Bill Automatically Allows Power Company To Regulate Your Home Temperature

KSL 5
Mar. 21, 2010

SALT LAKE CITY — A bill currently awaiting Gov. Gary Herbert’s signature would allow Rocky Mountain Power to automatically enroll customers in its Cool Keeper program.

Rather than agreeing to participate in the program, customers would need to notify the company if they want to opt out instead.

With the Cool Keeper program, a switch would be installed on your air compressor, allowing Rocky Mountain Power to turn it off for 15 minutes per half hour on the hottest days of summer. Rocky Mountain Power says it results in no more than a few degrees’ difference in temperature.

Although 90,000 customers have already opted in, the utility company says too few Utahns have signed up for the program, which it says improves profits and efficiency. By controlling customers’ air conditioning units on key days, the company says it can avoid buying or producing more high-cost electricity during times of high demand. It also saves them from building a new power plant.

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