The nation’s power grid is a massive beast — by some definitions, it’s the biggest thing ever built by humans. But these days, its most interesting changes are happening as close as your garage.
“It’s why I joined Eversource a year-and-a-half ago, because I was so interested in what was happening at the edge of the grid,” said Jennifer Runyon, an energy efficiency consultant for demand management at Eversource.
“Edge of the grid” is powergeek-speak for new technologies that the customer sees or uses, like thermostats or home batteries. Or even cars, although not here.
In Eversource’s three-state region — Connecticut, Massachusetts and New Hampshire — the company pays more than 100,000 customers with central air conditioning $20 for the ability to raise their smart thermostats’ temperature up to 4 degrees when it’s wicked hot.
In New Hampshire, 31 customers receive up to $3,000 to help buy a home battery, and in return, the utility draws off some of its power every now and then. There are six more customers already in the pipeline to join that project. And in two pilots in Eversource’s southern tier, owners of electric vehicles might see their car battery half-emptied as needed.
Eversource isn’t alone. Unitil, Liberty and utilities in neighboring states are doing or testing similar projects. The idea is to meet peak electricity times, such as hot summer afternoons, not by getting more power from a few big plants — which is expensive, slow and dirty — but by getting a little bit of power from thousands of sources usually controlled by customers or getting those customers to use a little bit less power.
This approach, which goes by the clunky acronym DERM, which stands for Distributed Energy Resource Management, is the future of the power grid.
Here’s how the thermostats work: Homes with “smart” thermostats sign up to give Eversource control. When it’s going to be hot as all get-out and the power plants will strain to keep up with demand, Runyon explained, Eversource can precool these homes for a set amount of time. Then, it can raise the thermostat setting up to 4 degrees Fahrenheit for a two- or three-hour period when demand is at its highest. That reduces the home’s power draw a bit during peak demand, a process known as “shaving the peak.”
It is insignificant for one home, but when multiplied by 100,000, it makes a difference. Shaving the peak is valuable because that’s when the most expensive, dirtiest power plants turn on. If we can keep them off, we’ll save money and cut pollution.
Batteries in cars or home basements shave the peak in the opposite direction, by adding power rather than reducing demand. Eversource can draw electricity from them when needed, within limits set by the customer, and pays them for it.
I talked to Chris Spychalski of North Andover, Mass., who installed home batteries in 2023 and enrolled in the program last year. For the full 2024 season, he said, National Grid drew 440 kilowatt-hours and paid him $2,610.25.
That’s basically free money, since he bought batteries to take full advantage of his solar panels and to provide backup power during blackouts, but he thinks the utility could be more generous when rewarding customers for helping them avoid the expense of peak power.
“They’re probably saving $1,000 a kilowatt-hour, and I’m getting paid $6,” he said.
Still, he’s a fan of the project. “I’m an enthusiast, so I look at it as a game, and I think it’s pretty fun.”
Even if you and I never participate in programs like this, we should support them. They are much cheaper than building new power lines or power plants, the cost of which is paid by every single electricity customer. Avoiding construction avoids some future increases to our bill.
New Hampshire lawmakers and regulators are reluctant to give up on the 19th-century approach to power grids, so utilities here generally offer fewer options than in our neighboring states, which is why Massachusetts has 110 times as many customers enrolled in grid-shaving projects under its Connected Solutions program as New Hampshire does under the Clean Energy Fund.
It’s still worth checking with your electricity provider to see what’s available. If you can’t find what you’re looking for, badger your state representative and tell them to badger the Public Utilities Commission.
If we’re going to live on the edge of the grid, we might as well take advantage of it.
Return to the Concord Monitor