Smart appliances and online games saving electricity
February 13, 2012
GE Appliances and Georgia-based Flint Energies have started a pilot program to find the potential for smart appliances to save consumers money and reduce peak loads when coupled with peak time rebates.
For this pilot program, 10 volunteer Georgia households will receive the complete suite of GE's Brillion™-enabled appliances, a programmable thermostat, the Nucleus™ energy manager and GE's Whole-Home Sensor which gives customers access to real-time energy information without a smart meter.
These smart grid solutions include features to reduce energy consumption based on peak time rebate signals from the utility. Flint customers who cut consumption during peak load periods will get an 87-cent per kilowatt-hour rebate, but won't be penalized if they choose to override the load reduction settings.
Simple Energy's Customer Engagement Platform
Customers in Houston and Dallas metropolitan service areas of Oncor and Centerpoint Energy will be able to register for a new customer engagement platform. The platform known as the Simple Energy Customer Engagement Platform is an online game that gives customers the opportunity to compete with friends and win prizes for their energy efficiency efforts.
By joining the application, customers can share their energy savings on Facebook, set up teams and see their energy use with a mobile app. The Texas program follows a successful pilot energy efficiency program in California where the customer engagement platform more than doubled energy savings for participating customers over a three-month period.
