OAKLAND, Calif., April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — OhmConnect, the leading residential customer-response energy program, today announced a $3 million grant from the California Energy Commission (CEC) to bring immediate relief to California’s grid, while supporting low-income families.
The grant extends a successful CEC-funded effort by OhmConnect focused on Empowering Prosumers to Access Wholesale Energy Products in a mission to support reimagining the way people collectively use energy.
“This grant signifies government investment in a demand-response model, which our energy infrastructure desperately needs,” said Cisco DeVries, CEO, OhmConnect. “But more importantly, it’s an investment that empowers families, especially those who have the most to benefit, to reduce their energy, have an immediate impact on their communities, and receive compensation for their efforts.”
An estimated 40% of OhmConnect customers are low-to-moderate income families, and this grant will extend the company’s role in California to help people save energy and earn money, especially in times of need.
OhmConnect’s community of energy savers played a critical role in last year’s unprecedented August 2020 heat wave and helped keep the lights on by reducing 1GWh of energy, equivalent to taking 600K homes off of the grid for an hour. They earned $1.3 million from OhmConnect for their efforts and also helped to prevent six additional days of blackouts during the heatwave.
“The Energy Commission is proud to support OhmConnect in its work to provide California customers the tools they need to conserve power when it matters most,” said David Hochschild, Chair, California Energy Commission. “Today’s $3M grant represents another important milestone in California’s efforts to build a clean and reliable grid for the future.”
OhmConnect pays residential customers to conserve power during times of peak demand, sells the collective energy savings back to the grid, and then passes their earnings onto their users in the form of cash and prizes. OhmConnect users are rewarded for smart energy use while saving on their utility bills and reducing their carbon footprint.
The $3 million funding project aims to:
- Bring immediate relief to California grid reliability shortages by providing at least 25MW of flexible demand capacity in California in 2021.
- Create a sustainable growth pathway to increase capacity in subsequent program years.
- Enroll users in disadvantaged communities in flexible demand.
- Increase the number of connections with grid-responsive smart devices.
- Maintain reliable reductions of electricity during grid events.
California residents can sign up for OhmConnect for free here.
About OhmConnect
OhmConnect was founded in 2014 with the vision of becoming the world’s largest supplier of clean energy. It has a mission to improve the lives of people and the health of the planet by reimagining the way energy is (collectively) used. Today, OhmConnect enables hundreds of thousands of customers to reimagine how they use energy, to choose clean energy over dirty energy when required, and to be rewarded for timely, smarter, home energy use. OhmConnect makes it possible for customers to use clean energy without buying expensive solar-powered systems or changing energy providers. The company pays its users for saving energy when the grid is at risk of using dirty power. Customers of the three major California energy suppliers – Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E), Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas & Electric – can sign up with OhmConnect for free at ohmconnect.com. Follow OhmConnect on Twitter @OhmConnect, see the OhmConnect blog or check it out on Facebook and LinkedIn.
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