Dive Brief:

• Demand response programs saved about 1,300 GWh of energy in 2014, according to estimates from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), and actual peak demand savings was around 12,000 MW.
• About 9.3 million customers overall participated in demand response programs, with more than 90% of them in the residential sector. The average customer there saved about 100 Kwh and received an incentive of about $40.
• The Supreme Court's recent decision to uphold FERC Order 745 is expected to stimulate faster growth in demand response markets, according to the EIA. 

Dive Insight:

The commercial and industrial sectors are a much smaller share of customers, of course, but the EIA said industrial customers delivered more than 50% of actual peak demand savings from demand response in 2014.

And that's with industrial consumers making up less than 1% of overall demand response participants, but commercial and industrial incentives are much higher, with an average customer benefit of $600 and $9,000, respectively.

California is the "most active state in demand-response markets," EIA said, with 20% of DR customers but just 12% of the nation's population.

EIA also dug into the recent Supreme Court ruling on FERC Order 745, upholding the commission's jurisdiction over demand response pricing. The decision "is expected to result in faster growth in demand response in the wholesale electricity markets that cover about 60% of U.S. power supply," EIA said.

"The ruling may increase the market for demand response in the near term, especially as more advanced electric meters and appliances and equipment that can be cycled by grid operators continue to be adopted," the agency wrote.