Green Mountain Power removes caps on home battery storage programs
Green Mountain Power (GMP) has removed the cap on two of its home battery storage programs to allow more customers to access them after receiving approval from the Vermont utility regulator.
This past April, after the third devastating storm in less than twelve months, GMP filed a request with the Vermont Public Utility Commission to lift the enrollment caps on its popular Powerwall and Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) home battery programs. The commission on Aug. 17 approved the request, citing several factors – including growing customer demand for home batteries, the likelihood of more extreme weather in the future, and that the home battery programs benefit all GMP customers.
“Accelerating storm resiliency is our path forward, especially after what Vermonters have gone through this year. We’re pleased we can expand access allowing more customers to enroll in these programs which have a proven track record of keeping customers powered up through extremely tough conditions,” Mari McClure, GMP president and CEO, said. “This is just one aspect of the multi-layered resiliency work we have been doing across our system since launching our Climate Plan three years ago building out initiatives to help Vermont communities stay connected.”
Since 2020, both the Powerwall and BYOD programs had been capped at 500 customers, or 5 megawatts of energy storage, per program, on an annual basis. However, the Powerwall program is now full into 2026 and the waitlist is 1,200 customers long. About 300 customers joined the waitlist over the summer, following the historic flooding in the state.
In the Powerwall program, customers lease two Tesla Powerwall batteries from GMP for $55 per month. The lease is a significant savings over having to purchase the batteries. In the BYOD program, customers buy a battery of their choosing from a local installer, and they can receive an incentive up to $10,500 from GMP depending on how much stored energy they agree to share during peaks. To date, about 2,900 GMP customers have more than 4,800 batteries in their homes. This growing stored energy network has saved GMP customers up to $3 million a year for the last few years.
With the cap lifted, customers can now continue to sign up for GMP’s home energy storage programs online.
“This is a relief, to have the ability to have power and stay at home safely in severe weather, and the severe storms keep happening here and around the world. It is a real sense of security and comfort to have power, water, and heat,” Candace Nattie, a GMP customer from Norwich, Vt., said. She joined the waitlist for the Powerwall program since December 2022.
The timing for installations will depend on scheduling with the installer a customer selects.
