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I'm curious who your power company is and how long ago that happened. If you're in the US do you happen to know if FERC got involved? Utilities and grid operat

I'm curious who your power company is and how long ago that happened. If you're in the US do you happen to know if FERC got involved? Utilities and grid operators that run retail-level demand-response programs typically cycle air conditioning units by turning them on and off throughout the day or by setting the thermostat a few degrees higher in more modern systems. I've never heard of a demand response program completely shutting off anyone's air conditioning for more than an hour, that sounds like either a technical failure and/or a wildly incompetent demand response program. Either way it's frustrating because it gives responsibly managed demand response programs a bad reputation. Having said that, if the peaker plants are running full tilt and the demand response program isn't able to curtail enough usage then the next step is rolling blackouts. Is there a chance that's what happened, or did the rest of your power remain on?

capitainenemo 4y ago
Rest of power was fine, no rolling blackouts. Let me see if I can find any news articles from the time. I wasn't the only one it happened to, and apparently despite how it was sold, contract allowed for longer periods. [edit] https://www.baltimoresun.com/bs-mtblog-2011-07-bge_flipflops_says_it_wont_aga-story.html https://www.baltimoresun.com/bs-mtblog-2011-07-bge_flipflops...
- asoneth 4y ago
  That's awful, if I had your experience I wouldn't use demand response either. Now I'm also curious whether your contract was directly with your utility or through a 3rd party energy supplier. Where I live the non-utility energy suppliers can be a bit dodgy and push misleading contracts on retail users but they're still somewhat regulated so I am skeptical a contract that allows them to completely shut down everyone's AC for the entire duration of a demand response event would be approved here. But I've heard horror stories about non-utility energy suppliers in other ISOs (like Texas' ERCOT) gouging customers, abruptly shutting down, or just generally being wildly incompetent.
  - capitainenemo 4y ago
    It was the standard state regulated area utility.

capitainenemo 4y ago

Rest of power was fine, no rolling blackouts. Let me see if I can find any news articles from the time. I wasn't the only one it happened to, and apparently despite how it was sold, contract allowed for longer periods. [edit] https://www.baltimoresun.com/bs-mtblog-2011-07-bge_flipflops_says_it_wont_aga-story.html https://www.baltimoresun.com/bs-mtblog-2011-07-bge_flipflops...

asoneth 4y ago
That's awful, if I had your experience I wouldn't use demand response either. Now I'm also curious whether your contract was directly with your utility or through a 3rd party energy supplier. Where I live the non-utility energy suppliers can be a bit dodgy and push misleading contracts on retail users but they're still somewhat regulated so I am skeptical a contract that allows them to completely shut down everyone's AC for the entire duration of a demand response event would be approved here. But I've heard horror stories about non-utility energy suppliers in other ISOs (like Texas' ERCOT) gouging customers, abruptly shutting down, or just generally being wildly incompetent.
- capitainenemo 4y ago
  It was the standard state regulated area utility.