I had one of the units installed this week on Monday afternoon while I was out. When I returned that evening my downstairs was 3 degrees warmer than the cooling setting. I called Energywise Rewards and they said something was wrong, would it be ok for them to come out to check it out Friday. I said no and insisted they come the next day. They did and the guy said when looking at my unit, that he would not have put one on it because it is a high efficiency and the Digital Cycling Unit can interfere with it's communications. So I asked him to remove it which he did and then my AC worked fine.

When I threatened to have my AC guy remove it, they said he cannot. They have to do it. ??

Anonymous wrote:I advise against signing up for this Energy conservation program. The temperature inside my house has been around the low 80s the last few days and there's nothing I can do. I have adjusted my internal thermostat to around 68 degrees and no change in temperature since the air the generated by the AC is not cold nor cool air. I also noticed my A/C unit is not spinning, hence the lack of cool air. I will be calling Pepco to opt-out of this program since the detriments out-weight the benefits.

The Pepco EWR program only operates June through Oct. The time period for which the program could have possibly begun for customers had only been in effect one day. You wrote this on June 1st? Can't see the correlation. Unless unit was installed incorrectly, which is a possibility, but in no way a reflection on how the program operates. Moreover, the "device only operates during "conservation periods" when electricity is in high demand. This "High demand" is not a daily event. It's my understanding there were only 6 or 7 "conservation' periods for Pepco customers last year totaling 22hrs of conservation. And last year was an unusually hot summer.

Anonymous wrote:I had the device installed a month ago and talked with them later via phone and asked if they had control. They assured me they did not. Last night 04/09/2013 my compressor would not come on. It was 82 degrees in my house. Have been on phone last night and early this am. Pepco will not take any responsibility for it and refer you to the Energy Wise Program. They are suppose to send a technician today. After this experience, I am going to opt out. I do not need this hassle in my life.

The Energy Wise Rewards DCU unit and or thermostat can only be activated during the months of June thru September. It seems kinda odd that your house temp was 82 degrees in early April even though it was usually hot that week. What was the conclusion of your experience? Unless something went wrong during the install I can't see the connection.

I advise against signing up for this Energy conservation program. The temperature inside my house has been around the low 80s the last few days and there's nothing I can do. I have adjusted my internal thermostat to around 68 degrees and no change in temperature since the air the generated by the AC is not cold nor cool air. I also noticed my A/C unit is not spinning, hence the lack of cool air. I will be calling Pepco to opt-out of this program since the detriments out-weight the benefits.

I signed up for this program a few months ago and I'm having the same problems. Two days so far with temperatures in the 80s. Program not supposed to even start until June, we get no A/C at all if the outside temperature is over 84 degrees. I chose today as an opt-out day but my A/C is still off. It's not the A/C unit, as it was working this AM. Also, there is no way to manually adjust it - trust me, I've tried.

PEPCO is installing the switches and enrolling people without their permission -- it happened to me! I received a letter in the mail thanking me for enrolling -- BUT I DIDN'T!! There are sales reps out there enrolling people without their permission! Call your elected officials and complain if it happens to you, too, and don't let PEPCO get away with this!!

Anonymous wrote:A guy identifying himself as working for PEPCO showed up at my door today, brandishing his ID badge. He said he was here to install a box on my house. I asked him what it was for and he said it was for "electricity recycling" and that any energy we didn't use would be "returned to the grid". He said he was installing them on all the houses. I promised him I'd keep my dogs inside while he worked, then I went inside and tried to get someone on the phone from PEPCO to tell me more about why this guy was putting something on my house. After more than 1/2 hour on the phone and approaching the PEPCO guy twice, I was able to find out that the program is VOLUNTARY and that NOT everyone on my street was having the boxes installed. PEPCO promised to have someone call me back (which they haven't done) and they said they couldn't get the guy to unintall his handiwork, even though he was still on my street just 2 houses away. When my husband got home I affirmed what I suspected. He hadn't requested the work, but he remembered when the ENergy Wise rep. came to the door. He said that the rep. said he'd send him more information and that he DID NOT sign up to have ANYTHING installed. I bet someone got a commission for this LIE. I got some unauthorized and unnecessary holes drilled in my home's siding today and the pleasure of spinning my wheels today with PEPCO fools.

I'm worried now. Same "guy" showed up at my house yesterday with the same line, we are installing these on everyones houses.. just wanted to let you know... someone will be calling you in a couple of days. I did ask if I had to do this and he said no so I told him I needed to discuss it with my husband. Anyone know if there is a way for me to opt out so someone doesent show up and just start installing this thing?

According to PEPCO's website, this program is still voluntary. We were a part of the Kilowatchers program, which was a similar program that they had, when we lived in a townhome. It was not unusual for the temperature to only cool to the mid 80's in our home on days when they 'cycled' -- that is the whole point, to save enough power from the people who sign up, in order to prevent a blackout (or so they say). If you are at work during the day, it wouldn't be bad, but if you are at home with kids as I was, it can get uncomfortable. When we moved to a single-family home, we did not sign up for the program. We don't have to cut corners as much as we used to, and felt that it was worth giving up the discount in order to know that we could cool to whatever temp. we wanted, when we wanted.

Do you really think that PEPCO, of all companies, would be giving a discount unless it required a sacrifice from the customer? Get real!!

Rationing is the controlled distribution of scarce resources, goods, or services. Rationing controls the size of the ration, one's allotted portion of the resources being distributed on a particular day or at a particular time. (source: Wikipedia)

A rolling blackout, also referred to as load shedding, is an intentionally engineered electrical power shutdown where electricity delivery is stopped for non-overlapping periods of time over different parts of the distribution region. Rolling blackouts are a last-resort measure used by an electric utility company to avoid a total blackout of the power system. They are a type of demand response for a situation where the demand for electricity exceeds the power supply capability of the network. Rolling blackouts may be localised to a specific part of the electricity network or may be more widespread and affect entire countries and continents. Rolling blackouts generally result from two causes: insufficient generation capacity or inadequate transmission infrastructure to deliver sufficient power to the area where it is needed. (source: Wikipedia)

Everyone wants to believe there's no crisis so they ignore the implications of persistently high gasoline prices and costly electric bill. Now they must never say "rationing" as the utility hooks up boxes that shut off their power. Is it possible to go though the entire process of collapse relying only on scapegoating as the answer to everything? I guess the Earth was declared flat for a long time too.

A guy identifying himself as working for PEPCO showed up at my door today, brandishing his ID badge. He said he was here to install a box on my house. I asked him what it was for and he said it was for "electricity recycling" and that any energy we didn't use would be "returned to the grid". He said he was installing them on all the houses. I promised him I'd keep my dogs inside while he worked, then I went inside and tried to get someone on the phone from PEPCO to tell me more about why this guy was putting something on my house. After more than 1/2 hour on the phone and approaching the PEPCO guy twice, I was able to find out that the program is VOLUNTARY and that NOT everyone on my street was having the boxes installed. PEPCO promised to have someone call me back (which they haven't done) and they said they couldn't get the guy to unintall his handiwork, even though he was still on my street just 2 houses away. When my husband got home I affirmed what I suspected. He hadn't requested the work, but he remembered when the ENergy Wise rep. came to the door. He said that the rep. said he'd send him more information and that he DID NOT sign up to have ANYTHING installed. I bet someone got a commission for this LIE. I got some unauthorized and unnecessary holes drilled in my home's siding today and the pleasure of spinning my wheels today with PEPCO fools.

I had a Pepco thermostat installed a couple months ago and am disappointed. My attempts to adjust the temperature up during cold and down during warmth were futile. My AC was installed in September. My heat worked perfectly prior to the installation of this device. I am calling Pepco immediately to have it removed, and have my self-purchased thermostat involved. This program has not been worth freezing and sweating in my "temperature-controlled" home.

Anonymous wrote:Nice work if you can get.

Working hard or hardly working?

Nice work if you can get.

But it's all good. Pepco's CEO is doing just fine, despite the ongoing recession. Remember kids, always make sure your compensation mostly comes through things other than your salary. Gads, your salary gets taxed like crazy and the littles get all upset about your sky high salary. "Compensation" is where it's at.

Big pay raise for Pepco head in 2012
http://www.wtop.com/41/3275170/Big-pay-boost-for-Pepco-boss
The total compensation given to CEO Joseph Rigby amounted to $11.4 million in 2012, according to The Washington Times.

It marks a significant hike from the $6.7 million package Rigby got in 2011. That was the year Rigby gave up a salary increase amid mounting pressure from lawmakers and customers over Pepco's failures.

Rigby's base salary remained at $880,000 in 2011, before rising to $985,000 last year and $1,015,000 in 2013. The bulk of the CEO's earnings has come through stock awards, bonuses and deferred compensation, the Times reports.

And you don't think there is any chance that there is a problem with your A/C?? Pepco would have no reason to need to reduce power on an 80+ degree day when many people have not turned their a/c on for the season yet.