While the importance of demand response programs is ramping up, customer adoption is still the weak link. Even as demand response event frequency jumped 173% from 2021 to 2024, device participation barely budged—up just 2%—due largely to low awareness and lingering skepticism about comfort, control, and incentives. (Utility Dive)
Utilities are responding with more precise targeting, shorter events (now averaging under 2.5 hours), and proactive customer messaging—tactics that, if scaled, could turn DR into a far more dependable grid asset.