At a glance

Meet demand response: The little-known program that allows businesses to earn money from reducing electricity usage at certain times.

• It's a great way to boost profits by both lowering energy costs and earning additional revenue – often in the form of a check from your power company.
• Demand response can be automated, so you can see the benefits with the help of smart software that does the work for you.

Read on to learn more about demand response, and how you can make it work for you.

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Boost profits on autopilot with this unlikely electricity solution

You already know managing your electricity usage can reduce your monthly energy bill, but did you know you can also get paid for it? 

Some utilities and energy providers offer demand response programs, which allow businesses and consumers to earn money for reducing energy usage during periods of peak demand. When there is a squeeze on demand, you can get rewarded for cutting back. 

Why would my power company pay me?

The answer is simple: There are periods when energy demand can cause heavy stress on the grid. On a hot summer day when air conditioners are running full blast, the grid can become overloaded and have a hard time keeping up with demand. In these cases, supplying enough power to meet demand can become extremely expensive, or even cause disruptions like brownouts and blackouts.

To help prevent this, companies offer incentives for customers willing to reduce their consumption to ease the burden on the grid. So with just a little bit of preparation, you can adjust your power usage, and get paid for it. 

Demand response offers multiple business benefits

Demand response is a great opportunity to earn additional revenue, but that’s not the only reason you might consider participating in these programs:

• A new stream of revenue: One of the most tangible benefits of demand response is the financial incentives, which come as direct payments or credits on your energy bill. 

• Cut down on energy costs: In addition to direct payments, demand response participation can lead to cost savings. By participating you reduce your usage during peak hours, and can help shave costs off your bill. 

• Support grid reliability: Your participation in these programs helps maintain the stability of the grid, reduces the likelihood of blackouts in your area, and helps prevent the need for additional power plants, particularly those that rely on fossil fuels. 

• Reduce your carbon footprint: When the grid is stressed, the most typical solution is to fire up a gas power plant to meet demand – meaning that at those peak times, power is at its dirtiest and most expensive. By participating in demand response, your business will use less energy from fossil fuel sources, and improve its sustainability impact. 

Businesses implementing demand response can see significant impacts from their efforts. One David Energy client, a tri-state area gym chain, earned over $42,000 in direct demand response payments in just 6 months by implementing our customized DR program. 

“One David Energy client earned over $42,000 in direct demand response payments in just 6 months” 

How demand response programs work

Demand response sounds pretty good, right? Incremental revenue, lower energy bills, and knowing you’re doing a bit of good for the planet and your neighbors. You might be wondering, how does it actually work – and if setting it up will be a disruption to your business. Let’s break it down: 

Demand response programs primarily come in two categories: Incentive-based and time-based:

• Incentive-based programs: These programs offer financial benefits to businesses for reducing their energy usage during peak demand times, usually in the form of direct payments or bill credits. In incentive based programs, participants are notified when they should take action to reduce usage. 

• Time-based programs: These programs are typically offered in the form of a different rate structure for your electricity. They include things like time-of-use (TOU) rates, where electricity prices vary at different times of the day to encourage folks to use less power at peak times when the prices are more expensive. Businesses in these types of programs can save on energy costs by scheduling high-energy activities, like manufacturing processes and running cooling systems, during their designated off-peak periods. 

Setting up demand response can look different depending on which type of program you enroll in – deciding when and how to implement consumption shifting to reap the benefits. Many people worry about the hassle or disruption to their business that could come with shifting operations to reduce energy use. That’s why we recommend spending time choosing the right DR partner whose program fits your needs and can make things easy for your business.

DR benefits, the simple way 

At David Energy, we’ve designed our demand response program to make it as easy as possible for more businesses to participate and reap the benefits. Here’s how: 

• Benefits for businesses of all sizes. Often, demand response programs are reserved for large enterprises – but not ours. David Energy is opening these programs up to businesses of any size, allowing them to reap benefits usually available only to larger orgs.
• Put DR savings on autopilot. With our programs, you won’t have to do a whole lot to see the benefits of demand response: Just keep your thermostats connected, and our software will handle the rest to help you reduce your consumption at the right times.
• Integration and guidance you can trust. With an energy advisor from David at your fingertips, you’ll be in great hands when it comes to all things DR. Our team helps to get you set up, make sure things are running smoothly, and evaluate your success each quarter  

There you have it: Demand response can be a smart business win, letting you do good for the planet and grid alike and make money for doing it. Get in touch with our team today to see what it could look like for your business.

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