EnergyHub brings location-based HVAC controls to Texas homes

Customers using the TXU iThermostat in Texas will soon have greater control of their home electricity usage — by linking up their demand-response program with their mobile device. It comes as a result of a new partnership with the Brooklyn-based EnergyHub.

The new functionality for Texas energy consumers means that a person doesn’t have to plan for exactly when they’re getting home in order to tell their house when to start making itself more comfortable. With this system, the heat or air conditioning (probably more the latter in Texas) will come on as the person starts to head home.

Via your smartphone, the system knows where you are and responds accordingly.

The TXU iThermostat. (Image courtesy of TXU)

“EnergyHub is well positioned to help us deliver an even better customer experience through its innovative online tools, mobile capabilities and installation services,” said Scott Hudson, chief operating officer of TXU Energy, in a release.

Seth Frader-Thompson, EnergyHub’s cofounder and president, spoke to the broader context of demand-response technology within the utility industry, when we recently spoke to him. He says demand response is spreading fast, which is new. What’s also new, Frader-Thompson told us, is that the energy companies are helping to sell it to customers.

“Consumers can always depend on us as a consumer-centric retail electricity provider,” TXU’s Hudson said. “At the same time, we will continue to deliver additional value to help customers protect, connect with and control their homes and businesses while also conserving electricity.”

Texas is a competitive energy market, and providers there have been using smart devices as a way to stand out to customers, as this GreenTechMedia story from 2012 illustrates. TXU was the first electricity supplier in the state to introduce a demand-response thermostat, which it rolled out in 2009.