Giving people an incentive to voluntarily reduce energy usage during peak demand is what Ted Reguly of San Diego Gas and Electric discusses in this video interview.  Reguly discusses the challenges of making customers aware of the program and then giving incentives appropriate to a given customer.  He suggests that the role San Diego Gas & Electric wants to be the trusted adviser, in terms of helping the customers create a more efficient energy footprint.

Partnerships will be important part of their long-term approach to give customers the necessary tools to convert the real-time data into something actionable (e.g., automatic control of a thermostat based on peak load).  To learn more about how San Diego Gas and Electric launched their Green Button initiative, view this video – http://www.viodi.tv/2012/03/02/smart-energy-ecosystem/