Demand-Side Tools Could Cut Summer Grid Costs, Industry Podcast Says

How Flexible Loads Are Being Positioned to Soothe Summer Grid Peaks

Sweltering summer weather has turned electricity demand into a high-stakes balancing act. In the PJM Interconnection region, emergency conservation calls narrowly kept load below the system's record from 2006, while Texas's ERCOT has repeatedly broken its all-time demand peak this summer. Renewables and battery storage helped ERCOT maintain relatively stable power prices even as records fell.

A new Factor This Policycast episode produced with Advanced Energy United uses that backdrop to examine demand-side solutions: smart electric vehicle charging, flexible home electrical equipment, and virtual power plants that pool distributed energy resources. The argument is that these tools can reduce the need for new transmission and generation spending during the few extreme hours that drive grid costs.

Richard Caperton, vice president for public policy at SPAN, and Sarah Steinberg, managing director at Advanced Energy United, told the podcast that utilities can get more from existing poles and wires. Caperton pointed to a Brattle Group study, The Untapped Grid, which estimates that a 10% increase in system utilization could lower utility rates by 3.5% and save customers roughly $150 billion over a decade.

Steinberg described a 'toxic mix' of rising demand, energy unaffordability, aging infrastructure and extreme heat reliability risk. Advanced Energy United's framework groups solutions into grid build-out, making the grid more flexible, and affordability outcomes.

Why SPAN and Advanced Energy United See Load Growth as an Affordability Tool

Why SPAN and Advanced Energy United Are Treating Load Growth as an Opportunity

The two guests represent companies and members that sell distributed-energy and electrification products. Their shared message is that EVs, heat pumps and battery systems should not be viewed only as grid burdens, because they can be controlled, scheduled and aggregated. Caperton reduced grid utilization to a simple equation: total system cost divided by kilowatt-hours delivered. If utilities increase throughput without adding proportional cost, average rates fall.

What the PJM and ERCOT Experiences Show

PJM's near-record stress and ERCOT's record demand with stable prices illustrate two different outcomes of peak management. ERCOT benefited from an influx of renewables and battery storage, while PJM relied more on conservation calls. The contrast suggests that supply mix and demand flexibility matter for whether extreme heat translates into price spikes. This is interpretation, but it follows directly from the examples offered in the episode.

Where the Brattle Utilization Claim Needs More Evidence

The $150 billion and 3.5% figures are modeled estimates, not guaranteed savings. They assume utilities and regulators actually deploy demand-side programs at scale and that customer participation is sufficient during stressful hours. The podcast mentions that early legislation is 'leaning' toward these solutions, but it does not identify specific bills or deadlines, so the policy pathway remains uncertain.

What the Advanced Energy United Framework Implies for Policy

Steinberg's three-part approach places demand-side work alongside traditional infrastructure. That is a notable framing because it avoids treating electrification as an obstacle. The policy implication is that regulators may be asked to reward demand-side resources for reducing peak load rather than approving only new supply-side assets. The episode does not specify actual legislative text, so this remains a strategic direction, not a settled rule.

What Utilities, Regulators and Ratepayers Can Do With Demand Flexibility

This is a sector-level argument, but it carries specific next steps for utilities, regulators and customer-facing energy firms.

• Utilities can test smart EV charging and virtual power plant dispatch ahead of extreme heat events. ERCOT's battery-supported record days and PJM's conservation near-miss are concrete cases of where demand-side flexibility could reduce peak risk.
• Regulators should ask utilities to show how a demand-side pilot would compare with building new peak capacity under local conditions. The Brattle Group's 10% utilization-to-3.5% rate reduction estimate offers a benchmark, not a one-size-fits-all guarantee.
• Home electrification companies can use Caperton's simple cost-per-kWh framing to explain product value, but they need real rate and load data to show customers the money impact in their own utility territory.
• Households in stressed markets can enroll in utility demand-response programs, schedule EV charging overnight, or let a battery or smart panel shift consumption away from the few extreme hours that drove PJM conservation calls and ERCOT records.