There's now a battery big enough to support the essentials in your home when you need it most!
The Wattsmart Battery program is a newer program. It began the end of 2020 and as of today, over 4,000 customers are enrolled just in Utah, and several hundred in Idaho.
"This program is exciting because not only are capturing all the solar energy you're generating," Dalton said, "but you are also creating a virtual energy network."
Wattsmart Battery is a demand response program.
Rocky Mountain Power (RMP) constantly monitors the flow of electricity on their grid – within seconds.
"Occasionally, there are big events that happen that put a strain on the flow of electricity," Dalton explained. "When that happens, ugly things like brown outs happen. Because we can see these big events coming, we're able to go ahead of the event and mitigate the event by pulling a small amount of energy from your battery."
RMP limits the draw to five-minute increments. In 2023, batteries were called upon 61 times in 5-minute increments (5 hours and 5 minutes) for the entire year.
Wattsmart participants who install qualified battery can receive both upfront and ongoing incentive payments.
The incentive depends on the size of your battery. "The larger the battery, the larger the incentive, and we are seeing an average of a couple of thousands of dollars in the up-front incentive," Dalton said.
After one year, customers start receiving a monthly bill credit with the amount depending on the size of your battery.
The program was designed with the customer's needs in mind.
"We know that you bought this battery to support your energy needs," Dalton said. "We intentionally set the time limits low so there will be as little impact on your day-to-day activities as possible and so there will be sufficient time for your solar panels to recharge the battery."
RMP will not draw power from your battery during an outage. Your battery will be there for you when you need it.
All Rocky Mountain Power customers in Utah and Idaho are eligible to participate in the program who install a qualified battery.
For more information visit, wattsmart.com
