Just as you can get a cheaper airfare by catching a red-eye flight, using energy when fewer folks are pulling power out of the electric grid generally costs your co-op—and ultimately you—much less.

There’s a certain amount of energy we all use, regardless of whether we’re at home or away. Refrigerators, air conditioning and heating systems, and other steady appliances create base load power requirements—the minimum amount of power your co-op needs to reliably supply all of its members.

Of course, we all have energy use patterns—television shows to watch, dishes to wash, etc. Lots of consumers tend to use electricity during the same “peak” periods—in the morning to warm up the house and get kids ready for school, and in the afternoon after work when a home lights up with power-draining activities. And then there’s the interval between these two extremes.