Eliminate Unwanted ‘Surprises’ on Your Bill with Usage Monitoring and High Usage Alerts
“When you access your SmartHub account, you’ll be able to see the daily historical data for kilowatt-hours used, and you can even drill down to how much electricity was used per hour,” explains Tawny Keith, NFEC’s Billing Supervisor. Simply log in to your SmartHub account and visit the Usage section to view your history.
To make things especially easy, you can set up alert notifications to make you aware of high usage on your account and avoid unwanted ‘surprises’ on your bill. “Our High Usage Alert could come in handy if you have a heat pump or well pump malfunction that could drastically increase your monthly electric bill. No one wants a surprise like that,” said Keith.
Set High Usage Alerts on Your SmartHub Account
The High Usage Alert notifies members when their daily energy usage exceeds the kWh threshold amount that they have set up.
• Log in to your SmartHub account through a web browser to review recent billing history and usage.
• Click on “Notifications” and then “Manage Contacts.” Add e-mail or phone contacts if desired and “Save Contact.”
• Click on “Notifications,” “Manage Notifications” and the down-arrow next to “Usage.”
• Click on “Options” to edit Power Usage Alert subscriptions
• Choose the accounts to receive usage alerts.
• Determine the thresholds for which you would like to receive alerts for the account/meter.
• Type the kWh values into the box next to each threshold. We recommend the Daily High Usage Threshold for high bills.
• Click a contact to select it for your subscription and “Save Subscription.”
What Should My Threshold Amount Be?
If you need a starting point in determining a high (or low) usage day, we recommend focusing on a recent bill that was “high” (or low) for your account. Note the “Average kWh/Day“ for that month. You may want to use this average or add an additional percentage to it.
What Happens if I Receive an Alert?
If usage alert notifications are received consistently for a few days, and seasonal temperature fluctuations can be ruled out, it is time to investigate further.
These are the top three things that can typically cause a spike in usage and should be checked by a licensed technician:
• Heating/cooling systems
• Electric water heaters
• Well pumps/water system leaks
• Stock tank/equipment heaters
Why not take time now to set up alert notifications on your account? With SmartHub’s Power Usage Alerts, you can receive a text message or email for high or low power use. To sign up, visit www.NFECoop.com and click on Access SmartHub. If you have questions about Power Usage Alerts, give us a call at 580-928-3366, our member service representatives are happy to help you!