To help prevent blackouts in California, the Clean Energy Alliance (CEA) has partnered with OhmConnect a free service that pays Californians to save energy—to offer customers free smart thermostats. Available through October 31, 2021, the giveaway encourages customers to monitor their energy use and incentivizes participants through cash rewards to save energy when demand is high.
“Blackouts affect the lives of all Californians and it’s important for us to work together to limit these events,” said CEA Board Chair Kristi Becker. “By signing up for OhmConnect’s innovative service and claiming a free smart thermostat, customers can more easily monitor their energy use and can even earn rewards for saving energy. We’re proud to partner with OhmConnect on this effort.”
Why can OhmConnect reward California residents for saving energy? When the demand for energy is high, the California grid prefers to pay programs like OhmConnect to save energy rather than paying for a costly peaker power plant to produce more power. OhmConnect passes those earnings to their community of energy savers who power down when the grid needs it most. It is a win-win for customer wallets, the community, and the environment.
To qualify for a free smart thermostat, customers must create a free OhmConnect account and connect their utility, which only takes a few minutes. OhmConnect will then notify customers when energy demand is high and encourage users to reduce their energy. Customers who use less energy than they were forecasted to during that time are rewarded with cash and other prizes.
Once the smart thermostat has been delivered, customers need to connect the thermostat to their OhmConnect account within 30 days or they will be charged the purchase price for the selected smart device, which ranges from $19.99 to $169.99. The offer is limited to one per participating household. Customers who already own a smart thermostat can choose to receive two smart plugs and $25 after signing up instead. While a smart device is not required to participate in OhmConnect, users with a smart device can see 4.5x the amount of energy savings and rewards.
The partnership is part of OhmConnect’s campaign to install one million smart thermostats in California, which will save 950 MW of energy, or nearly twice the shortfall that caused rolling blackouts in August 2020.
For more information and to claim a free thermostat, visit thecleanenergyalliance.org/energy-saving-tips/ohmconnect/.