Free thermostats

thanks vinca for the link. Which states:

“Con Edison will cycle the air-conditioner compressor on and off for short periods of time, when necessary, to reduce the demand for energy. Customers may override Con Edison’s adjustment at any time.”

Basically, you’ve allowed ConEd to shut down your AC during peak periods. Which of course would be the times you’d really want your AC.

Commercial accounts such as large office buildings have a similar deal, except it’s called ‘load-shedding’, and the customer derives real bennies, like cheaper electric. Not just a free frickin’ big brother thermostat. Tell them to get bent.

@denton – a “great” programmable thermostat can easily go for 300$. we did a similar demand response pilot program in Connecticut and we provided the customers with the HAI Omnistat2, which ran well over 300$.

id just read the fine print about the program because usually with these demand response programs if the company calls an “event” because they anticipate large demands of electricity and you do not cut your usage they can charge you like 1.50$ per kilowatt hour.

The catch, as I understand it, is that Con Ed programs the “smartness” of the unit, though supposedly allows customers to override their settings: http://bit.ly/60bA2M