Flex Your Appliance Usage

As JEA plans to power our community’s growth, it’s important to think about how we use electricity and the role we all must play to create a sustainable, reliable and affordable energy future.

With a few simple changes to our daily routines, we can all help cut the cost to generate electricity, which in turn can protect our environment and keep rates low.

To create a sustainable energy community, when you use your energy will be as important as how much energy you use. Think about the major appliances in your home, such as your oven, washer and dryer, dishwasher and air conditioner. These all require relatively high amounts of energy.

If you turn on all of your appliances at once, your energy needs can increase dramatically for that specific point in time. Electricity must be produced exactly as people need it, and JEA must generate enough power to meet our customers’ needs at all times.

How JEA Meets Energy Needs

Think of your home internet service. When one person streams a movie, the stream works perfectly. But as additional family members attempt to stream video at the same time, more bandwidth is needed to handle the extra demand on the network.

At a larger community level, people use less energy at night while they are asleep and when businesses are closed. On the other hand, energy usage is highest during the day while businesses are open and people are working, doing household chores, etc.

When it comes to meeting our community’s energy needs, JEA has to plan to generate or buy enough power to furnish electricity to customers at the peak time when they use it the most. On the other hand, by shifting the time we use energy to different times of the day, away from peak times, JEA power plants can operate more efficiently. When enough residents and businesses do this, we can reduce the need to build more power plants to accommodate high demand, which in the long run will help keep rates low.

By shifting the times you use these appliances throughout the day, instead of all at once, you can help reduce JEA’s costs to generate and deliver energy at peak times. This also helps JEA preserve natural resources and low rates for all of us.

Not All Appliances are Created Equal

The amount of electricity you use may surprise you, especially when you use multiple major appliances at once. Demand - measured in kilowatts (kW), or 1,000 watts - is the highest amount of electrical power needed at one time.

	Appliance	kW
	Dryer	≤5.6 kW
	HVAC	≤5 kW
	Water Heater	≈4 kW
	Tankless Water Heater	≤13 kW
	Dishwasher	1.2 kW
	Oven	≈3.4 kW