How DSR helps businesses

Energy Response provides commercial and industrial customers the opportunity to reduce the impact of peak demand and be compensated for doing so. Demand Side Response is a positive action that you can take to: 

• Reduce the cost of energy to your business 
• Pro-actively limit long term increases in electricity prices
• Relieve stress on electricity networks at times of extreme peaks 
• Providing greater supply reliability 
• Reduce the effects of green house gas emissions.

Assistance to DSR Providers

Energy Response provides support to businesses planning to register their DSR with us.

• We assist DSR Providers identify their opportunities and develop a business case.
• We supply any specialist technical advice required to deliver DSR;
• Inform Providers of situations / events where DSR may be required;
• Co-ordinate the dispatch of DSR at the appropriate time;
• Pay Providers for the DSR delivered.

Summary of Benefits

The implementation of demand side response has long term strategic benefits:

• Reduce the cost of energy to business and residential consumers by about 15% pa and much more to those who participate by providing the DSR.
• Pro-actively limits long term increases in electricity prices by defering costly and inefficient spending on under-utilised supply side capacity - Generators and Networks.
• Relieves stress on Electricity Networks at times of extreme peaks - providing greater supply reliability.
• Reduces cost of Reserve requirements providing improved power system security at a cheaper price.
• Reduced green house gas emissions - by some 200 Tonnes per year (equivalent to the total consumption of 300,000 homes - Refer EUAA Report.
• Removing some of the peakiness in energy production which then allows generators to provide more constant flows and increase efficiency
• Removing the peakiness in transmission greatly reduces transmission losses and less generation to make up for the losses
• Increasing the use of ‘distributed generation' thereby reducing the distances over which energy is carried, leading to improved reliability and reductions in greenhouse gas

The Long Term Issue

The electricity industry is under significant pressure to expand generation capacity and improve network infrastructure to deal with increasing peak demands during summer and winter while cutting costs and improving market efficiency.

While many governments and private utilities are recognising the need for this investment, committing to it is questionable due to:

• a large part of the investment being utilized for less than 10% of the time (just for the peaks)
• tight margins leading to low returns on investment
• residential retail prices are fixed so there is low incentive for consumers to curb power use during peak demand

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