The summer of 2024 has been defined by its heat waves — more than 100 million Americans experienced heat alerts this July.
For most of us, that means cranking the air conditioning, which also means higher electricity prices. As the summer rages on, we’re getting some insight into the real impacts on our energy bills, and the numbers are staggering. Compared to last year, Americans’ electricity bills have increased by 15.5%.
At the same time, you might be getting emails and alerts from utility companies asking you to use less energy during peak days and hours. If you’ve gotten one of those messages, there’s a good chance that it’s part of a demand response program.
Today, we’re going to chat about what demand response programs are — plus, how they can be a real win for you and the grid.
What is demand response — and how can you get paid for it?
Not all demand response programs are built the same, but they all have the same goal: to reduce energy use during periods of especially high demand.
Before (or sometimes during) these peak demand periods, demand response programs will reach out to energy users and ask them to turn up their thermostats, turn off their lights, or avoid using appliances.
Some of them are quite simple, like PG&E’s Power Saver program:
• You receive a text asking you to curb your electricity usage.
• You manually respond to this (by turning off AC, for example).
• You’re rewarded for doing so.
Often, like in PG&E’s case, even these simple programs have helpful applications you can use to track just how much money you’ve saved, sometimes in the hundreds of dollars per year.
Sometimes, you need to enroll in these programs to receive the notifications and save money. Other times, you might be enrolled or eligible already without knowing it. Regardless, the best thing to do is to Google something like: “[Your utility name] demand response programs”. Odds are they’ll have a web page that tells you about the programs they have, and how you can sign up.
Other demand response programs, though, are a little more advanced—and use smarter appliances to save you more money with even less work.
Intelligent ways to handle demand response, automatically
Getting a notification and manually turning off appliances is… fine. But there are real barriers to participation in demand response programs. The first is paying attention to your notifications, so you actually know when a demand response event is taking place. But the real challenge is in actually changing your energy usage — it’s not always easy to reduce the amount of electricity you need if you’re making dinner, or cooling your house in a heat wave. It often means compromising your comfort, schedule, and convenience.
Luckily, there are a couple smart ways to get around this.
One way is to use the more tech-savvy programs from utilities, which connect to your internet-connected appliances to automatically save you money. In PG&E’s case, this program is called SmartAC: if you have a thermostat that connects to Wi-Fi—and so many do these days—then it automatically coordinate with PG&E to curb your use during demand response events. Every program will look different, of course, so see what your local utility is offering and whether you’re eligible.
There are, however, other ways to benefit from demand response events without signing up for any programs directly with your utility. The Nest Renew program by Google, for example, is a program you can sign up for if you have a Nest thermostat. It helps you use energy when it’s cleaner, and can take advantage of both demand response events and time-of-use programs.
What if you want to save money without curbing your use?
While AC in summer is a big part of demand response, it’s about more than just air conditioning—it applies to all of your appliances. And you may, in some cases, want to take advantage of savings without having to stop cooking or cleaning. In these cases, there is an alternative: appliances with integrated batteries.
Imagine this: you have an appliance that can charge a battery to run, then use that battery power later on. You plug the appliance in and charge the battery during times when most people aren’t using electricity, then stop charging and rely on the battery power during peak usage—like when demand response programs tell you to stop using electricity. This way, you can save money (and help the environment) without having to stop using your appliances.
Battery-integrated appliances aren’t exactly mainstream yet, though. So in many cases, like with air conditioning, participating in demand response programs is still manual. There just aren’t battery-integrated heat pumps that can cool a house.
Luckily, we’ve fixed that for the kitchen. And we’re just getting started.
At Impulse, we built a battery-integrated induction stove that can be plugged into just about any American kitchen without any upgrades. This battery can charge during off-peak times and then, when your utility sends you a notification that it’s time to stop usage, you can simply run the stove on the already-charged battery. Not every appliance is battery-integrated (yet), but it’s a powerful way to reduce your strain on the grid, save money, and still use your appliances when you want to.
Here at Impulse, we think this is a pretty big deal. While demand response programs are a really important component of grid stability, they can often feel like an inconvenience or sacrifice. With a home filled with battery-integrated appliances, you’ll be able to automatically contribute to grid stability without having to change any of your behavior. A win-win for you and the grid.
To learn more about the Impulse stove (there are more benefits than just a battery!), head here.