Éco Sinopé, dynamic pricing, and Hilo

Numerous offers are encouraging you to reduce energy consumption during winter peak periods. With all the options available, finding your way around takes a lot of work. What is the difference between dynamic pricing and Hilo? And what does Éco Sinopé do in all this? We untangle it all for you.

What is dynamic pricing?

Dynamic pricing allows power utilities to encourage customers to reduce electricity consumption during peak periods when demand is high.

Hydro-Québec offers two dynamic pricing options: Rate D with Winter Credit Option and Rate Flex D. With the first option, Hydro-Québec credits 53¢ per kilowatt hour saved on the electricity bill (min. 2 kWh) during peak events. The second option allows you to benefit from a lower rate than the base rate outside peak events, but the cost per kilowatt hour will be 53¢ during peak events.

Hydro-Québec residential customers can register for dynamic pricing without purchase or commitment. However, to maximize the credits received, electricity consumption must be reduced during peak events, which take place in freezing weather from Monday to Friday, from 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. and from 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.

Reducing your electricity consumption manually by lowering the set temperature of the thermostats one by one is tedious and demanding. This is especially true since peak periods occur at generally already busy times. This is why signing up for dynamic pricing only pays less.

This is where the Éco Sinopé feature comes into play.

Éco Sinopé is tied to dynamic pricing

The Éco Sinopé feature ties the operation of Sinopé smart devices with dynamic pricing programs.

Users maximize their savings during peak events by activating Éco Sinopé for compatible devices.

The advantages of Éco Sinopé

The Éco Sinopé feature offers many advantages when compared to other alternatives currently offered to Quebecers:

Éco Sinopé pays off more

According to user surveys, the feature would pay off more than other options to reduce electricity consumption during peak events.

In fact, users of the Éco Sinopé feature registered for dynamic pricing would have received an average credit of $163.69 (average for the 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 seasons). For their part, customers enrolled only in dynamic pricing received an $80 credit on their electricity bill, and this figure increases to $140 for Hilo users for the 2022-2023 winter season.

More options tailored to your lifestyle

With Éco Sinopé, users can select from four savings profiles or even select a different set temperature for each device in the house. Choosing different setpoints for morning and evening peak events is also possible. In this way, the user can maximize their savings without compromising their comfort.

No commitment required

Éco Sinopé users maintain complete control of their devices at all times. Thus, they can change the thermostats' setpoints manually on the product or through the Neviweb application without being penalized for opting out of an event. 

Moreover, the mail-in rebate offered by Hydro-Québec of up to 75% on the purchase of smart thermostats for electric heating does not require minimum participation during peak events, nor requires the feature to be activated for a minimum number of years. It should be noted that the pilot project to obtain the rebate ended on December 15, 2023.

More compatible devices, more savings

The Éco Sinopé feature is compatible with various energy-intensive devices: thermostats, an electrical load controller, the Calypso water heater controller, and the multi-controller.

Thus, users can easily tie their water heater, electric vehicle recharge, spa or even the garage fan-forced heater, to name just a few, to dynamic pricing thanks to the Sinopé devices and the Éco Sinopé feature.

Therefore, there are more opportunities to save, which can be reflected favourably on the electricity bill. Moreover, in the 2021-2022 season, 6% of users received more than $500 in credit on their electricity bill thanks to Éco Sinopé and dynamic pricing!

In addition, as Sinopé Technologies is a manufacturer of smart devices, it is also possible to control other types of devices in the same app, such as the Sedna smart water damage protection system.

Award-winning, efficient and reliable smart devices

Numerous national and international organizations have awarded Sinopé products for their exceptional performance and energy efficiency. Our products also have been evaluated and praised by several prestigious media. In addition, our products have more than 8,134 direct reviews (excluding those from third-party sites such as Amazon), and the average rating given to our products is 4.81/5.

In other words, choosing Sinopé products means opting for reliable, quality smart devices.

Hilo, dynamic pricing and Éco Sinopé

Hilo and dynamic pricing are two different and distinct programs offered by Hydro-Québec. These two programs cannot be combined.

The Éco Sinopé feature is designed to help people registered for dynamic pricing improve their comfort and savings.

In conclusion

Hilo and dynamic pricing are two distinct options offered by Hydro-Québec. Although adhering to dynamic pricing does not imply any purchase on the homeowner's part, it is with Sinopé products and the Éco Sinopé feature that dynamic pricing pays off the most. Finally, for those who were able to take advantage of the subsidy offered by Hydro-Québec, Sinopé smart thermostats for electric heating can be paid for in a single heating season thanks to the savings they generate.