Most people are eager to make their homes more efficient and save money, but they’re not always sure how. SMECO is providing more information about your energy use so you can make informed choices and save money.
The costs shown reflect SMECO’s Standard Offer Service charges for energy, facilities charge, distribution charge, and EmPOWER Maryland charge. They do not include alternate supplier charges, taxes, or miscellaneous items, such as late fees, overdue payments, or billing credits, so they may not match your total billed amounts for each billing period.
You can download your data in a CSV file format which you can then open in Excel. (You must have Notepad or Textpad installed on your computer to open XML reader.)
The amount of energy you produce and use is not recorded by SMECO’s meter. The amount of energy you produced in excess of what was used will show on the graph as a credit (a negative number on a bar chart).
If you purchase energy from an alternate supplier, the data in Account Manager will be based on energy use (rather than energy costs) because alternate energy suppliers do not provide detailed rate information to SMECO.
Most of the information is geared toward residential accounts and may not apply to commercial accounts.
If you want to start or stop the weekly updates or high bill alerts, log in to Account Manager and click the Notification Preferences link.
Receive weekly updates via email that provide energy usage information for the previous week. Additional information is also included in the email to help you track your usage and determine if you should take steps to save. The Weekly Update option will appear when you update your email settings. (Weekly updates are not sent via text.)
You can receive alerts via email or text when your monthly bill is expected to be unusually high: at least 30% higher than the same month last year. The High Bill Alert option will appear when you update your email settings or your mobile phone settings in the Notification Preferences section of Account Manager.
Your energy use is collected from your meter. If you have a smart meter, your usage is shown in 15-minute intervals; accounts that don’t have smart meters have monthly data available. Most of the information is geared toward residential accounts and may not apply to commercial accounts. With smart meters, SMECO and its members are Getting Smarter Together.
On this tab, you can choose to see a graph that shows data in dollars or kilowatt-hours. You can also change from the 13-month view to the daily view; just click on one of the months. Want to drill down to the 15-minute view? Just click on one of the days.
The average temperature helps you see how energy use goes down during mild months, such as May and October, and increases during winter and summer. January is usually a high-use month, and summer months are notable for their heat and humidity.
The Neighbor Comparison graph compares your energy use to other homes that are similar to yours. Click the "Who are my neighbors" link at the bottom of the graph to see more details about the comparison homes.
If you have more than one account, the energy use for only one account is shown.
On this tab, you can see how much you’ve used so far for the current billing period. Part way through the month, you will also be able to see how much you’re projected to spend for the rest of the billing period. (It’s based on how much electricity you’ve used so far during the current billing period, the weather, and the number of days in the billing period. And you must have at least seven days of usage in the billing period before an estimate of the monthly bill can be made.) Please keep in mind that the dollar amounts are only estimates and your bill will vary depending on actual energy use, taxes, and fees.
On this tab, you can see how your most recent bill compares to the previous month’s bill or the same month from last year. Just click the “Last Year” or “Previous Bill” in the top right corner. Some possible reasons for increases or decreases in energy use are shown beneath the graph.
On this tab, you can see how your energy use compares to that of similar homes. The comparison month is shown at the bottom left corner. Of the comparison homes, the 20% with the lowest energy use are considered “efficient neighbors.” Click the “Who are my neighbors?” arrow to see details about similar homes. (You may need to use the scroll bar to view the info.)
If you have multiple accounts, the first one listed is considered a primary account and will be the one that shows the neighbor comparison.
On this tab, you will see estimates of how much energy you use for each of the categories listed. Please note that these are only estimates; your meter measures whole-house energy use, so an actual measurement for each appliance is not possible.
To make the information more accurate, click the “Update my Home Profile” link and complete the questionnaire to provide a more accurate description of your home.
On this tab, you can find multiple tips on how to save energy so you can save money.
