OHMCONNECT

California's electricity grid runs out of capacity on hot summer days. The traditional solution is peaker plants — old, dirty gas power plants that sit idle most of the year and fire up during demand spikes, costing ratepayers and emitting carbon.

Matt Duesterberg had a better idea: instead of adding supply, reduce demand. OhmConnect signs up consumers, learns when their grid operator is stressed, sends a text message ("reduce electricity for the next hour"), and rewards users who comply with cash.

The utility pays for the demand reduction. OhmConnect takes a cut.

Everyone wins except the peaker plant owners.

OhmConnect pays consumers to reduce electricity usage during peak demand events. Utilities need to keep the grid stable during hot summer afternoons when everyone runs air conditioning simultaneously — instead of firing up a peaker plant (expensive, polluting), they pay OhmConnect to coordinate demand reduction across its users.

OhmConnect keeps a portion of the utility payment and passes the rest to users as cash rewards. Users earn $100–$300/year on average.

OhmConnect rewards app (cash for reducing electricity), AutoOhm (automated smart device management), OhmConnect Points system, utility demand response participation

OhmConnect expanded from California to Texas and New York — the three US states with the most stressed electricity grids and the most active energy markets. It launched AutoOhm, a connected device program that automatically adjusts smart thermostats and connected devices during events without requiring manual user action.

This shifted the model from behavioral change (hard) to automated load management (easy and reliable).

Scaling demand response requires large numbers of enrolled households, and enrolling households requires sustained consumer motivation. Cash rewards work but diminish over time — users habituate and lose engagement.

OhmConnect has to constantly innovate on rewards and engagement to keep users actively participating in demand reduction events. It also depends entirely on wholesale electricity market structures and utility partnerships, which vary by state.

Energy Impact Partners, Activate Capital, Sidewalk Infrastructure Partners, SoftBank Vision Fund