Home Energy Management

Peak Demand Management

Keep your electricity bill predictable and low.

Protect your electricity bill from costly peak demand charges with our Peak Demand Management feature. When your home's power use gets close to your utility's peak demand threshold, the system automatically adjusts your connected devices to keep usage below the limit, preventing significant increases to your monthly bills.

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What is Peak Demand Pricing?

Peak Demand Pricing Explained

Peak demand is the highest amount of electricity your home uses at any given moment. Think of it like the maximum speed you drive on a road trip: it's not your average speed, but the fastest you went.

Some utilities charge extra fees based on your peak demand because they need to keep expensive power plants ready to handle everyone's highest usage moments. It's like paying for the biggest table at a restaurant, even if you only use it once.

Most utilities measure your peak demand using a 15-minute average, so even a brief spike in usage can impact your entire month's bill.

A Real-World Example

Let's say your home typically uses about 2 kW of power and your utility has a peak demand threshold of 5 kW.

Now imagine several high-energy activities happen at once: your air conditioner is running hard, your EV is charging, and you're doing laundry. Your home's energy usage suddenly jumps to 8 kW.

Since you exceeded that 5 kW threshold (even for just one 15-minute window), your utility will charge you the higher peak demand rate on your entire month's electricity bill. This single spike could add hundreds of dollars to your monthly costs.

What You Need

To get started with Peak Demand Management, you'll need the following:

Vue Energy Monitor (installed in your electric panel)

Vue Energy Monitor (installed in your electric panel)

Emporia App

Emporia App

One or more connected devices (EV chargers, smart plugs, and more)

One or more connected devices (EV chargers, smart plugs, and more)

How Peak Demand Management Works

Once you activate Peak Demand Management, our platform does the heavy lifting. The Vue Home Energy Monitor tracks your home's real-time electricity consumption from your electric panel. The system identifies when usage is approaching the threshold you configure in the Emporia App: either your utility's peak demand threshold or a custom limit you set. Connected devices are automatically adjusted based on your priority settings to keep overall energy use below peak demand. The system continues to manage devices as energy use changes throughout the day.

Save Money By Preventing Peak Charges

When utilities detect high power usage, they sometimes charge increased rates for your entire month's electricity. Our Peak Demand Management feature automatically keeps your energy use below these levels, potentially saving you hundreds of dollars on a single bill by preventing brief usage spikes from triggering higher rates.

Key Devices Stay Powered, Pause The Extras

Our intelligent system manages your devices according to your priorities, temporarily adjusting connected devices while keeping your essentials running smoothly. High-priority devices continue running normally while lower-priority appliances can be temporarily turned off to keep total power use below peak thresholds.

Controlled From Your Pocket With the Emporia App

Emporia App showing Peak Demand setup

With the Emporia App, setting up Peak Demand Management is simple. Connect your Vue monitor, establish your peak threshold, and prioritize your devices in order of importance. Once configured, the system automatically manages your energy usage to prevent costly peak charges without sacrificing home comfort.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Peak Demand Management is most impactful for customers on time-of-use or demand-charge rate plans. You can also set a custom threshold manually if you want to limit usage for any reason, regardless of your rate plan.

Stop overpaying on your electricity bill.

Peak Demand Management automatically protects you from the charges most homeowners don't even know they're paying.