MISO Demand Response Programs

Commercial and industrial customers in parts of Illinois and Michigan can earn revenue by using less energy when the power grid is stressed. Participation in MISO’s demand response programs allows organizations to earn financial rewards while providing the grid operator with the resources necessary to maintain reliable grid operations.

In addition to making money, participating customers can reduce their electricity costs, achieve ESG goals and help make their communities more sustainable. CPower can show you how to do it all with demand response.

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What is Demand Response?

Demand response programs pay organizations for using less energy when electric demand on the grid exceeds the grid operator’s ability to supply it or when electricity prices are high. When notified, participating organizations reduce their electric consumption according to a pre-determined curtailment plan and receive compensation for their efforts.


How does demand response participation increase an organization’s sustainability profile?

By participating in demand response, organizations effectively reduce their carbon footprint by helping the electric grid stay balanced without having to burn fossil fuels to produce electricity. CPower helps organizations track how much carbon dioxide pollution their facility is helping the grid avoid by participating in demand response.

Demand Response Programs in Illinois and Michigan

Who is eligible to participate in MISO demand response programs in Illinois?
Demand response participation is open to industrial, healthcare, government, education and other commercial sectors in the MISO territory that are served by Ameren Illinois or select municipal and cooperative members. CPower’s team of engineers can assess your facilities to determine how to help your organization optimize your demand response participation and maximize your earnings.

Who is eligible to participate in MISO demand response programs in Michigan?
Demand response participation is open to industrial, healthcare, government, education and other commercial sectors that are served by Consumers Energy, DTE Energy or select municipal and cooperative members in MISO Zone 7, which covers the Lower Peninsula of Michigan. Customers must also have 1MW+ enrolled demand to register with a demand response aggregator. CPower’s team of engineers can assess your facilities to determine how to help your organization optimize your demand response participation and maximize your earnings.

Program Parameters

Read Our Latest White Paper

Exercising Existing Rights to Regulate Demand Response in the Midwest While Safeguarding Local Jurisdiction:

A Guide for State Regulatory Commissions, Electric Cooperatives and Municipal Electric Utilities

Compared to wholesale electricity markets in North America and throughout the world, there is dramatically lower participation from Aggregators of Retail Customers (ARCs) (also known as DR/DER Aggregators), in the Midcontinent Independent System Operator, Inc. (MISO) and Southwest Power Pool (SPP) market regions. Midwestern regulators, electric cooperatives and municipal electric utilities have long been concerned about whether and to what extent they could regulate ARCs and whether ARC activities would conflict with utility resource planning activities or otherwise interfere with rate regulation and unfairly shift costs to other ratepayers.

Several state commissions, electric cooperatives and municipal electric utilities have expressed an interest in promoting new ways to stabilize the grid amidst tightening reserve margins and mounting needs for flexible resources and lower costs. In this whitepaper, CPower’s experts provide a helpful framework for how Midwestern state regulators can facilitate the benefits that ARCs offer to increase demand response participation, while also addressing the basis for state regulation of ARCs and regulators’ primary concerns.

Readers will learn how to:

    • Harness additional flexibility through load management
    • Enable ARCs while maintaining regulatory oversight
    • Utilize ARC-provided DR to meet Resource Adequacy needs
    • Prepare for future grid needs and services

Download this whitepaper to learn more about state regulation of ARCs in the Midwest, or contact us at info@cpowerenergymanagement.com to discuss it further.

White Paper Cited Resources

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