This is an excerpt from Parks Associates Demand Response for All: Scaling Capacity & Flexibility. This white paper, written in partnership with Carrier explores the challenges utilities face, the gaps in traditional program adoption, and the potential of behind-the-meter solutions, storage, and non-thermostat DR to bring value to utilities while serving a wider customer base.

Addressing Utility Challenges

Utilities must create value from behind-the-meter capacity, beyond just prosumer Distributed Energy Resources (DERs). Programs must balance cost recovery, equity, and measurable flexibility. To encourage greater participation, program design must evolve to meet customers where they are: at key decision moments, across diverse housing types, and through channels they already trust.

Three Ways to Innovate Programs

• Offer programs at time of purchase through partnering with HVAC channel and OEMs. This expands the window of opportunity, allowing customers to enroll in flexible load programs right when they are making major equipment decisions.
• Make it easier to switch contracts to align with new major system purchases. For instance, General Motors collaborates with NRG and Honda with SCE to ensure new and appropriate rate plans can be selected by EV buyers at the time of purchase. These partnerships show how rate selection can be streamlined at point-of-sale and tied directly to major electrification purchases.
• Bundle energy services to reduce churn. Examples include HVAC maintenance and DR enrollment. These bundled models allow utilities to strengthen customer relationships while providing ongoing value and reducing friction for participation in demand-flexibility programs.

 Scaling Across Demographics

• Design differentiated paths for single-family, multifamily, renters, and homeowners. Each segment faces distinct barriers and motivations, requiring tailored engagement, incentives, and enrollment flows.
• Demonstrate social value by extending flexible-load benefits to public housing and underserved households. By integrating flexible load programs into affordable housing upgrades or community-based initiatives, utilities can support resilience, reduce energy burden, and expand access to program benefits.

As utilities continue to face rising and increasingly diverse energy demands and shifting customer expectations, expanding beyond traditional thermostat-based DR is no longer optional. HVAC systems, with their widespread presence and significant share of household energy use, offer a scalable pathway to unlock flexible capacity across diverse households, particularly with an attached battery solution. 

By integrating behind-the-meter storage, non-thermostat controls, and innovative program design, utilities can reach more customers while strengthening grid resilience. Meeting the challenges of the next decades will require embracing these broader strategies to deliver measurable value for both the grid and the communities it serves.

This is an exceprt from Parks Associates Demand Response for All: Scaling Capacity & Flexibility. This white paper explores the challenges utilities face, the gaps in traditional program adoption, and the potential of behind-the-meter solutions, storage, and non-thermostat DR to bring value to utilities while serving a wider customer base.