As dangerous heat pushes air conditioners into overdrive across southeast Wisconsin, We Energies says a new smart thermostat program is helping reduce strain on the power grid during periods of high electricity demand.
PREVIOUS COVERAGE | We Energies offers way to lower utility bills through new program to adjust smart thermostats
The voluntary Smart Thermostat Rewards program allows customers with eligible smart thermostats to receive bill credits in exchange for allowing temporary thermostat adjustments during peak demand periods.
Under the program, thermostats can be adjusted by up to 4 degrees for no more than four hours at a time from where the thermostat was set. Most events happen between 1 p.m. and 7 p.m. between June and September.
Watch: Customers weigh comfort against savings in We Energies Smart Thermostat program
We Energies spokesperson Brendan Conway said the program helps the utility avoid buying more expensive electricity from the regional energy market during extreme heat.
“As solar starts to drop off, that’s when you start to see energy prices pop up because the demand doesn’t go down,” Conway said. “People’s air conditioners are still running.”
Conway said more than 8,000 customers have enrolled in the pilot program so far.
He also stressed the regional grid remains stable despite the heat wave.
“We prepare our power grid to serve our customers on the hottest and coldest days of the year,” Conway said. “We’ve not seen any issues on our grid.”
The utility says customers can override thermostat adjustments at any time without penalty or losing rewards.
“If it does happen and it’s an inconvenient time for you, you can adjust it down, and you don’t pay any sort of penalty,” Conway said.
Tuesday's event caught some customers off guard.
One Milwaukee County customer says her experience during Tuesday’s event left her uncomfortable and confused.
Rosana Hernandez said she enrolled in the program hoping to offset rising utility costs.
“Given how much our bill has been lately, about 250 to 300 range, kind of expensive,” Hernandez said. “So I thought, well, shoot, we’ll just save a little bit of money and opt into it.”
Hernandez said her thermostat is normally set at 75 degrees but jumped to 77 degrees before Tuesday’s adjustment event. When she attempted to lower the temperature, she says her Google Nest thermostat displayed a message warning she could lose rewards if she changed the setting.
“I left it alone, looked at it about 10, 15 minutes, probably 20 minutes later, and it said 83 [degrees], and I was like, ‘Holy cow! Very warm,’” Hernandez said.
Conway says customers can override events without losing incentives and that they can opt out.
Hernandez said the house quickly became uncomfortable, especially upstairs, and she relied on a window air conditioning unit overnight.
“I’m gonna try,” Hernandez said when asked whether she would stay enrolled. “But that 83 degrees kind of threw me off a little bit.”
Others responding to TMJ4’s Facebook post about the program had mixed reactions. Some said they barely noticed the temperature changes, while others said they chose to override the thermostat adjustments during the heat wave.
The utility says the program is designed specifically for high-demand weather events like this week’s extreme heat and helps reduce pressure on the grid while potentially lowering costs for customers overall.
Conway also addressed growing public concerns surrounding data centers and electricity demand, saying the thermostat program is unrelated to future data center growth in Wisconsin.
He said any new power generation built to support data centers would be paid for by the data centers themselves — not residential customers.
Learn More: https://greatergrid.com/enroll/programs/thermostats/we-energies
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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