Time of Use (TOU) rates are used by utilities to encourage electricity to be used when the electric grid is lower cost and using more renewable energy, and to reduce electricity use when the electric grid is higher cost and using less renewable energy.
Renewable energy is often intermittent. The sun does not always shine and the wind does not always blow. It is important for the devices, appliances, and equipment that use electricity to be able to be scheduled to reduce their usage sometimes and shift their time of use to 'better times' to support lower electricity grid costs and more renewable energy usage.
This can first be done by scheduling the equipment to follow Time of Use rates that encourage this type of usage by providing different electricity prices at different times of day. The idea is to schedule a device to use less when it is expensive.
Water heaters are particularly good at doing this because they are so well insulated that they keep their hot water hot for many hours. It is easy for them to heat the water at the right time and to reduce their electricity use at the 'wrong time' (the expensive time).
Smart water heaters also have the ability to notice if there is any risk of running out of hot water and they can come on to top themselves off and reduce this risk of a 'cold water event' by coming on briefly during the expensive time. They also benefit from fully heating themselves right before the expensive time to reduce the risk of coming on during the expensive time and to reduce the risk of running out of hot water.
This is what the hot water heater does with the Time of Use rate that you are 'importing' or 'sending' to the water heater. It makes sure it is fully heated right before the expensive time, and then tries to NOT come on during the expensive time unless it notices that it is close to running out of hot water, at which point it comes on briefly to prevent a cold water event. During the rest of the day, it behaves as it always has, providing you the hot water you need when you need it.
The TOU Setup app can only send the Time of Use schedule to the SkyCentrics module if you first connect your phone to the Wi-Fi network being broadcast by the SkyCentrics module. It looks like #123ABC, where 123ABC are the last 6 characters of the module's serial number. Please connect to this Wi-Fi network. Then, you will be asked to type in the 6 character CODE to connect to the Wi-Fi network securely.
Then go back to the app and click "Save to Device".
The SkyCentrics ECOPORT module can store a variety of Time of Use schedules based on your utility Time of Use rate plans, and then it enables your water heater to respond in a 'smart way' to those Time of Use rates.
Your water heater will fully heat itself right before the expensive time to reduce the risk of coming on during the expensive time and to reduce the risk of running out of hot water. Then during the expensive time, it will stay off unless it notices that it is running the risk of running out of hot water and then it will come on briefly to prevent that.
This is the best way to maintain your supply of hot water while saving you money on your electricity bill.
The TOU Setup app sends your utility's Time of Use rate schedule to the SkyCentrics module so that it can store it and deliver it to your water heater for years of intelligent, money saving behavior.