Some N.Y. customers to allow utilities to dial down AC

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Residential air conditioners could be turned down by remote control during times of peak demand under a voluntary program that utilities in upstate New York launched this week.

Participating customers will be paid small stipends to take part in the program, and could save an estimated $100 a year or more through lower electricity use during times when the AC was dialed down.

In return, they would have to tolerate stickier, warmer air in their house or apartment than they otherwise might.

The utilities also are launching two other initiatives under which commercial customers would be paid to reduce their electricity use during peak periods.

How people will receive the idea of a utility tinkering with their home appliances remains to be seen. A random sampling of Rochester residents yielded a mixed bag of opinions.

"I'd want to know if there was a limit to what they could turn it down to. I wouldn't want to give them permission to turn it off," said Jessica Wagner, who lives in a Farmington home with central air.

She also expressed some worry about the fact that the utility would use the resident's home wireless Internet to control the AC. "I think that part would make me nervous," she said.

Willy Howe agreed that "a lot of people would worry about the privacy aspects."

Howe, who lives in Greece and has window air conditioning units, said he "probably" would sign up for such a program, provided the utility company made it worth his while. "Would I get an amount of value that would at least equal the amount they're saving?" he asked.

Deb Schulz Kushner, whose Webster village home has window air conditioners, said she likely would sign up out of "social obligation."

"I feel as a good citizen you should consider something like this. You should take the hit," Kushner said.

The initiatives are mandated by New York regulators as part of a major overhaul of New York's energy distribution system known as Reforming the Energy Vision. The hope is the new "dynamic load management" programs will relieve stress on the electric distribution system and help consumers learn to better manage their own energy use.

"Offering customers incentives to reduce loads will spur the creation of new services and products that benefit all customers," state Public Service Commission chairwoman Audrey Zibelman said in a statement last week.

There have been "demand response" programs for large industrial and commercial electricity consumers for years. They provide financial incentives in return for a promise to cut back electric use on short notice to help prevent summer brown-outs.

These new programs would extend the same approach to residential and smaller commercial customers for the first time. They may be steppingstones to a day when consumers have much more control over the electricity they purchase, but also would be required to do their part to address high demand.

The direct-control programs rolled out Wednesday — with very little publicity — are limited to designated areas where the electric distribution network already is stressed by high demand.

One such place is in the Victor-Farmington area, where significant residential and commercial growth has created a demand for power that can be hard to meet on hot days when air conditioners are humming and usage is at its peak.

The upstate utilities' residential "direct load control" programs are modeled after one operated for years by Consolidated Edison, which serves New York City — the biggest load center in the state and a place where demand can outstrip supply on hot summer days when air conditioners are cranked up.