For several years, I’ve been enrolled in my power company’s “ConnectedSolutions” program. This program allows them to modulate the demand for power, by enabling them to remotely adjust customers’ thermostats to reduce load during what they call “Energy Rush Hour”s. I imagine that might sound strange or even disturbing if you’re not familiar with it, but it’s worked quite seamlessly for me. Most of the time, I don’t even notice it, and if I need to, I can always override their changes.

A recent temperature adjustment notice

I recently learned the industry term for these aggregated smart systems. They’re called “virtual power plants”, and that makes me feel even cooler about participating. I also spent several minutes trying to rewrite the previous sentence to avoid that wordplay. Having failed to come up with anything I like more, I will now acknowledge and apologize for the pun.