Prepared by the Center of Commercialization of Electric Technologies

The Demand Response (DR) Pilot Program of the Center for the Commercialization of Electric Technologies (CCET) was a collaboration between three Retail Electric Providers (REPs Direct Energy, Reliant Energy, and TXU Energy), three Transmission and Distribution Service Providers (TDSPs American Electric Power, CenterPoint Energy - Houston Electric, and Oncor Electric Delivery), and demand response-enabling technology providers (Comverge and Corporate Systems Engineering) that began in early 2007.

It was undertaken in order to explore the opportunities and challenges associated with implementing residential demand response programs in the restructured ERCOT market. The ERCOT market structure, as well as the use and integration of the latest technologies for advanced metering, intelligent grid operation, and in-home controls, make this pilot program unique.

Residents of the Dallas and Houston service areas living within the broadband over power line (BPL) footprints of Oncor Electric Delivery and CenterPoint Energy were recruited for participation in the pilot by the REPs from among their existing customers; in all, 213 households in the Dallas area and 133 households in the Houston area participated in the Pilot. In addition to bill rebates or similar incentives offered by the REPs, customers were given free programmable, communicating thermostats in exchange for their participation in the program, which involved allowing their air conditioners and, where applicable, pool pumps and electric water heaters to be controlled.

While a number of challenges limited the ability of participant households to provide expected levels of demand reduction during called curtailment events, overall the Pilot accomplished its objectives of demonstrating the technical and operational feasibility of residential demand response in Texas’s deregulated market.

Read the full report, here.