Whole home backup power

[wtg]

We got one of those goofy "we've installed X in your neighborhood" letters a few days ago. It was for a company called Base Power. Was curious to see what their business model entails.

Base Power launched today across the Chicagoland area, bringing homeowners in ComEd’s service area a new way to lower electricity supply costs while adding whole-home backup power.

Base installs a battery in every participating home and uses the battery to reduce the cost to serve customers during peak-demand times when the grid is most stressed and power supply is increasingly scarce. In its offering to ComEd customers, Base members will get their energy supply at rates at least 25% below ComEd’s default supply rate. The battery also provides backup power for essential household equipment, including sump pumps, during outages like those many experienced during recent severe storms which left +400k without power.

https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260624437919/en/Base-Power-Launches-in-Chicagoland-as-Electricity-Costs-Surge-Cutting-Customers-Supply-Bills-25-Below-ComEds-Fixed-Rate

Here's an article that goes into detail how it works:

https://epicelectrical.com/what-is-base-power/

We're not super interested (we have a manual transfer switch and portable generator) but I'm wondering what our resident Sparky experts think....@steve-miller @big_al ? Thoughts?

[Steve Miller]

Hmmm. Are you on time of use metering?

[wtg]

Nope, though it is available here.

[kluurs]

I'm thinking of trying it - though Mrs. Kluurs will not wish to surrender an inch of property to a non plant-based item. Perhaps, I can squeeze it under the porch....