A large US utility is changing to meet market demand!

Consider this statement issued by one of the largest utilities in the US:

“The 2010s version is, you’ve got big players, a single project for the entire need. It’s an old-school utility procurement,” said Josh Tom, National Grid’s director of energy transition solutions. “It’s a closed system, not accessible to everyone. And it can take a long time.”

These slow, burdensome, and costly approaches have yielded only a handful of successful projects over the years. National Grid’s new program, by contrast, is built around a marketplace platform into which companies can bid resources ranging from big batteries to lots of smart thermostats.

They just BLEW UP their business model. Utilities in the US already have competition for power and gas supply. Their last exclusive service (monopoly) was in the distribution of electricity and gas.

This utility, National Grid, recognizes that it cannot solve the distribution problem without adding to its other problem, which is cost.

So, what is the alternative? Yankee ingenuity, good old competition, or market response. National Grid is seeking to allow the utility to dispatch or control battery chargers, home generators, EVs, solar panels, and any generation or larger demand loads (big appliances). They will not own or pay for these sources, therefore they will have little cost. However, by increasing power supply for short periods of time or decreasing demand, they are looking to relieve peak congestion and pricing.

Realgy congratulates National Grid on its focus on addressing and helping to solve all related problems.

Realgy Energy Services is a registered Retail Energy Marketer serving commercial customers in the states of Illinois, and Indiana. We offer Service Plans that will provide electric and natural gas at wholesale pricing direct to customers without any utility markup. Our Service Plans work with the local utility to provide seamless service and annual energy savings. Service Plans include Guaranteed SavingsTM, ManagedPriceTM, ManagedGreenTM Index, Fixed and PriceAssuranceTM.

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