This week, Austin Energy celebrated a record year in its Demand Response Program, which helps reinforce the utility’s grid reliability and sustainability.
The utility announced the results of the program’s 2025 efforts in a Thursday press release. A demand response program manages electricity consumption during peak demand times to reduce strain on the power grid and avoid outages and high costs.
In 2025, the program helped Austin Energy achieve an estimated average peak load drop of 57 megawatts during high-demand periods, enough to power more than 14,000 homes. Additionally, commercial customer participation increased by 30%, with improved event performance averaging 6% across approximately 900 locations.
Austin Energy also enrolled all 195 eligible city facilities in its Commercial Demand Response program, which further strengthened local resilience.
The utility attributes this success to a targeted rollout plan last summer. It is working to expand its demand response programs to 78 megawatts by 2027 and 270 megawatts by 2035 as part of the Resource, Generation, and Climate Protection Plan.
Austin Energy continues to offer rebates, add providers, and manage charging for certain electric vehicles as part of its Power Partner EV Program, enabling EV owners to earn bill credits by supporting grid stability during peak times.
During designated events, Austin Energy will temporarily pause or reduce charging speed on a participant’s Level 2 EV charger or qualifying vehicle. These adjustments are minor, do not drain battery charge, and can be manually overridden at any time.
Austin Energy General Manager Stuart Reilly said, “Austin Energy’s Demand Response Program is just one small part of our efforts to maintain reliability while advancing clean energy goals. The growth and performance improvements we’ve seen this year demonstrate the power of innovation and customer collaboration.”