An easier question to answer is "what is PEAK electricity?". Most power generating systems cannot quickly respond to changing loads. This is particularly true of coal-fired steam generation plants. Gas turbines can respond quickly, and hydroelectric is probably the best. Now because there is a limited supply of peak capacity, that power is much more valuable than power from other sources. So even though your meter doesn't (in most cases) differentiate between peak and non-peak power, the cost for the power company to provide power during peak periods is much more than during the rest of the day.
So, to get to my point, if the power company can INCREASE demand during non-peak hours, it will actually REDUCE their cost during peak hours. Why? Because they need to use LESS peak power. For example, let's say I have two power plants, one coal and one hydro. The coal plant plant can produce 5 megawatts and the hydro one megawatt. Now let's say my demand is 4 MW non-peak and 6 MW peak. So I'll run my coal plant at 4 MW, generate an additional one MW peak with my hydro plant, and I still have to buy another MW to cover the rest of my peak. But if I can eliminate my peak so I have a constant 5 MW, I can run my coal plant at capacity, not buy any peak and SELL my hydro power at peak rates.
Now to throw electric vehicles into the mix, the power companies are very concerned about their ability to meet the demand if electric cars become popular. Today many customers have interruptible power for their AC and hot water. I imagine that the power companies already have plans to provide interruptible power for vehicle chargers as well; this would allow them to actually reduce the rates for electric vehicle power.
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Today's Featured Article - Third Brush Generators - by Chris Pratt. While I love straightening sheet metal, cleaning, and painting old tractors, I use every excuse to avoid working on the on the electrics. I find the whole process sheer mystery. I have picked up and attempted to read every auto and farm electrics book with no improvement in the situation. They all seem to start with a chapter entitled "Theory of Electricity". After a few paragraphs I usually close the book and go back to banging out dents. A good friend and I were recently discussing our tractor electrical systems when he stated "I figure it all comes back to applying Ohms Law". At this point
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