Oracle Opower AI Helps Utilities Cut Peak Demand by 1 GW

Oracle announced on November 11, 2026 that North American utilities had used its AI-powered Opower programs to cut 1 gigawatt (GW) from peak electricity demand so far in 2026. The programs engaged 4.3 million customers across 73 winter and summer events, using behavioral prompts and rebates to broaden participation in virtual power plants that help manage grid demand.

Oracle reported that event volume rose nearly 50% from 49 in 2025 and that customer engagement increased 30% from 3.3 million. Utilities averaged 16,592 kilowatts (kW) of peak savings per event.

For scale, Oracle compared the aggregate reduction with more than three Fredonia Generation Station peaker plants in Washington, which supply backup electricity during demand surges, and the average event saving with the peak consumption of 4,150 homes.

Utility Deployments

Puget Sound Energy’s Flex Events program uses text messages, interactive voice calls and email as part of a broader virtual power plant strategy. The Washington utility reported statistically significant peak-load reductions of up to 16.6 megawatts (MW) per event over three successive deployment seasons. Earlier in 2026, it added a $0.50 per kWh bill credit to behavioral messaging as an additional incentive for customers to cut usage during events.

CPS Energy said its behavioral demand response program brought more than 350,000 customers into its virtual power plant. The San Antonio utility called 12 events in summer 2026 and achieved nearly 19 MW of reduction during August 2026.

Personalized Customer Outreach

Behavioral demand response asks customers to use less electricity or shift consumption when demand peaks, while peak-time rebates add a financial reward. The programs can include customers without connected devices. Oracle illustrates the personalized approach with an air-conditioning example: a customer might be told that moving use by 15 minutes could reduce costs during an event, then receive a follow-up on household performance.

Oracle’s Opower Demand Flexibility documentation says the AI learns what customers need and supplies relevant information, with behavioral-science techniques used to prompt action. Messages contain tailored energy insights, tips, device promotions and reminders, followed by reviews of how customers performed. Utilities can also promote additional programs to selected customer groups.

Year-Round Grid Flexibility

Oracle also presents demand flexibility as a response to electrification, extreme weather and intermittent renewable generation, with tools to move consumption away from high-price, greenhouse-gas-intensive periods and reshape demand around generation curves.

Earlier in 2026, Oracle extended both behavioral demand response and peak-time rebates so utilities can call events throughout the year. It also added the ability to send different messages or product variations to several customer segments at the same time. Oracle said the year-round option lets utilities repeat summer-style outreach before, during and after winter storms, responding to regions that are moving toward winter peaks or significant peaks in both seasons.

Matt O’Keefe, Oracle’s group vice president and head of Opower, described behavioral demand response and peak-time rebates as “growing pillars of demand reduction” and said they give utilities more ways to reward customers and expand community participation in virtual power plants.

For utilities, the central implication is that customer participation can serve as a grid resource in both winter and summer. Per-event savings and turnout are the key measures of how much these customer-led virtual power plants can contribute to reliability alongside conventional peaking resources.