powerDOWN events are periods of time during which equiwatt remotely manages your connected smart meter & rewards you for avoiding the use of expensive, polluting energy.
How long do powerDOWN events last?
They generally last for 1 hour (although they can last longer) and are aimed at saving peak-time energy without being inconvenient to users. Users can manage the duration of participation for their smart-enabled devices through the app and override them if needed.
What are peak times?
There are certain busy times during the month when a large number of people use electricity in their homes at the same time. For example, around 7 pm when people get home from work and start cooking dinner or charging their Electric Vehicle (EV).
To avoid people going hungry or being left with no charge in their cars, energy providers have to turn on additional power plants to meet demand. These power plants are traditionally heavy CO2 producers and expensive to run.
Incentives for saving peak energy
To avoid this, energy companies offer incentives for those that can help to reduce electricity usage during busy peak times. It costs less for them to invest in these initiatives to reduce electricity usage rather than turn on additional power plants.
equiwatt helps users to take advantage of these incentives by holding peak time energy events which reward them for using less energy to power household appliances or EVs during peak times.