Dive Brief:
- A new mobile app from People Power has helped customers in a small pilot program on Oahu cut their energy use by up to 10%, according to Energy Efficient Markets.
- The "Presence" app uses behavioral demand response to help customers reduce their energy usage, and allows them to control some smart appliances remotely.
- The company is comparing its results to Opower's much larger behavioral demand response (BDR) program, which has returned average savings of 3% across 50 million customers.
Dive Insight:
Just how much savings can you eek out of behavioral demand response programs?
Around 700 people have now participated in a new pilot from People Power, which offers a free mobile app to help utility customers reduce their usage. Requiring only the mobile device and a wireless connection, the company said it has reduced usage up to 10%.
The app allows users to control some appliances from the phone using wifi controllable energy plugs, and and asks them to take quizzes about their energy consumption.
Energy Efficient Markets reports the company is comparing its results to demand response giant Opower. While it may be too soon for those comparisons — Opower has seen peak reductions as high as 5% across tens of millions of customers — the growing interest in behavioral demand response shows utilities are interested in helping reduce demand without needing to install new devices in the home or push through complex rate proposals.
Opower, for its part, says it has helped utilities save more than 6 TWh so far, returning $700 million to customers.
