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Wait. They can control your AC?
Many utilities offer bill discounts if you install a thermostat they can control during peak events. Some even will install radio-contolled switches on water heaters. Electric utilities have a VERY strong incentive to try and shave peak load during high-demand events.
Source: I worked for an electric utility. We even took our buildings off the grid and ran on generator during peak-load events. It was cheaper to burn diesel then contribute to the load.
Probably all smart thermostats, but for sure at least the Google thermo will offer to enroll your thermo in a rewards kinda program. Will get money (100$/yr for me) for Google to lower your HVAC use during major loads. Also you get a warning before it happens.
A lot of power companies also offer pretty much the same thing, but they can control it. Usually you get a few over rides per year before some penalties.
It's a good idea and should probably be the norm, should probably just fix the grid instead of the bandaid too
I think we should have hourly electricity pricing announced at least a week ahead and smart thermostats should be able to access this pricing info via an API and adjust usage accordingly
Not until we make the utilities public. They are hoarding record profits and not investing in the grid.
Other replies pretty much covered it, but yeah, I have a Nest thermostat that I enrolled in Evergy's rush hour program that lets them adjust the thermostat during peak usage times. I can set it back lower if I want, but I then lose out on incentives (credit/discount on my bill). The only times I've gotten those rush hour notifications, though, have been on the hottest days where it's so warm in my apartment that, even when they raise the thermostat, my AC still runs anyway. I'm also on the third floor with a few westward facing windows, so I'm sure the program works better for others.
Don’t you want a free Nest thermostat?
California has a system for this too. They put an extra box on your compressor that allows the utility to shut it off longer but in return you get a discount on your summer bills (whether or not they actually use it).
The steepest discount is something like they can shut it off for up to 6 hours per "event" and you get $180. They have other ones though like up to 15 minutes every half hour for up to 6 hours total and you get $90.
For my Ecobee, I opted for such a program. I think I only get $25, but their adjustments are strictly limited. I think they are allowed to adjust 3° for up to two hours, at most 20 times, and I can override atwill