Assemblymember Arambula and Central Valley Business Leaders Join OhmConnect in Urging Residents to Get Paid for Saving Energy and Preventing Blackouts

OhmConnect's statewide campaign includes significant smart thermostat giveaway to California residents to help prevent blackouts this summer

News provided by

OhmConnect

Jul 21, 2021, 08:37 ET

OAKLAND, Calif., July 21, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- OhmConnect, the leading customer-response program for residential energy use, today announced the support of Central Valley business leaders and California Assemblymember Dr. Joaquin Arambula for its "EndCABlackouts" campaign, which offers the first 1 million California residents free smart thermostats to help prevent blackouts in California this summer. Together, these leaders call on businesses and their employees to join OhmConnect's effort to save energy, get paid for their efforts, and help prevent blackouts that threaten residents and business operations alike.

"California is already experiencing an unprecedented number of early-season, state-issued Flex Alerts, and it's critical that businesses join the effort to prevent blackouts this summer," said Cisco DeVries, CEO, OhmConnect. "By working together as an entire community, we can take simple and immediate steps to keep the grid intact amid record-breaking heat waves."

OhmConnect is proud to have several members of the Central Valley business community join and endorse these efforts, including Valley Clean Air Now (Valley CAN), Central California Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, and Every Neighborhood Partnership.

"As an emergency room doctor in Fresno County, I saw firsthand the dangers of extreme heat when people did not have access to power," said Asm. Dr. Joaquin Arambula. "Now is the time for residents and businesses to come together and work to prevent catastrophic blackouts and create a more resilient future as temperatures rise."

OhmConnect highlighted its non-residential offerings today, which enable businesses to take advantage of OhmConnect to save energy, reduce their utility bills, and get rewarded for doing so. Businesses can request a free smart thermostat or two free smart plugs and $25 as part of the EndCABlackouts campaign to maximize their energy savings. Businesses can also receive a referral link to be compensated for any additional sign-ups made with their personalized link. Additionally, OhmConnect can provide businesses with resources to share with employees on how they can save energy and get paid.

During the unprecedented heat waves during August 2020, OhmConnect's network of energy savers helped limit blackouts in California by saving almost 1GWh of energy – the equivalent of taking 600,000 homes off of the grid for an hour. Ultimately, their efforts helped to prevent six additional days of blackouts and earned them $1.3 million in cash and prizes from OhmConnect. With 1 million smart thermostats connected to OhmConnect, residents will be able to save four times more energy to help prevent blackouts during what experts say will be the hottest summer on record.

"At ValleyCAN, we're committed to ensuring that every Central Valley family is breathing clean and safe air," said Tom Knox, executive director at Valley CAN. "We're excited to support OhmConnect's efforts to reward residents for making small shifts that can collectively keep our air clean and the lights on this summer."

California households using Pacific Gas & Electric, Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas & Electric for their electricity are eligible to join OhmConnect and participate in EndCABlackouts to receive either a free smart thermostat or two free smart plugs and $25. OhmConnect recently announced its partnerships with Google, ecobee and Emerson, which altogether represents the most popular smart thermostats on the market. Kristen Bell can be seen on EndCABlackouts.com explaining how this campaign can help Californians save money and avoid blackouts this summer.

OhmConnect's City Energy Challenge, which supports the EndCABlackouts campaign, was unveiled by San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo, Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf, Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer, Bakersfield Mayor Karen Goh and California Energy Commissioner Andrew McAllister in May. This neighborly competition will award the community that installs the greatest number of smart thermostats or smart plugs and connects them to the OhmConnect platform with $50,000 in educational scholarships ($5,000 to 10 winners) and the title of "Energy Saving Superhero."

By syncing energy use across homes and operating as a virtual power plant, OhmConnect's innovative platform helps Californians reduce their collective electricity usage when the grid needs it most. Adjusting thermostats by just a few degrees at times of peak energy use can deliver 680 MW in savings to the grid, about twice the energy generated by a conventional power plant.

Register to EndCABlackouts here and learn more about OhmConnect's City Energy Challenge, which runs through September 30, here.

About OhmConnect
OhmConnect, winner of the 2021 Fast Company World Changing Ideas Award, was founded in 2014 with the vision of becoming the world's largest supplier of clean energy. It has a mission to improve the lives of people and the health of the planet by reimagining the way energy is (collectively) used. Today, OhmConnect enables hundreds of thousands of customers to reimagine how they use energy, to choose clean energy over dirty energy when required, and to be rewarded for timely, smarter, home energy use. OhmConnect makes it possible for customers to use clean energy without buying expensive solar-powered systems or changing energy providers. The company pays its users for saving energy when the grid is at risk of using dirty power. OhmConnect has paid Californian consumers nearly $14 million to save energy. Customers of the three major California electricity suppliers – Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E), Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas & Electric – can sign up with OhmConnect for free at ohmconnect.com. Follow OhmConnect on Twitter @OhmConnect, see the OhmConnect blog or check it out on Facebook and LinkedIn.

Media Contact:
Alexandra Pony
[email protected]
250.858.0656

If you would like to schedule an interview with OhmConnect CEO Cisco DeVries, please contact Alexandra Pony at 250-858-0656 or [email protected].

SOURCE OhmConnect