Who Adjusted the Thermostat?

I recently had a conversation with a neighbor about enrolling in our local electric utility’s smart thermostat program, which would provide a $130 rebate on our electrical bill and an additional $30 rebate for each year we remained enrolled in the program. Not a lot of money, but right now, everything helps.

In exchange for the enrollment rebate, we would allow the utility to adjust our thermostat temperatures by a few degrees in the summer and winter to help reduce the demand on the electrical “grid” during the peak times of day when everyone was running their air conditioners or electric heating elements. By doing so, the utility could use our homes as “dials” to more cost effectively maintain power to all customers during these relatively short peak periods.

If enough customers enroll in these programs, utilities can provide a more reliable electrical grid without having to build new power plants… and avoid raising customer rates to fund such significant capital investments.

In a growing number of markets, electrical utilities are offering customers programs like this, and the range of these programs is expanding to include more electricity-using devices and equipment—such as electric vehicles, electric storage batteries, water heaters, or even clothes dryers or dishwashers. The catch, of course, is that the appliance use electricity as its main source of power, not natural gas or propane, for example.

In a world where electric utilities and consumers benefit from managing the use of these appliances to help the grid, homebuilders can choose to specify equipment in their homes that can help achieve these goals. Builders can take it one step further and help customers who are interested in reducing their utility bills enroll in these programs. Some markets’ utilities have incentives for builders or property managers who assist with enrolling customers in these demand response programs. In this model, customers save money, builders earn money, and the grid becomes a more reliable source of power—a win-win scenario for everyone!

So, did my neighbor and I enroll in our local utility’s smart thermostat program? Actually, my neighbor enrolled but I did not, but that’s a story for another time…