East River Electric takes an hourly approach to load management

Jeff Rud, East River Electric power supply specialist, monitors loads to determine when to activate the cooperative’s load control system, which sheds member loads to keep peak demand as low as possible.

For more than 30 years, East River Electric Power Cooperative, a Basin Electric Class A member in Madison, SD, has had a load management program in place to reduce its monthly wholesale power costs, thereby reducing costs to its members.

With approximately 60,000 participants across its membership in eastern South Dakota and western Minnesota, East River Electric has saved approximately $188 million in wholesale power costs since 1984. And with a new program, it hopes to increase that amount.

Thanks to Basin Electric’s move into the Southwest Power Pool (SPP) last fall, East River Electric Electric now can respond to an hourly price signal in addition to the monthly demand price signal.

On Aug. 1, East River launched another proactive element to its established load management program by joining Basin Electric’s market load management program. East River Electric is the first Class A member to be part of this pilot program.

Read more about East River’s addition of the hourly load management program in the Sept/Oct issue of Basin Today: East River Electric leverages existing assets for additional power savings.