Instructions
RDC savings calculator
A Residential Demand Controller (RDC) is a home automation device that can automatically shut off certain appliances when electric demand on Otter Tail Power Company's system requires energy control. It restarts them later during normal—or off-peak—periods.
This calculator can help you determine the potential savings you'd experience by installing a Residential Demand Control (RDC) device with electric heat. It uses your current annual fossil fuel and electricity use and costs and calculates that use on Otter Tail Power Company's special controlled service rate. Because the RDC rate is applied to all of your energy needs throughout the year, great savings are possible.
To use this calculator you will need to gather information about your present system and costs. This includes the age or efficiency rating of your present system, the amount and type of fuel you've used over a one-year period, and the price you paid for that fuel.
Fuel type: Select the fossil fuel type your current heating system uses. Each fuel has its own Btu measure—a measure of the amount of heat a unit of fuel can produce—that is considered in this calculation.
Furnace efficiency: Fossil fuel furnaces have efficiency ranges of between 60 percent and 92 percent depending on the model design. Older models operate less efficiently than newer and high-efficiency models. Manufacturers assign efficiency ratings based on laboratory tests. The rating indicates the percentage of the energy used that converts to heat. The balance of the fuel used is lost as exhaust and other by-products.
You should be able to find the efficiency rating in your owner's manual if that's available. If you don't know the efficiency rating of your system, we will use an average efficiency based on the age of the system. (Enter numbers only - no percent sign)
Fuel cost for the past 12 months: Enter the total dollars spent for natural gas, propane, or fuel oil during the past year or enter the price per unit of fuel you expect to pay. (Enter numbers only - no dollar sign or comma)
Electric use for the past 12 months: Enter the total number of kilowatt-hours of electricity used during the past year. Otter Tail Power Company customers may find this information by looking on the back of their last electric bill at the graph entitled Your kwh usage at a glance and totaling figures for the past 12 months. This information is used to calculate additional dollars of savings you will have with RDC.
With RDC all electricity used in your household is priced at Otter Tail's special low RDC rate, so you save on every kilowatt-hour you use.
Electric service costs for the past 12 months: Enter the total dollars spent for electricity during the past year. Otter Tail Power Company customers may find this information by referring to their electric bill, or by contacting their local customer service center. (Enter numbers only - no dollar sign or comma)
Demand setting: The RDC device helps you to maintain this demand level during energy control periods. It shuts off the appliances connected to it to help you maintain the preselected demand level during energy control and then later restarts them.
To calculate your savings you must select a demand setting:
- To operate your home with the greatest savings select a demand setting of 3.
- To operate your home with comfort and average savings select a demand setting of 4 to 5.
- To operate a large home or an average home with higher comfort and lower savings select a demand setting of 6 to 8.
State: Select the state where your home is located. The calculator will use this information to select the proper RDC electric rate for your state.
