“Great idea, Samantha,” Linda said. “I’ve been thinking about this too. I wish there were a way we could know when the Berry Factory is getting close to maxxing out. I know we couldn’t turn off some Zervs, but we could choose to not do other things until later.”

“Well, everyone, I heard something at work,” Ralph said. “My boss told us that the company is going to save money if we shift from making certain things during the day when the Berry Factory is close to producing its maximum amount of Berries—he called it the “peak”. If we delay producing some things, we won’t need Zervberries right then, and the Berry Factory will give us a big discount. We can produce those things in the evening, and save money. The Berry Factory will tell us when

it wants us to turn off some of our Zervs. My boss said that we would be buying Berries during the off-peak period. I guess he means when the Berry Factory isn’t working so hard.”

“Well, maybe we could get the same discount here at the house,” Linda said. “What if everyone in our neighborhood were buying Berries during the off peak period. We’d be saving as much as your whole company! We might be able to save enough so we can help the kids go to college.”

Bobby piped in. “Because the Berries all stopped in Bauville today, my science teacher decided to teach us about conservation—using less Berries—and efficiency—getting the Zervs to eat less Berries while doing the same work. She said that the price of Berries will be different at different times of the day. She said that the old system, where everyone pays the same cost for Berries no matter what time of day it is or no matter how stressed the Berry Factory is,

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Did you know?

The Smart Meter is a replacement power meter that allows both you and your utility company to know how much power you use during peak and off-peak periods during the day. Many utilities charge different prices, called “time of use” rates, based on the time of day that power is used.