Telecommuting & Energy Consumption

How working from home affects your energy consumption

Many American workers are doing their jobs from home today. Forbes is quoted as saying "58% of American Knowledge workers are doing their jobs from home". To some this is a dream come true – fuzzy slippers and a cup of coffee while sitting through that meeting. Others find the transition difficult to balance with all family members vying for internet bandwith and computer access.

You may not give it much thought, but this change in working environment can significantly affect your home heating fuel usage. If you’re on automatic delivery it can drastically impact our estimate of your consumption. Additionally, if your a will call customer, your estimation of when to look at your tank gauge may be off significantly.

For automatic delivery, there are quite a few factors that go into our estimate of your usage. Past usage history, degree days and K-Factor. Please refer to this blog post to learn more about our calculation process.

We’ve got degree days (Wow was it a warm winter!) and K-Factor but there is nothing in anyone’s previous usage history to account for what’s going on now. Nowhere in our automatic delivery program is there a checkbox for Novel Coronavirus or COVID-19 and everyone now being home. Let’s not forget about our recent snow on Mother’s Day and the freeze warnings that seem to go on for days. All of this plays into an unusual heating pattern.

This is where you come in. If you are on automatic delivery and have been practicing the #stayhome routine, you are undoubtedly using more energy – and perhaps blowing up the internet. Please check your propane gas and fuel oil gauges regularly. Should you notice your propane gas tank getting down towards 30% or your oil tank near ¼ give us a call.

This applies even more to customers who have moved into their second homes. Rather than have you run out because we don’t know you’re there, check your tank. Let’s #stayhomestaysafe and also let CES know when your tank is getting low. Call us at 800-874-1975 to order heating fuel.

 If you have questions about your service or products we offer, please email info@combinedenergyservices.com Do not leave a service or product question in the comments.