The following link discusses the benefit, and payback of a 2 speed pump, and some real world examples are given.

http://www.smud.org/residential/saving/poolspa.html

I wonder if it is widespread for utility companies to have a peak demand charge for residential customers as is suggested in the article?

I also wonder if anybody has a pump timer that can program a 2 speed pump, and make the operation automatic? By automatic I mean so that it starts up in HIGH speed to insure prime, and then switches to LOW speed after some period of time (like 3-5 minutes). It could also program the speeds independant with two timers. It might be nice to run say 10 hours / day on low speed, and 2 hours on HIGH speed to get a little extra skimmer action, and do so automaticially. Does such a Gizmo exist, or do we need to invent one ourself? The run of the mill Intermatic mechanical timer, although reliable, is too simplistic for this application.

Jim