornings
- wait until after 7pm to turn on air conditioning during weekdays
- wait to do laundry until after 7pm during weekdays
- program the pool pump* to only operate at night
- close blinds on the south side of the home during the day
*Explore installing a variable-speed pool pump if you still have an older single-speed unit. There are tremendous electricity savings with the newer, more efficient variable-speed models.
Weekends and most national holidays are off-peak time on the time advantage 7pm-noon plan. So the window from 7pm Friday to noon Monday is billed at the lower off-peak rate.
How Do I Find My APS Plan?
Check the top left corner of your APS bill for the plan name. It will read standard plan, time advantage 7pm-noon, time advantage super peak, combined advantage 7pm-noon or similar.
The standard plan is geared toward small residences of 1,100 square feet or less. This is the default plan for a lot of APS accounts. Study the plans at the APS website here to make sure that you pick the energy plan that best meets your needs. Then make your phone call to APS customer service.
Monitor Your APS Account On the Road
When your new energy efficiency plan is established, APS offers a brilliant mobile app for residential and commercial accounts. It is available in the iTunes store as well as Google Play.
The APS mobile app allows customers to:
- make payments
- track billing
- monitor account-level daily usage stats in kWh
- view power outages map
- read energy saving tips and company news
Contact APS Customer Service
The APS customer service number is 602-371-7171. The website is www.aps.com.
Arizona Public Service provides electric service to 1.2 million residential and commercial accounts throughout 11 of 15 Arizona counties. It is one of two major suppliers of electricity to the Phoenix metro market. The other utility is Salt River Project (SRP).
APS serves downtown Phoenix, the Central Avenue corridor, Scottsdale, Paradise Valley, wide swaths of the north and west Valleys. Outside of Maricopa County, the APS service territory extends to Flagstaff, Sedona, Cottonwood, Payson, Prescott, Parker, Gila Bend and Ajo.
APS is a subsidiary of the Pinnacle West Capital Corporation which is publicly traded on the NYSE under the ticker symbol PNW.
There are three kinds of men. The one that learns by reading. The few who learn by observation. The rest of them have to pee on the electric fence for themselves.
– Will Rogers, American humorist
