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Alliant Energy has launched a suite of programs to help balance the grid by adjusting customer thermostats.

Alliant Energy is looking to its customers for help keeping the electrical grid in balance.

The Madison-based utility is rolling out a suite of programs to offer cash rewards in exchange for giving up occasional control over thermostats and water heaters.

Under one new program, customers with internet-connected thermostats can receive $25 a year for allowing the utility to adjust the temperature in their homes by a few degrees up to 20 times per year, typically on hot summer afternoons when electricity use peaks.

Alliant aims to enroll up to 7,000 households over the next two years, which the company says could provide up to 5 megawatts of capacity that could be called on instead of generators.

The utility says it may also use it to manage gas flows during winter months when utilities’ growing reliance on gas to generate electricity competes with home heating needs.

“Smart thermostats give customers more control over their energy use and make it easier than ever to reduce their energy bills,” said Kari Gehrke, Alliant’s manager of demand management. “Our Smart Hours program allows customers to personalize their temperature preferences and increase the flexibility of their heating and cooling systems.”

Customers can opt out of individual events (by simply re-adjusting their thermostats), but they can only do so three times a year and still receive the $25 incentive.

Those without eligible thermostats can get a $50 discount through the state’s energy efficiency program. Alliant says installing a smart or programmable thermostat can cut energy bills by about 10%.

The company has developed a similar program for internet-enabled electric water heaters and is testing the concept with a pair of refrigerated warehouses.

Altogether, Alliant expects the Smart Hours program will cost ratepayers about $1.4 million a year, including incentives and administrative costs.

Such demand management programs can offset the need for additional generation, storage and distribution equipment, lowering overall costs and avoiding the pollution produced by burning fossil fuels.

A 2020 report by M-WERC, a nonprofit group focused on economic development for Wisconsin’s energy, power and controls sector, identified thermostat control programs as one of the most cost-effective ways utilities could rescue emissions while creating jobs.

Other utilities, including Madison Gas and Electric and Xcel Energy, offer similar thermostat programs, though Alliant would be the first to use it to manage gas usage.

A pod of American white pelicans gather on rocks in the Wisconsin River below the Alliant Energy dam in Prairie du Sac, Wis. Monday, June 6, 2022. The species, largely unseen in the state during much of the 20th century, are more common to the region now and are one of North America's largest flying birds, featuring a wingspan up to nine feet and weighing up to 30 pounds. JOHN HART, STATE JOURNAL

A duck lifts off the water as boaters paddle to Tenney Park Beach during Paddle and Portage in Madison, Wis., Saturday, June 18, 2022. KAYLA WOLF, STATE JOURNAL

(From left lower) Roomates Isabella Bortolotti and Rachel Bearder host friends for a pool party in their front yard, including Maddie Gehring, right, Lola Wojcik, top left, and Grover Bortolotti, all college students, on the Near West Side during a heat wave in Madison, Wis., Tuesday, June 14, 2022. AMBER ARNOLD, STATE JOURNAL

Syanne Morales and her son, Syncere Bowie, enjoy the cool relief offered by a water feature during a visit to the Cypress Splash Park in Madison Wis. Tuesday, June 14, 2022. JOHN HART, STATE JOURNAL

(From left) Tabitha Goldberger, 10, Camila Fernandez Adamae, 11, and Vee Schwartz, 13, react as they perform a rocket propulsion experiment using Alka-Seltzer and water in a film canister during summer camp at Stellar Tech Girls in Middleton, Wis., Wednesday, June 15, 2022.

Ashley Peotter, front, carries a canoe with her teammate Marie Barry through Tenney Park during Paddle and Portage in Madison, Wis., Saturday, June 18, 2022. KAYLA WOLF, STATE JOURNAL

Kelly Parks Snider’s “Between Spaces” exhibit at the Arts + Literature Laboratoryin Madison, Wis. Friday, June 3, 2022. JOHN HART, STATE JOURNAL

Josh Hull, right, and Trevor Stahl, both of Roanoke, Virginia, who are participating in the Great Race, a vintage car rally that started in Warwick, Rhode Island on June 18 and will end in Fargo, North Dakota on June 26, prepare to hit the road after making a stop at Angell Park on their 2,300-mile journey in Sun Prairie, Wis., Thursday, June 23, 2022.

The group Wild Violets, including Raquel Aleman, right, Sam Rae, front, and Becky Burbach perform outside the Barrymore Theatre during Make Music Madison in Madison, Wis., Tuesday, June 21, 2022.

Mariah Quinn Duffy, center, and her sons, from left, Kieran, 9, Ronan, 2, and Nolan, 6, add compost to a raised bed vegetable garden outside their home in Madison, Wis., Monday, June 13, 2022. AMBER ARNOLD, STATE JOURNAL

Kit Rittman and her husband Greg, front, cheer as boaters paddle down the Yahara River during Paddle and Portage in Madison, Wis., Saturday, June 18, 2022. KAYLA WOLF, STATE JOURNAL

Gretchen Bushman, a recent UW-Madison grad and fan of music artist Harry Styles, relaxes outside her apartment on West Washington Avenue while escaping the heat of her non-air conditioned residence in Madison Wis. Tuesday, June 14, 2022. JOHN HART, STATE JOURNAL

Raghiatou Bah and her son, Mamadou, 8, explore their new living space - a condominium purchased with assistance from a grant through Own It: Building Black Wealth - in Madison, Wis. Friday, June 17, 2022. JOHN HART, STATE JOURNAL

A Progress Pride Flag is raised above the east wing of the Wisconsin State Capitol in Madison, Wis. in observance of the month of June being designated as Pride Month Wednesday, June 1, 2022. An iteration of the widely recognized Rainbow Pride Flag, the Progress Pride Flag was created to symbolize inclusion of marginalized communities within the LGBTQ community and includes additional stripes forming a chevron pattern that represent LGBTQ individuals of color and the transgender community, as well as those who are living with and who have been lost to HIV/AIDS. Assisting with the effort are Wisconsin Department of Administration workers Darrin Smith, left, and Steve Walker. JOHN HART, STATE JOURNAL

Demonstrators protest at the state Capitol after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, in Madison, Wis., Friday, June 24, 2022. AMBER ARNOLD, STATE JOURNAL

People gather in support of Planned Parenthood and abortion rights at the Wisconsin State Capitol Rotunda in Madison, Wis., Wednesday, June 22, 2022. KAYLA WOLF, STATE JOURNAL

Madison Edgewood's Caden Thomas competes in the Division 2 boys high jump during the final day of the WIAA state track and field meet at Veterans Memorial Stadium in La Crosse , Wis., Saturday, June 4, 2022. AMBER ARNOLD, STATE JOURNAL

McFarland's Julia Ackley reacts after clearing 10 feet, 6 inches on her first attempt in the Division 2 girls pole vault during the final day of the WIAA state track and field meet at Veterans Memorial Stadium in La Crosse , Wis., Saturday, June 4, 2022. AMBER ARNOLD, STATE JOURNAL

Members of Oregon High School’s girls soccer team, including clockwise from bottom, Addison Werth, Zoey Pagels, Katelyn Studebaker and Lily Eisele (5) celebrate Studebaker’s second half goal during the team’s 1-0 WIAA Division 2 state championship win over Whitefish Bay at Uihlein Soccer Park in Milwaukee, Wis. Saturday, June 18, 2022. JOHN HART, STATE JOURNAL

Oregon’s Elise Boyd (22) and Whitefish Bay’a Emma Addeo (16) compete for the ball during the second half of Oregon’s 1-0 WIAA Division 2 state championship win at Uihlein Soccer Park in Milwaukee, Wis. Saturday, June 18, 2022. JOHN HART, STATE JOURNAL

Wisconsin men’s soccer coach Neil Jones coaches athletes during a summer camp at University Bay Fields in Madison, Wis., Wednesday, June 22, 2022. KAYLA WOLF, STATE JOURNAL

Milton catcher Grace Schnell, left, watches as teammate Lydia Miller catches a fly ball after it bounced off of Schnell's mitt during a Division 1 state softball quarterfinal game at Goodman Softball Complex in Madison, Wis., Thursday, June 9, 2022. KAYLA WOLF, STATE JOURNAL

Thongchai Jaidee celebrates his victory in the American Family Insurance Championship at University Ridge in Madison, Wis., Sunday, June 12, 2022. AP Photo/Kayla Wolf

Golfers, from left, Vijay Singh, Brandt Jobe and Bernhard Langer and their caddies read the green on the eighth hole during the American Family Insurance Championship at University Ridge in Madison, Wis., Friday, June 10, 2022. KAYLA WOLF, STATE JOURNAL

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Covers energy and the environment for the Wisconsin State Journal. Rhymes with Lubbock. Contact him at 608-252-6146.

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Alliant Energy has launched a suite of programs to help balance the grid by adjusting customer thermostats.

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