Orange & Rockland Customers Offered New Way to Save Money on Utility Bills

by Rockland Daily Staff

A New York-based climate tech startup has launched a free money-saving and pollution-reducing service for Orange & Rockland residents and small business customers who can get paid to save electricity during peak demand hours through the new Meltek app. 

For many years, large commercial and industrial electricity customers have been able to participate in Orange & Rockland's "demand response" program, where O&R pays them for reducing electricity usage during a set of hours that they are alerted to, often a day in advance. 

Meltek replaces the O&R demand response program previously offered by O&R, which credited customers for reducing electricity usage during set hours of the day. Meltek will now provide the incentive payment program instead, with O&R funding the reward payments, as the payments save money for the utility compared to the cost of providing peak-demand electricity. Additionally, the reduced load improves the electrical grid's reliability.

Once a user signs up at no charge with Meltek and connects their O&R account number, Meltek will send text or email alerts, letting the account holder know when they can earn money by postponing large appliance usages, such as washing machines and dishwashers, adjusting thermostats (including pre-cooling their home/business before the demand response window), switching off unneeded lights, or unplugging electrical devices. 

The exact ways of saving electricity are up to the customer, and O&R and Meltek have structured the demand response program so that no customer can lose money by signing up (for free) with Meltek. Signing up with Meltek does not change a customer's electric service provider or otherwise alter the customer's O&R account.

The electricity produced during peak hours by so-called "peaker" power plants is expensive to maintain and typically emits excessive pollution due to their age and use of fossil fuels. Using these power plants on hot summer days to meet air conditioning demand can exacerbate poor air quality conditions in nearby communities. Within O&R territory, there are three predominantly gas-fired peaker plants in the City of Middletown in Orange County, the Villages of Hillburn (in the Town of Ramapo), and West Haverstraw (in the Town of Haverstraw) in Rockland County.

All 230,000+ Orange and Rockland customers (residences and businesses) can sign up for Meltek's free service by downloading the Meltek app in the Apple App Store® or on Google Play or by visiting here. 

Users can sign up with Meltek any time of the year, but O&R customers who sign up by April 3 will receive the highest incentive payments under the utility companies' programs.