New California law requires development of smart appliances

The Clean Power, Smart Power bill, introduced in California by state Sen. Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley), was signed into law last week, mandating manufacturers to begin making smart appliances.

Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill 49 in an effort to remove stress from the grid. The idea is that smart appliances will make the state better able to shift electricity demand to when renewable energy production is at its highest. This could, in turn, reduce California’s need for fossil fuel power plant backups.

Electricity costs vary depending on the time of day. When demand is at its peak, California faces higher time of use rates for electricity. Smart technology would give the state more ability to shift energy to non-peak demand hours and cheaper time of use rates.

“SB 49 will help bring California’s electrical grid into the 21st century and allow us to use our clean, renewable power more effectively,” Skinner said. “SB 49 will also save ratepayers money because smart appliances can be programmed to use electricity when it is cheapest.”

The law, which takes effect on Jan. 1, 2020, requires the California Energy Commission (CEC) to encourage smart appliance development. The CEC will also be able to consider grid integration in regards to appliance and building code standards.

The bill moved forward with help from OhmConnect, developer of a simple, effective energy saving service that has helped 500,000 California consumers save over 2 million kilowatt-hours of dirty energy to date.

“Nancy Skinner is a tremendous leader on environmental and energy issues,” OhmConnect CEO Cisco DeVries said. “She understands that we fundamentally need to change the energy grid. We all just saw that loud and clear this week. We are proud to have worked on this important bill. It’s a huge step forward to ensuring fewer power outages in the future.”