Edison already had used up half of its annual curtailments by late January. They aren't unhappy that the program has been activated by the ISO as often as it has. Their argument is that the programs are not operating the way they were intended to operate, the market is dysfunctional, and they shouldn't bear the impact of that. The commission later eased off, voting in late January to waive penalties for interruptible customers who do not shed load when asked. SCE in public comments has supported the customer's right to leave the program.
Customers often swallow load management events like bad-tasting medicine.
Meet the new load management. It has beefed up economic incentives, a good measure of customer discretion, and a solid layer of interactive technology. The beauty is, the whole package feeds off volatile prices and eager participants. Under the basic concept, customers receive news of the price of power on the wholesale market, typically over the Internet. Customers are paid all or part of the wholesale price.