Faced with growing challenges in managing demand during the winter due to extreme weather events, electrification and other factors, energy providers are increasingly turning to winter demand response programs to maintain grid stability and ensure customer comfort.

To uncover consumers’ interests, concerns and preferences around demand response during cold weather months, the Smart Energy Consumer Collaborative (SECC) conducted the “Warming Up to Winter Demand Response” survey, which was fielded to a nationally representative sample of 2,083 consumers aged 18 or older in mid-January.

In this month’s blog, we share three takeaways from our latest survey that reveal consumers’ openness to winter demand response programs:

1. Consumers say they are likely to participate in winter demand response.

According to new survey, 79 percent of Americans say they would likely participate in a program where they voluntarily adjust their heating system for a small financial incentive during the winter. Consumers are somewhat less interested in a direct load control (DLC) program where the energy provider adjusts the heating system, but a majority (59 percent) still stay they are likely to participate. An earlier Snapshot Survey – “Cooling High Summer Electric Bills” – found slightly less interest among consumers in cooling demand response programs. In that 2023 survey, 60 percent of consumers said they would participate in a behavioral demand response program, whereas just 31 percent were likely to participate in a DLC program.

2. Smart thermostat ownership correlates with higher interest.

While consumer interest in participating in demand response is generally high, Americans who have smart thermostats installed at home are even more likely to participate. With a behavioral demand response program, smart thermostat owners more frequently said they are “very likely” to participate (36 percent vs. 32 percent). However, when asked about a direct load control (DLC) program where the energy provider has some control over the temperature, smart thermostat owners were noticeably more likely to participate compared with all consumers with a heating system in their home (69 percent vs. 59 percent).

3. Consumers prefer information and notification to come from energy providers.

Finally, consumers were asked about their preferences for learning about demand response programs and for receiving notifications if they were enrolled in a program, and respondents overwhelmingly preferred energy providers as the sources compared with thermostat manufacturers or other third-party companies. Sixty-one percent of consumers want to receive program information from energy providers compared with 16 percent for thermostat manufacturers and seven percent for third parties (an additional 15 percent said that they don’t want this information). And when it comes to program notifications, consumers are even more inclined to prefer their energy providers as sources – 72 percent want this, while 20 percent prefer thermostat manufacturers as the source.

As energy providers increasingly offer programs aimed at shifting or reducing demand during winter, they will likely find many consumers willing participants, particularly if they address common concerns around home comfort and monetary savings. To learn more about what consumers think about winter demand response, view the new Snapshot Survey here.