Managing Electrical Demand

Some people are doing something to reduce their use of electricty. And, there is at least one company trying to help them. OhmConnect is based in California. Its customers earn discounts on their power bills by responding to signals of distress on the electric grid. You might get a text from OhmConnect at 4 p.m., for example, and respond by going around the house turning off lights and unnecessary appliances. That reduction would be measured at your electric meter, and you would get points from the company that could be turned into cash or rewards like gift cards.

The company provides smart thermostats for residents to install on their electric devices, such as air-conditioners. The thermostats link to OhmConnect’s computers so the company could automatically turn the temperature up or down a couple of degrees. Or, you could put one on your refrigerator, which lets the company shut off power to the fridge for an hour or so at a time.

During a grid emergency in late 2020, the company suppressed enough electrical demand to replace the output from an entire gas-fired power station. And the company is planning a big expansion. Indeed, across the nation, this type of demand management needs to expand rapidly as the stresses on the power grid intensify.

OhmConnect is not unique as electric companies have used this type of demand management on a small scale for decades, generally signing up a few factories willing to have their power cut in a grid emergency. But the big opportunity is to take the idea into tens of millions of homes and apartments, using it routinely to gain much larger power savings.