Residential Demand Response

Do you wish you had more awareness and control over your residential energy demand?

Whether you’re a utility, retail energy provider (REP), energy infrastructure company or a consumer, our Interactive Energy Management Solutions give you control and visibility to manage your energy use and electric loads.

Our Residential Demand Response Solution includes:

Direct Load Control (centralized) for Residential
- For the Consumer
- For Utility and Energy Infrastructure Companies
TOU or Dynamic Pricing (decentralized) for Residential
- For the Consumer
- For Utilities, REPs, and Energy Infrastructure Companies

Direct Load Control (centralized) for Residential

Some utility programs depend on the centralized control of loads to help ensure reliability. In those cases, the centralized character of Direct Load Control (DLC) can be the right solution.

DLC provides utilities with the ability to reduce peak demand independent of consumer involvement. However, with Energate’s DLC 2.0 solution, utilities can retain their current DLC programs and later add two-way verifiability to enable localized management for the utility and direct consumer interaction in the future, either through AMI, broadband, or available 2-way networks.

For the Consumer

Direct Load Control programs allow consumers to participate in Demand Response programs with minimal utility/consumer coordination. Often these programs use devices that can be installed without having to enter the home, allowing the utility to schedule the installation independent of the consumer’s schedule. Once the program is active, the equipment is typically only controlled less than 10 times a year. Normally, the consumer will not even be aware when an event is underway.

Energate’s Interactive Energy Management Solution provides consumers with a suite of options that will give them control of the energy use of their homes. Through Energate’s Load Control Switches or the best in class Foundation™ Smart Thermostat and Home Energy Gateway, consumers will get visibility showing them where energy is being used so they can focus on those areas that will make a difference.

Consumers will have:

Full control of their thermostat via the Internet
A mobile application that provides remote control
Control over their level of participation to the extent allowed by their utility program

For Utilities, REPs and Energy Infrastructure Companies

DLC puts the utility in direct charge of the devices that control the loads. Usually DLC solutions can use devices that can be installed without entering the premises, greatly reducing the cost of installation due to issues like missed appointments.

Utilities can configure Energate’s solution to allow consumers to opt-out of an event if they choose, or to not allow opt-out during an event. Where two-way communications are available, Energate’s Interactive Energy Management Solution provides complete event reporting, including event acknowledgement, whether or not a consumer opts-out (if allowed), and how long the consumer participated in the event.

Interactive energy management means that utilities will be able to “see” their loads to determine what resources are available at any point in time. Energate’s CORE middleware coupled with its Load Management System (LMS) or a third-party LMS provides:

Complete visibility of device status, both summarized and to the device level
Creation, execution, and management of events in real time
Complete reporting of Demand Response event performance, including acknowledgement of receipt of the event, if the customer opts-out, and other details about the communication and the device

Energate’s CORE Device Management middleware provides utilities with the ability to continue to use their existing DLC programs, deploying future-enabled devices that can be used with their future AMI ZigBee-enabled meters, or with the consumer’s Internet connection, to provide real-time measurement and verification of events.

TOU or Dynamic Pricing (decentralized) for Residential

Time-of-Use (TOU) rates and Dynamic Pricing places control of demand management in the hands of consumers. Instead of controlling devices directly, utilities provide price signals to consumers that vary based on the expected load on the system.

TOU rates use different prices during different hours during the day, and do not vary on a day-to-day basis but keep the same prices on a seasonal basis. TOU rates encourage customers to use less energy during certain hours, which helps utilities on peak-load days but impacts consumption every day, not just peak days.

Dynamic Pricing includes different pricing methods that increase the price dramatically on days that peak loads need to be reduced. The ultimate dynamic pricing program is real-time pricing where the customer pays the current market price for electricity each hour—similar to the way consumers buy gas for their cars.

Typical Dynamic Pricing Programs include Peak Time Rebates (PTR) and Critical Peak Pricing (CPP) where the customer is given a credit or saves money respectively for reducing their load.

Energate’s Interactive Energy Management Solutions support any combination of pricing models and DLC programs.

For the Consumer

TOU or Dynamic Pricing programs are great incentives for consumers because they have the most control over their energy costs.

Reducing loads during high-cost periods will always result in a reduced bill, putting the benefit the system derives back into the hands of the participants. Also, with these type of programs, utilities can provide much more subtle cues with small price changes allowing them to “dial in” the exact load reduction they need. From the consumer perspective, they have a choice on when and how to participate. All load reduction is rewarded, not just particular loads as in DLC.

With Energate’s Consumer Connected Demand Response™ (CCDR) platform, consumers have complete access to energy information on a real-time basis (with the Internet enabled options) on which they can make energy purchasing decisions. Energate’s MyEnergate Mobile Application provides a consumer with interactive energy management by allowing remote control of devices like smart thermostats.

And to really make energy management easy, Energate’s thermostats provide consumers with a simple “dial” that allows them to select maximum comfort, maximum savings, or three other comfort settings, making it simply set-and-forget. And if they are having a party, they can simply walk up to any of Energate’s thermostats, touch the up or down arrows to hold the temperature to any temperature they want and ignore the price signals. Or if they are away from home, they can do it over the Internet using the MyEnergate Consumer Portal or Mobile Application.

Energate’s Pioneer is fully price responsive and Internet accessible when Energate’s ZIP Connect™ is added.
Foundation Smart Thermostat builds on Pioneer, adding feedback in dollars and cents and the easy addition of Internet control with Energate’s USNAP Wi-Fi module.
The MyEnergate Portal and Mobile Application allow consumers to view and control their home from anywhere in the world.

With Energate’s CCDR platform and Interactive Energy Management Solution consumers will have secure and safe control of their home’s energy, and will have access to their energy consumption information

For Utilities, REPs and Energy Infrastructure Companies

TOU and Dynamic Pricing enable utilities to cost-effectively mitigate their financial risk of serving loads during peak times.

TOU rates depend on year-round normal load characteristics and may not recover all the expenses actually incurred serving the loads, although it is much more likely to than a flat rate structure.

Variable Peak Pricing (VPP) further improves the economic benefit, and Critical Peak Pricing (CPP) can be layered in for additional pricing flexibility. For the right type of consumer, Real Time Pricing (RTP) is an excellent option.

Dynamic Pricing is very flexible and can be designed to dramatically reduce the cost-risk of serving peak loads by more closely reflecting peak-price periods to high-cost periods.

In many cases, utilities can reduce their risks, let customers reduce their bills, and not adversely impact the utility’s net revenues with dynamic pricing. Reduced bills and providing consumers with more control over how they purchase electricity leads to higher customer satisfaction. No longer do consumers have to opt-out of events, they simply make an informed purchasing decision and choose to pay the higher price or not.

With Energate’s Interactive Energy Management Solution:

Utilities can send pricing directly to devices
CORE coupled with LMS monitors the participation of each and every device
Energate’s Consumer Portal provides consumers with the tools they need to understand their energy purchases
In cases of extreme system emergencies, CORE can execute mandatory DLC events within seconds to prevent cascading outages