Oklahoma Gas & Electric (OG&E; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, U.S.) turned to Greenbox Technology (www.getgreenbox.com) in 2008 for an interactive, online home energy management platform to power OG&E's Positive Energy Smart Grid program. The program began with an initial trial of 25 homes and is currently being expanded to include 2200 more homes in the near future.

OG&E's Positive Energy Smart Grid program strives to empower customers to better manage their energy consumption and control costs using Greenbox's Web-based interface. OG&E chose the Greenbox platform as a consumer-friendly vehicle for explaining time-of-use pricing and suggesting ways to cut energy consumption, eliminate waste and reduce customer bills.

Like many utilities, OG&E believes that its energy challenges cannot be met with power-generation resources alone, but must involve an intensive focus on and commitment to energy conservation and managing energy demand. The Smart Grid technology, coupled with programs that allow customers to respond to price signals, can help both parties offset upward price pressures.

The benefits demonstrated to OG&E:

• OG&E was able to deploy time-of-use pricing to the trial population, validating prior research that indicated 92% of energy customers would shift their usage to a different time of day to save money if they had real-time information about the hourly cost of electricity.

• Customer engagement resulted in significant energy savings and a full 100% of participants claim to be better aware of their energy consumption and the price of energy as a result of the interface.

• Full deployment of the Smart Grid program will shave peak demand to the extent that OG&E could avoid the building of a new 265-MW peaking unit and a second in 2016, representing a cost savings of as much as US$320 million in a 10-year period.

• New data collected by OG&E will further improve energy delivery and maintenance service by providing more accurate load forecasts and real-time system condition information.

Benefits demonstrated to OG&E customers:

• Consumers participating in the trial saved an average of 10% to 15% on their monthly energy bills after three months of participation by making small changes in their behavior and surroundings.

• Participants applauded the Greenbox platform's ability to equip them with the awareness and control they were lacking about their energy consumption.

• Real-time feedback about home energy use and the fluctuating cost of that energy prompted users to shift some tasks, such as drying clothes during lower-priced periods, closing blinds and increasing the use of ceiling fans, and using timers on some devices.