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Honeywell, KCP&L to Expand Demand Response Program

Diversified technology and manufacturing firm Honeywell and Kansas City Power & Light are extending their arrangement for Honeywell to manage the utility's Energy Optimizer Program for another three years with a goal of bringing total participation to almost 80,000 homes, apartment and small businesses. Read More

(Updated on July 23, 2024)

Diversified technology and manufacturing firm Honeywell and Kansas City Power & Light are extending their arrangement for Honeywell to manage the utility’s Energy Optimizer Program for another three years with a goal of bringing total participation to almost 80,000 homes, apartment and small businesses.

Utility customers who enlist in the program, which is free, help reduce energy demand when air-conditioning use is at its highest. They also cut their own energy costs.

The Honeywell UtilityPRO Thermostat.
All images courtesy of Honeywell

Under the program begun in 2005, Honeywell has already installed 30,500 programmable thermostats in participating households, apartments and businesses — double what had been initially projected. Program managers expect to install an additional 48,000 Honeywell UtilityPRO programmable thermostats by the end of 2011.

The program and the device work like this: The thermostats, which are free to participants, include a communication component that enables the utility to connect with the devices to cycle air conditioners off and on for brief intervals on the hottest days of the year, when the demand for energy spirals upward.

A Honeywell technician and homeowner check out a Honeywell UtilityPRO Thermostat.
All images courtesy of Honeywell

{related_content}Customers can program their thermostats using the touchscreen on the device, and they can adjust settings while away from home or their businesses via the Internet. In addition, KCP&L can send text messages to customers on the UtilityPRO with information about weather forecasts, which might prompt the customers to change thermostat settings, or updates on conservation programs.

Of the projected 80,000 utility customers expected to participate in the program, 71 percent would be residential users, 23 percent in multifamily structures and 6 percent would be small businesses. At that level of participation, the utility would be able to avoid about 80 megawatts of peak energy use, according to Honeywell.

The efforts by made by Honeywell and KCP&L in Energy Optimizer Program were recognized by the Chartwell’s Best Practices Newsletter for utilities and energy companies in spring 2007. The program was nearing targeted participation for a three-year period in just 18 months since its launch.

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