Getting Paid to Save Electricity

Small businesses and other organizations in the San Francisco Bay Area have been issued checks for turning out the lights and taking the stairs for one day last summer. And some of these were for thousands of dollars. These small commercial energy users were part of a Demand Response program run by the nonprofit San Francisco Community Power. When state energy use is particularly high, such as when there has been an extended heat spell and air conditioners are running for many hours a day through broad areas of the state, the California Public Utilities Commission (PUC) calls on Demand Response program participants to reduce demand by turning off equipment and lights, not using elevators, etc.

Read more about this here.