April 2019: REC

Featured Member: Rappahannock Electric Cooperative

From smartphones, to smart televisions, to the now completely smart home – technology is advancing the way households live and the way they consume electricity. Rappahannock Electric Cooperative (REC) focuses on helping member-owners make smart, energy-efficient decisions every day.

In 2017, REC introduced MyREC SmartHub, and today nearly 70,000 member-owners – about half of REC’s membership – utilize the app to track and manage their energy use.

“We often hear from our members that they’re surprised that we want to help them be energy-efficient and use less energy,” explained David Koogler, REC’s vice president of member services and external affairs, and VAEEC chair. “We’re a not-for-profit electric cooperative and we focus on what matters to our member-owners. For so many of them that is smart energy choices. MyREC SmartHub gives them the knowledge to better understand how they’re using electricity and how they can make changes.”

MyREC SmartHub is an online web portal and mobile app available to any member-owner of REC. The tool provides member-owners the opportunity to view and pay their bills, sign up for programs and services, set notification preferences, and access to the My Usage tool.

My Usage

Take Control of Energy Use

The My Usage feature of MyREC SmartHub helps member-owners avoid being caught off guard when a leaky water heater or faulty heat pump causes their electric bill to spike. REC member-owners now have an easy way to keep track of anything out of the ordinary in their electricity use with the click of a button.

REC has smart meters on every service, which allows all member-owners to see their usage data by hour, day, week, month, or over a specified period of time.  With My Usage, member-owners also can see how weather affects the amount of energy they consume, and they can compare their energy use to a similar time frame a year earlier. The tool provides quick access to their usage information. For instance, member-owners can view yesterday’s hourly usage data today.

They can identify when their family uses the most energy in the home. In addition, they can set notifications to receive email or text alerts when their home has used a certain amount of electricity. With easy access in the app to their bills, they can review past bills to determine differences between the same months a year apart.

“When we pair this tool with our on-staff energy advisors, our member-owners are able to maximize their energy savings potential,” added Koogler.

REC staffs two energy management advisors, who assist member-owners with understanding the cause of an unexpected high electric bill, identifying areas within their homes to make energy efficient improvements, conducting energy audits and promoting the use of the Cooperative’s online energy efficiency tools – like MyREC SmartHub.