April 17
Are Americans Open to Demand Response Programs?
This week's top smart energy news, curated by the Smart Energy Consumer Collaborative (SECC).
Member News
The rapid expansion of AI data centers has pulled conversations about electricity generation and consumption into the mainstream spotlight. In communities across the United States, consumers are now asking questions about when electricity is used, how much is used and the resulting impact on both grid reliability and affordability.
Missouri River Energy Services recently provided details on a Residential Customer Satisfaction Study conducted during the fall of 2025. MRES partnered with GreatBlue Research to conduct the study, and nine MRES member utilities participated. Customers were invited to complete the survey either through email or paper, making it easy for communities of all sizes to participate.
PSE&G filed comments with the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities in response to the staff’s proposed framework to extend Energy Efficiency (EE) and Peak Demand Reduction programs. PSE&G supports the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities Staff’s proposal to extend the current EE and Peak Demand Reduction programs through June 2028.
Demand-side management programs have enormous potential to help utilities meet surging energy demand – but their success depends on customers showing up. Program awareness and enrollment remain a persistent challenge for utilities: only about half of customers with smart thermostats are aware of available demand response programs, and only 20% of these participate.
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Industry News
It’s not an easy moment for renewable energy in the U.S., but the sector is still setting new records. Just look at what happened last month: Over the course of March, the nation got more electricity from renewables than it did from natural gas, which is typically the single-largest source of energy on the U.S. grid. It’s the first time renewables have bested the fossil fuel across an entire month.
I spent more than a decade on BGE’s communications team. The last few years were consumed with explaining the company’s ever-increasing bills to customers and regional leaders. After studying how the industry handles this national issue, it’s clear that most utilities are still getting it wrong. BGE’s customers are experiencing some of the sharpest bill increases in the country because of needed infrastructure upgrades in the PJM region.
Residential battery startup Base Power quietly expanded into PJM this month via a retail electricity license in the Commonwealth Edison territory of Illinois. The company, founded in 2023, takes a fully vertically integrated approach to residential energy storage and grid services, manufacturing, installing, owning and operating residential batteries.
Enormous new batteries keep appearing on the grid, making it devilishly tricky to keep track of which is the biggest in a given region. That’s certainly the case in New England, where acute power needs and robust state climate goals are fueling a buildout of big batteries that keep breaking capacity records.
