Case Study: Consumers Energy achieves 100,000 pre‑enrolled smart thermostats, customer bill savings, and peak demand reduction with Uplight

Consumers Energy Provides 100,000 Pre-Enrolled Smart Thermostats to Save Money and Energy

Consumers Energy, the Michigan utility pursuing an ambitious Clean Energy Plan, faced COVID-19–driven spikes in residential demand and bill increases of up to 20% while in-home efficiency services were limited. To help customers save money and support grid resilience, Consumers Energy partnered with Uplight (and Google) to provide up to 100,000 pre-enrolled Google Nest thermostats and promote its Peak Power Savers demand response program.

Uplight delivered the solution using its Marketplace, Home Energy Reports, Orchestrated Energy products and DR Pre-Enrollment to streamline thermostat purchase and instant demand-response enrollment, producing over 4× the enrollments of standalone methods. The program enabled average customer bill savings of 10–15%, a summer demand reduction potential of about 14 MW, expanded the program goal from 10,000 to 100,000 thermostats, and reached customers through 315,000 Home Energy Reports—delivering measurable savings and grid benefits.

Consumers Energy

Patti Poppe

President and CEO