New Texas Retail Provider to Offer Smart Thermostat Solution

Direct Energy will offer Texas residential customers Opower's Thermostat Platform, which works with Honeywell's suite of WiFi thermostats, starting next month

An impending smart thermostat offering by Direct Energy had been first reported by EnergyChoiceMatters.com in October of last year (click here)

Direct Energy has branded the product suite as the "Meridian" savings plan and smart thermostats.

When the program becomes available, eligible residential customers will be able to select an energy plan bundled with the Opower platform, as well as a WiFi thermostat professionally installed by Direct Energy

The product includes a mobile app to control the thermostat, which also gives customer-specific recommendations for savings. This utilizes Opower's "Set for Savings" software feature, which incorporates recommendations based on actual energy and billing data to improve the energy saving potential of thermostats connected to the Opower platform.

Opower said that Direct Energy is the first competitive retail energy provider to deploy the solution "at scale."

Direct Energy noted that the smart thermostat product offerings present an opportunity to reduce peak load, which will, "help the grid."

Opower released the video discussion below with several Direct Energy representatives:

Other smart thermostat offerings in Texas include Nest and EcoFactor solutions offered by various NRG retail suppliers, TXU's Brighten iThermostat, and Just Energy's ecobee smart thermostat.