Puget plan worth a try, but check your light bill

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Puget Sound Energy's innovative plan to encourage residential customers to shift their electricity use to different times of day must come with the clear notification they do not have to participate.

Consumers can opt out at the beginning or any point during the five-month experiment, which begins Tuesday.

PSE's time-of-use program is commendable, but the company is backing into a significant change in the way a third of its residential customers will be billed.

These 330,000 customers have new electrical meters that allow PSE to track use by time of day. The trial plan approved by the state Utilities and Transportation Commission bumps the current flat rate of 5.34 cents per kilowatt hour into a higher rate during the day and evening, and drops it to a discounted rate at night, Sunday and holidays.

Participation would have been mandatory if it had not been noticed that a five-year rate cap was in place until the end of 2001, the result of a commission ruling that allowed Puget to merge with Washington Natural Gas.

A compromise made the plan optional for customers - those alert consumers who specifically act to exclude themselves. Inattentive PSE customers who do not opt out or fail to change their habits will pay more. PSE estimates 3 percent more, at most. Regrettably, that means a rate hike is in store for customers who don't monitor their bills closely.

Time-of-use may encourage customers to change habits to avoid higher bills, but it is not the same as providing customers with incentives to use less electricity.

Still, the pilot project is worth trying, with adequate consumer preparation. They have a right not to participate. That should be clear in the mailings PSE has planned. Big, bold and visible instructions on how to opt out should be prominent.

After Sept. 30, when the pilot ends, the commission should not be in any rush to judgment, especially if there is a thought to continue, broaden or make the plan mandatory. Hearings would have to explore the link between the time-of-use rates and actual cost of providing power through the day.

Power saved through conservation is the cheapest electricity to produce. Avista in Spokane has a package of conservation incentives worth copying. They include unlimited $6 coupons toward fluorescent-bulb purchases, rebates on energy-efficient appliances and weatherization incentives. PSE has not gone this direction.

PSE will offer residential and business customers a credit of 5 cents for every kilowatt-hour they save after cutting electricity use by 10 percent over the same month a year earlier. Avista's incentive starts at 5 percent.

PSE customers need to know they have a choice. Time-of-use is worth a try, but people can opt out.