March 3
What Do Consumers Know About Their Electric Rate Options?
Top consumer smart energy news hand-selected and brought to you by the Smart Energy Consumer Collaborative.
Member News
Changes in the electric power industry – including decarbonization targets, the need for enhanced resilience and consumer adoption of new technologies, to name a few – have led utilities to explore new rate plans for residential consumers. This includes developing electric vehicle (EV) rates, expanding time-of-use (TOU) rates, offering prepay options and more.
Driving home today, I clocked at least three Teslas on the road, all at a casual glance. I’m not what you would say is a car enthusiast, but Tesla grill plates are easy to spot, and increasingly common on the roads. EVs have continued to gain traction in the public eye, including prominent placements in various media that serve to normalize EV adoption.
Duke Energy Florida announced two new solar projects will begin construction later in March in Bay and Madison counties. The new projects are part of the company’s community solar program, Clean Energy Connection, and advance the company’s commitment to cleaner energy solutions to benefit Florida customers.
Salt River Project has issued an all-source request for proposals in which it seeks additional power resources that can provide at least 200 MW during the summer peak to be online as early as May 1, 2026, and at least an additional 300 MW by May 1, 2027. SRP will evaluate and compare proposals that meet the minimum requirements identified in the RFP, including SRP self-developed resource options.
Get Your Weekly Edition
Industry News
It was an engineering problem that had bugged Zhibin Yu for years — but now he had the perfect chance to fix it. Stuck at home during the first U.K. lockdown of the COVID-19 pandemic, the thermal engineer suddenly had all the time he needed to refine the efficiency of heat pumps: electrical devices that, as their name implies, move heat from the outdoors into people’s homes.
In California, during times of grid strain, customers are asked to voluntarily reduce demand so keep the grid stable. While this practice has seen success, most stakeholders agree that customers won’t always be so helpful. A program in New York, managed by AI and technology company Logical Buildings, rewards enrolled customers with cash payments for doing the same thing.
The New Jersey BPU introduced a new online tool that allows residents to search for community solar projects by zip code. The New Jersey Community Solar Project Finder will be housed on NJBPU’s website. New Jersey’s Community Solar Program allows those who rent, live in a multi-family building, cannot afford the cost of a solar installation or cannot accommodate solar panels on their roof to obtain solar power.
BlocPower CEO Donnel Baird wants to convert buildings in low- and moderate-income neighborhoods across the country from burning fossil fuels to using lower-carbon electricity for heating. He also wants to make that conversion process a money-saving and money-making enterprise for tenants, building owners and project financiers alike.
