Demand Response is best described as balancing a customers electricity need with the company’s electricity output.  Both sides want to reduce costs as much as possible so they must meet somewhere in the middle with happiness.  It also decreases the demand load which allows us to decrease the use of electricity during the day, and even at peak times which saves us, as consumers, a lot of money.

National Grid has some demand response programs that “help reduce energy costs, and help system integrity for a few critical hours during the year.”  Some of the conditions that they say lower energy use are when there is a “tight power supply, local distribution equipment is approaching capacity limits, and when wholesale power supply prices are expected to exceed $100 per mWh.”  These are the three main times that National Grid feels are necessary to lower energy use by s substantial amount.

Another company that has a demand response program is EnerNOC.  Their main goal is to “reduce peak demand for utilities and grid operators.”  This helps their demand response program be a lot faster, cleaner, and cost efficient than peaking power plants.  EnerNOC is not only for individuals, it is even more efficient for businesses and institutions.  Since they are both a lot bigger than a single persons home, they save a lot of money by using demand response to prevent blackouts and other harmful events.

In my opinion, demand response is a great idea.  It saves the consumer a lot of money on their electric bill which is usually the most expensive, it saves businesses a lot of stress and money by helping out their communities, and it is a great thing to have.  Demand response is a very interesting subject because there are so many factors that go into it.  Not just for the consumer but also for the companies that are providing it.  If both parties are able to come out with a happy medium, then the mission is complete.

References:

http://www.enernoc.com/solutions/demand-response.php

http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/green-science/demand-response.htm

http://www.nationalgridus.com/masselectric/business/programs/3_demand_response.asp