The GridPlus Energy landing page.

GridPlus Energy currently offers some of the lowest price 12 and 24 month fixed rate energy plans in the Oncor and Centerpoint regions of Texas, but redeeming GRID tokens can give you direct access to wholesale pricing and additional discounts on your bill.

This guide is intended for customers with a basic understanding of cryptocurrency and digital assets; it explains how you can get access to these deeply discounted rates through GRID redemption.

A basic list of steps for GRID redemption is available here, but this guide will explain a bit more about what you’ll see as a new energy customer signing up with GridPlus Energy for the first time and what you need to do to unlock savings through GRID redemption.

What is GRID?

GRID is a redeemable digital asset that gives customers access to 500kWh of energy at the wholesale prices available to GridPlus. We do not sell GRID directly, but it’s available with a few quick clicks on UniSwap and the pair is directly embedded in Step 5 of our Token Page.

When you are logged into your account you can deposit as much GRID as you like and have it automatically applied to your bill as your household consumes energy. For each 500kWh of energy you use, one GRID token is redeemed and the difference between your fixed rate and the actual wholesale rates during that period is credited to your account. If the wholesale rate is ever higher than your fixed rate plan, you are never responsible for the difference.

Example customer savings; redemption value varies with wholesale energy prices.

What does this mean to you as a customer? The wholesale rates available to GridPlus Energy fluctuate regularly but when you redeem GRID you will pay the price that we pay to acquire energy.

This example bill would be $20.65 based on the market price of GRID on March 13, 2020.

You can also now pay your bill using GRID. A conversion rate is set monthly; it factors in the prior month’s cost of electricity and the market rate for GRID, currently based on the Uniswap spot rate. In our system this is denominated in kWh based on last month’s average energy wholesale energy prices. This means that regardless of the market value of GRID, as an energy customer redeeming GRID you will be able to save on your monthly bill and pay an effective rate below wholesale prices.

GRID bill pay is offered to encourage more people to learn about GridPlus and Ethereum. Customers have been taking advantage of the opportunity since the start of 2020; we plan to continue offering this option but some details are yet to be formalized and it may be subject to future limitations.

Getting Started with GridPlus Energy

Example Houston rates on March 5, 2020.

When you first arrive at the signup page and select “View Plans” you will be presented with the options available for your address. These values do not take into account the discounts available through redemption of GRID.

Your customer account portal.

Once you’re set up as a customer, you log into your account and select “Pay with Crypto” from the menu to pay your bill or load your account with GRID for access to wholesale rates.

What do I need to know about Ethereum for this to work?

To be able to take advantage of these discounts, you will need to have an Ethereum wallet, use ether to purchase GRID, and follow prompts to confirm a transaction upon redemtion.

If you’re already set up with an Ethereum wallet and hold ether, you can go to the GRID token page on our site and follow the directions beginning on Step 5 where you can acquire GRID through Uniswap without leaving the page.

The final step is logging into your customer account and redeeming GRID. You can deposit GRID at any time for access to wholesale rates. This balance is automatically applied to your bill as you use energy. Each month you’ll receive an email statement that shows your savings, GRID used for credits, and remaining GRID balance. Once your monthly statement is available, you can select “Pay with Crypto” in your account and you will be brought to a screen that pre-populates the transaction details. Simply select “Pay with MetaMask”, confirm the transaction, and you’re done!

If you find yourself hung up on any step or have questions, reach out to us and we’ll lend a hand. We are working on new ways to streamline this process with the end goal of making it simple for non-crypto familiar customers to do on their own — and your feedback helps us get there sooner.

Conclusion

We love our cryptocurrency customers and are willing to go the extra mile to help them through this process! We are working to make energy markets more efficient and lower pricing through better use of the resources available today. This is made possible by leveraging intelligent software, hardware, and blockchain technology. Customers using digital assets help us test and refine our system — we appreciate the part they play in helping us achieve our long-term goals and they can save a lot of money along the way!

If you have questions, reach out to us directly by emailing the support links on at GridPlus.io, or even Twitter, Telegram, and r/GridPlus!

Disclaimer

The forward-looking statements in this update are subject to numerous assumptions, risks and uncertainties which are subject to change over time. There are many risk factors, including those relating to blockchain and cryptographic technology generally, as well Grid+’s business, operations and results of operations, that could cause our actual results or developments anticipated by us not to be realized or, even if substantially realized, to fail to achieve any or all of the benefits that could be expected therefrom, We reserve the right to change the plans, expectations and intentions stated herein at any time and for any reason, in our sole and absolute discretion, and we undertake no obligation to update publicly or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise. ACCORDINGLY, WE RECOMMEND THAT YOU DO NOT RELY ON, AND DO NOT MAKE ANY FINANCIAL DECISION OR INVESTMENT BASED ON, THE STATEMENTS CONTAINED IN THIS UPDATE — INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY SELLING OR TRADING OF GRID TOKENS, ETHER OR ANY OTHER CRYPTOGRAPHIC OR BLOCKCHAIN TOKEN, OR THE SECURITIES OF ANY COMPANY.