On January 18, the New Hampshire Public Utilities Commission announced a Home Battery Storage Pilot program that will provide for a network of small energy storage solutions in homes that are owned by utilities and third parties with the goal of overall grid efficiency.

The idea here is that the utilities would, during times of low demand, power these batteries up and then during times of peak demand the customers could be switched to running on these batteries-- thus minimizing the potential strain on demand and minimize the need to ramp up or build out additional generation.

This model, which lowers costs for ratepayers overall and especially for the customers housing these batteries, looks like a win-win for customers and utilities. The first step will be 200 Tesla Powerwall batteries being installed into homes, and those homes will pay about $25 per month for 10 years for the installation. In return, the customers will see a time-of-use rate design that allows them to automatically collect savings as they tap into the batteries rather than the grid during peak hours. The batteries, of course, also serve as a backup source of energy in the case of a power outage.

In effect, the utilities are able to use these batteries as a form of a virtual and decentralized power plant rather than build out an expensive actual power plant, resulting in savings for all ratepayers and stakeholders involved.

What do you think of this unique method of distributed energy from a utility and the lining up of its incentives with those of the customers?