PLMA Releases Spring Demand Response Market Research ReportTuesday, April 15, 2014 The Peak Load Management Alliance (PLMA) today released its Spring Demand Response Market Research Report which measured responses from the demand response (DR) community. The research was sponsored by the Demand Response Directory and was conducted by Skipping Stone, who surveyed industry professionals in advance of this week’s conference in Denver. The vast majority of respondents opined that residential demand response provides a viable return-on-investment for utilities. Opinions on the best way to get residential DR participation differed from last year’s preferred method of utilizing outsourced providers and sales forces to this year’s view that there is no “best” method of getting these customers to participate. In a related question on utility DR incentives and rebates, consensus on payouts is that they should be conditional on implementation and enrollment, as well as customer performance. Not surprisingly, utility rebates and incentives are considered a key to DR growth, which has been a consistent view for all three years of this survey. Survey results regarding technology growth expectations indicated that three somewhat related areas have the highest growth potential. Those three areas are: building automation and controls, monitoring and decision automation, and combined energy efficiency and demand response solutions. In year-over-year survey results, combined energy efficiency (EE) and DR solutions is the newest entrant into the highest technology growth arena. A majority of those surveyed believe demand response utilization by distribution utilities should be more broadly pursued. This ties into a related view that using DR as a balancing agent for renewable generation continues to grow in popularity. Furthermore, more than half agreed that the National Energy Regulatory Commission should develop one standard methodology to define and measure the use of demand response for resource adequacy utilization. “These survey results will help shape the future direction of how PLMA continues to add value to our member service offerings as the Voice of Demand Response Practitioners,” said PLMA Chairman Paul Tyno. Ross Malme, Partner at Skipping Stone and Executive Committee member of PLMA added, “Skipping Stone is pleased to partner with PLMA to provide this very insightful market research which allows us to keep a pulse on the dynamic changes in the demand response marketplace.” For a free copy of the Fall DR Market Research Report, visit http://www.peakload.org/?page=Spring14Trends. About Peak Load Management Alliance. The Peak Load Management Alliance (PLMA) is a non-profit organization founded in 1999 as the national voice of demand response. It is a community of experts and practitioners dedicated to sharing knowledge, education and providing resources and expertise to advance the demand response marketplace. PLMA’s over 50 member organizations represent a broad range of energy professionals and industries – private and publicly owned utilities, technology companies, energy providers, curtailment service providers, meter and equipment suppliers, system integrators, research organizations, consultants, and consumers. Learn more at www.peakload.org. About Skipping Stone. Skipping Stone is a different kind of energy consulting company. All of our consulting resources have worked in the energy industry and now choose to consult. Our specialty is collaborating with clients on ideas, strategies and tactics and then providing the array of complementary services required to turn those ideas into successes. From the drawing board to the P&L, we measure every engagement based on our clients’ success metrics. www.skippingstone.com About the Demand Response Directory. The Demand Response Directory is the only complete source of utility, ISO and service provider demand response program data and reports in the US, a comprehensive listing of services providers, and the Demand Response Free Library. The searchable DR program database also provides designations for DR programs that qualify for LEED credits. www.demandresponsedirectory.com |