ConsumerPowerline And DemandDirect Enter Strategic Partnership

Connecticut's Department of Public Utility Control (DPUC) is calling for immediate measures to reduce the longterm risk of costly blackouts or brownouts in the state, and to reduce the short-term risk of federally mandated rate hikes -- and two leading energy management firms, ConsumerPowerline and DemandDirect, have answered the call through joint implementation of their "Connecticut Power Reliability Campaign."

According to the DPUC, blackout-threatening power emergencies can occur when events ranging from a failed generator, to heat waves, to storms, sometimes, as we've seen, even of hurricane proportion, place excessive demand and stress on the electricity grid. While these events happen only about one percent of the time, they result in higher electricity costs, in the form of federally mandated "congestion charges" that are eventually passed on to Connecticut electricity consumers.

To help the state maintain a reliable, cost efficient electricity supply despite growing demand and to "keep the lights on" for consumers during emergencies, ConsumerPowerline, a leading energy asset management firm, and DemandDirect, a leading provider of demand response services in Connecticut, announced a partnership to offer expanded "demand response" opportunities for commercial and industrial energy users to help avoid blackouts-- by "giving back" a small portion of their electric power to the grid during a power-grid crisis.

In exchange for this contribution to the state's needs, energy users will be paid for their participation. Users will also benefit by receiving real-time data on electricity use and pricing, thereby enabling them to "buy and sell smart" in the volatile energy sector.

"This demand response initiative—where energy users shed non-essential electricity in an emergency--answers the state's call for programs to meet Connecticut's electricity supply challenges head-on," said ConsumerPowerline President, Mike Gordon.

"Utilities gain a low cost ‘electricity supply valve' for safeguarding the system prior to resorting to more expensive ‘peaking' power plants that can lead to rate hikes. End users, who shed power to achieve needed reliability, earn a premium, yet ratepayers pay far less for this reliability than a comparable power plant would cost them. It's shows brilliant win-win foresight on the part of state legislators and the Connecticut DPUC, and on the part of consumer advocates, to put these emergency markets in place."

Underscoring the need to quickly address the electricity supply issues, the DPUC report indicates that "actions to mitigate the state's peak demand are a near-term priority. In 2006, [federally mandated rate] exposures will be most acute in Southwest Connecticut."

"Our whole focus is to get resources into the market as quickly as possible and that is what the DPUC is seeking," Gordon concluded.

"As demands on Connecticut's electricity system continue to increase, these emergency markets go a long way toward providing the state and all consumers here with an ‘insurance policy' against unforeseen events---by generating the incentives and the structure for keeping the lights on during an emergency, and the rates under control," said DemandDirect Executive Vice-President Jeff Lines. "We look forward to working with ConsumerPowerline, in concert with the state to help users be part of the ‘energy solution' while participating in the benefits of demand response."

"ConsumerPowerline has a nationwide track record. The firm has paid end-users more than 18 million dollars just for their commitments over the past few years, to shed a small percentage of their load in order to enhance the reliability of their local electricity grid. We consider that to be an unsurpassed record of fiduciary integrity and competence in this field. That's a firm we are happy to bring into our client base." Lines concluded.

Energy users who wish to sign up for the program can contact ConsumerPowerline at 1-866-WEBENERGYor Demand Direct at 1-877-4DEMDIR.

To help support the new initiative, ConsumerPowerline will open two CT offices- -in Stamford and Oxford. Demand Direct will add a Stamford office to its current Oxford headquarters.

This partnership comes on the heels of a just released report by the Federal Regulatory Commission (FERC) which recommends that demand response become an integral component of the nation's energy policy, and that states work cooperatively in finding demand response solutions to provide relief from an overloaded electricity transmission system.

SOURCE: ConsumerPowerline