Demand Response Frequently Asked Questions

Under certain conditions, such as a very hot summer day when everyone is blasting their air conditioner, the electric grid becomes strained by excessive demand. This can strain the power infrastructure causing dirtier fuel sources to come online, and in extreme cases, the grid can run short on power supply, leading to brownouts or blackouts. During these times and when demand approaches capacity, your Utility may ask you to turn your usage down to help keep costs low and the grid stable — this is called Demand Response.

In the worst case, a grid emergency can lead to a blackout that leaves you and your family with no power (no lights, no air conditioning, no heat, etc.). Not to mention the economic toll a blackout can have on local businesses. If we all chip in, we can prevent this from happening. The alternative is to build more power plants and grid infrastructure, but we’d all have to pay for that in the form of higher electric bills and the impact to the environment!

Connected Savings manages the thermostat settings of users before, during and after grid emergencies in order to reduce energy use during periods of peak demand. Connected Savings precools or preheats properties in advance of the warmest or coldest part of the day, and rotates cooling/heating across all houses in the program, to stabilize energy consumption and costs, but still keep properties within a few degrees of a customer’s comfort settings.

That depends on the weather, the location and other factors, and will be detailed in the terms and conditions of the agreement with us. We limit the number of times you will be asked to help (i.e., the number of times we’ll allow your property to get warmer or cooler than the comfort settings). Again, even during grid emergencies, Connected Savings keeps properties within a few degrees of a customer’s comfortable setting.

Yes! We recognize that (unlike ours) lives do not revolve around the stability of the electric grid, so users can opt-out of a particular grid emergency event at any time. Opting out of an event can be done at the thermostat or its web portal or mobile app. Simply change the temperature during an event to cancel it. The number of times you can opt-out per season is in our specific Terms and Conditions agreement.

To opt-out of the Connected Savings program entirely, send an opt-out email request to energysupport@resideo.com