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CenterPoint Energy Aggregated Demand Response Program
Earn payments for reducing energy consumption through an exclusive demand response program with CenterPoint Energy
CenterPoint serves 150,000 customers in southwestern Indiana and is committed to the reliable delivery of electricity generated from power plants and renewable energy resources to homes and businesses. They own and operate nearly 1,300 megawatts of electric generation capacity in Indiana.
Enel North America and CenterPoint have joined forces to offer commercial, institutional, and industrial organizations in CenterPoint’s service territory access to a new, exclusive demand response program. This program provides an opportunity for organizations to earn incentive payments for making targeted energy reductions that help CenterPoint maintain local grid reliability. As the exclusive demand response provider for this program, Enel works with organizations to define participation strategies, manage enrollment and execution, and maximize earnings.
CenterPoint Energy Aggregated Demand Response Program overview
| Program year | Year-round (June 1 – May 31) with summer, fall, winter, and spring periods |
|
Program hours |
24/7 |
| Payments | Capacity and energy: earn $40,000/MW-yr in capacity payments and no penalties |
| Dispatch notification | At least 2 hours prior to event: Enel usually sends out a “High Alert” notice multiple days in advance |
| Dispatch duration | 4 hours maximum |
CenterPoint Energy Aggregated Demand Response Program FAQs
Demand response programs provide an opportunity for commercial, institutional, and industrial organizations to earn incentive payments while helping maintain a reliable electric system. When utilities experience supply and demand constraints, they dispatch Enel’s demand response network, which is made up of local organizations that have agreed to reduce energy usage during these times of high demand. Program participants earn payments for agreeing to be on standby and curtailing electricity consumption when called upon in response to these events.
- Maximize payments to your bottom line: Enel manages your participation from start to finish, ensuring you earn the highest possible financial reward. Since 2011, our customers have earned more than $1.9 billion in payments.
- Improve your facilities’ resilience: In addition to the payments, participants receive advanced notification of grid stability issues, enabling them to proactively protect their facilities from potential power outages.
- Support your community: Your participation helps maintain reliable, low-cost electricity in your community.
Enel makes participation easy. We take care of the complex details so you can focus on running your business.
- Our expert team will work with you to identify your energy reduction potential and create a strategy that delivers maximum value with minimum impact on your operations. We outline these measures in a customized Energy Reduction Plan.
- In some cases, we install necessary metering devices at your facility to establish communication with our Network Operations Center (NOC), so we can monitor your energy consumption levels in real time.
- Your site is then enrolled and ready to respond when a dispatch begins. Provided your site has Enel metering, log into our app at any time during a dispatch to view your real-time performance.
- Throughout the process, we fully manage enrollment, measurement, verification and payments on your behalf.
- Notification: When the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) anticipates emergency conditions on the grid, it dispatches the Enel network into action. Enel will notify you via email, phone, strobe light, or SMS, depending on your preferences, to inform you when the dispatch will begin.
- Response: At the start of the dispatch, your facility will reduce its electricity usage according to your predetermined Energy Reduction Plan – either manually or, if requested, automatically by Enel’s NOC.
- Support: Before, during, and after a dispatch, our NOC remains in communication with your facility. Our staff is available 24x7x365, supporting you to ensure that you achieve the highest possible levels of performance and payments.
Enel has extensive experience creating energy reduction strategies that work within the operational limitations of a wide variety of facilities, including cold storage, manufacturing, food processing, universities, malls, office buildings and more. We can also help to implement full control systems that allow your electric load to be toggled remotely.
Common reduction examples include:
- Modify manufacturing processes
- Adjust HVAC equipment
- Dial back pumps
- Change settings in industrial freezers
- Reduce non-essential lighting
Customers often facilitate dispatch participation by simply shifting many of their energy-intensive processes by a few hours. Ask us about our experience working with customers like you.
Our experts are standing by to speak with you about your organization’s demand response opportunity. Submit your information here to get a conversation started with our team.
CenterPoint Energy demand response resources
