Well, they chose to opt-in to something without reading it.
That's the amazing thing here - that's the whole point of this program. They'll reduce your major energy consumption devices usage during peak times. I'll bet they signed up for it without even getting any kind of management discount.
My grandmother used to be enrolled in such a program, back when the power company would stick a small box on your water heater that received a low-speed data packet over power lines. It would shut the water heater off in times of peak energy demand. That normally happened during times you weren't going to be using a lot of hot water - 5PM on a -10F day, or at 3PM on one of those scorchers in the summer. You just had to be aware of it. In return, you received a discount on service and they would service the heater at their expense if it broke. Pretty good deal for a 90 year old lady.
They saw the word "discount" and never considered any ramifications about it. Later when the discount features kick in they have buyers remorse.
So you mean I can get a bunch of money knocked off my power bill by installing a dummy thermostat that controls nothing and letting the power company play with the controls remotely?
The discount on the water heater thing wasn't a whole lot, the benefit came from the maintenance they did to the unit as a whole. I have no idea how the Texas thing works, but it kind of sounds like you can do that.
Are you sure it's opt-in? In California they require manufacturers of "smart" occupant-controlled thermostats to grant access to consumers' thermostats in a "power emergency" to allow the state to decide what temperature you are allowed to have your home set.
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