https://www.thedenverchannel.com/ne...ed-out-of-thermostats-during-energy-emergency Thousands of Xcel customers locked out of thermostats during 'energy emergency' 22,000 people lost control of temperatures in their homes for hours Tuesday By: Jaclyn Allen Posted at 9:48 PM, Aug 31, 2022 and last updated 11:24 AM, Sep 01, 2022 DENVER — During the dog days of summer, it's important to keep your home cool. But when thousands of Xcel customers in Colorado tried adjusting their thermostats Tuesday, they learned they had no control over the temperatures in their own homes. Temperatures climbed into the 90s Tuesday, which is why Tony Talarico tried to crank up the air conditioning in his partner's Arvada home. "I mean, it was 90 out, and it was right during the peak period," Talarico said. "It was hot." That's when he saw a message on the thermostat stating the temperature was locked due to an "energy emergency." "Normally, when we see a message like that, we're able to override it," Talarico said. "In this case, we weren't. So, our thermostat was locked in at 78 or 79." On social media, dozens of Xcel customers complained of similar experiences — some reporting home temperatures as high as 88 degrees. Xcel confirmed to Contact Denver7 that 22,000 customers who had signed up for the Colorado AC Rewards program were locked out of their smart thermostats for hours on Tuesday. "It's a voluntary program. Let's remember that this is something that customers choose to be a part of based on the incentives," said Emmett Romine, vice president of customer solutions and innovation at Xcel. Customers receive a $100 credit for enrolling in the program and $25 annually, but Romine said customers also agree to give up some control to save energy and money and make the system more reliable. "So, it helps everybody for people to participate in these programs. It is a bit uncomfortable for a short period of time, but it's very, very helpful," said Romine. This is the first time in the program's six year span that customers could not override their smart thermostats, Romine said. He said the "energy emergency" was due to an unexpected outage in Pueblo combined with hot weather and heavy air conditioner usage. But Talarico said he had no idea that he could be locked out of the thermostat. While he has solar panels and a smart thermostat to save energy, he says he did not sign up to have this much control taken away. "To me, an emergency means there is, you know, life, limb, or, you know, some other danger out there — some, you know, massive wildfires," Talarico said. "Even if it's a once-in-a-blue-moon situation, it just doesn't sit right with us to not be able to control our own thermostat in our house." The good news is that Colorado has dry heat with low humidity.
There's something like this in California as well. You agree to be a part of rolling blackouts if demand spikes hit, and the fine print does has bits like the article for utilities that offer smart thermostats for free. Haven't been in a group with rolling blackouts, but this could change as more forests start to burn down. I joined mostly to save ~200 a year off electricity.
This is a thing in Austin. They did the same thing to residents that signed up for the program and restricted resetting the thermostat during peak hours.
Not sure what the big deal is. It appears they elected to receive incentives in exchange for giving up some control. I recently discovered we are on a similar program at our lake house in MN when they toggled ACs off one day in June. It was actually set up around 2007 (about 5 years before we bought the house) and this was one of the few times it was ever used. We have been getting a credit for years that is hidden in our bill. Clearly worth it for the few hours our compressor was toggled off and on that day.
This is like those people in Texas who paid "market price" for their electricity during the freeze when prices spiked to ridiculous amounts, and got stiffed with a $10,000 electricity bill. People only see the savings they are promised up front, and don't bother to think through the potential downside. To me this is a problem of MARKET DEREGULATION and the innovative payment schemes that are supposed to save everybody money, not tree hugging. There's no such thing as a free lunch. All the money you are saving upfront is going to have to come from somewhere and it isn't coming from the power company's profits.
Sounds like a good idea. Here in Texas we just have forced rolling brown outs. At least in Colorado these people are being compensated for their discomfort and it’s something they signed up for. If they didn’t read the fine print, then that’s on them. Not sure what this has to do with “tree huggers.”
It's unlikely O's actually knows anything about the topic. He saw a headline and rushed here to post it, as is his usual to-go move.
So, they were locked out and stuck with whatever temperature the A/C was set at previously? Or, did it set the temperature to 78 or 79 and then lock them out? How does that translate into a home temperature as high as 88 degrees?
With our program in Minnesota, they shut down the compressor for an hour every so often. So, it gets to be whatever it gets to be. In Florida they have a program to actually adjust your smart thermostat a few degrees up for up to 4 hours on weekdays during 'events'. The way the program is worded is that if you have your tstat set to 75, it would up it to 78 or so. But, i wouldn't count on that being the case.
But you're a liberal tree hugger, you're supposed to be upset by this. Get with the program yall, don't let Os's trolling be in vain
Ummmm.....What does "Colorado Tree Huggers" have to do with this story besides putting down a group of people? Sounds like they knew what they signed up for and got an extreme circumstance in which the worst part of the deal kicked in.
I was upset when I found out we were on the program at the lake house. Then I realized we'd probably been saving around $250 a year for 10 years and to the best of our knowledge, that was the first time ours was ever controlled. Coincidentally it was the same day we happened to be there (we are rarely there), and the AC had just been fixed that morning, so I thought it was broken again.
"Tree huggers" is a curious way to spell people who desperately need to or want to lower utility bills.
I assume you are with Duke Energy? Here is their info about their program. In theory, the program looks relatively decent, BUT, an initial $75 rebate card and an annual $25 rebate card is nowhere near enough of an incentive. https://www.duke-energy.com/Home/Products/Power-Manager/Smart-Thermostat?jur=NC01
pretty sure all Coloradoans sign an oath of allegiance to all trees as a condition of state citizenship, so in a sense tree huggers and Colorado is redundant
