In the News
ConsumerPowerline Inks Contract with VT Utility Dow Jones Clean Technology Investor
June 3, 2008
6/3/2008 - Privately held demand response and energy management services company, ConsumerPowerline Inc., has signed a three-year agreement with Central Vermont Public Service to manage 25 megawatts of power capacity.
The agreement between the New York-based company and the Vermont is worth somewhere in the range of $3 million to $5 million given the average pricing of a kilowatt-hour of demand management at somewhere between $50 and $70 per year.
Through the agreement, ConsumerPowerline will be the sole demand response provider for the Central Vermont Public Service throughout 2011 to bridge reliability concerns around a power development project currently underway in central Vermont.
As the utility builds a new transmission line associated with the Coolidge Connector, a regional upgrade in the systems grid, ConsumerPowerline will provide the utility's electric customers with monthly incentive payments for committing to reduce energy consumption by a pre-determined amount. "Our target for this program is mainly commercial, industrial facilities, but it could be multi-family residences," said ConsumerPowerline chief executive officer Gary Fromer, in an interview with Clean Technology Investor.
Increasing numbers of utilities are turning to demand response providers like ConsumerPowerline or publicly traded companies like East Hanover, N.J.-based Comverge Inc. or Boston-based EnerNOC Inc.
"In the big picture, demand response is proving itself as a resource," said Fromer. "It is proving its value as the same as or better against generation." Furthermore, there is a tailwind driving growth in the industry, Fromer said. In Connecticut, for instance, policy has been enacted that requires retail energy providers to provide energy efficiency services as a portion of every megawatt of power that is sold into the network. In addition, the carbon debates currently going on in Congress set the stage for another potential impetus for industry growth, said Fromer. "When somebody decides that people are going to pay and someone is going to get paid for managing carbon and, in a sense, energy efficiency," that will encourage an explosion of investment in demand response, Fromer said.