| Some time ago our (city-managed) utility installed extra insulating blanket and a timer that turned on the water heater at 2:00 a.m., giving us a discount on the rental fee as consideration. In my case, it was the full rental fee rebated. Later a branch of the provincial utility took over that aspect of the system. My water heater had stopped working, so I told them to come and test it, to certify that it was not working, as I had no intention of paying rental on a non-functioning water heater. They told me that I could have it replaced, or have them come to remove it ($20.00 fee, if I rcall corrctly), but that those were my only options. As I lived in a rental townhouse, I thought that having the water heater disappear would not do good things regarding my relations with my landlord. Also, our resident property manager said that when they came for a service call, they'd remove that timer that turned on the heater at 2:00 a.m. They did that, and were going to remove the insulating blanket, but I said that they could leave it right there - which they did. I asked their headquarters why they were removing the timers, to be told that they weren't offering that service. When I asked why not - no answer. So it seems to me that they are very unconcerned with spreading the load over the 24 hour period, to reduce the need to fire up generating stations when peak load comes. Stupid. Have yourselves a great pre-Christmas week. My best wishes for the season to everyone. ole joyful | 
