This startup wants to pay the French to change their electricity consumption
French energy consumption is in the news, Isère start-up SURVOLTAGE has developed a free mobile app that recognizes and rewards the French for pushing their energy consumption beyond consumption peaks.
As electricity suppliers announce an average +15% increase in tariffs from February 2023, Isère start-up SURVOLTAGE has launched a mobile scheduling app that encourages “consumption reduction” for the general public. Thought? The user is warned almost in real time when the consumption is peaking, where it is more appropriate to reduce his heating power and delay the start of household appliances than to reduce his bill, limit the carbon footprint… , they will be rewarded for their commitment to eco-citizenship.
Make an effort without neglecting your comfort
But what if we accepted the idea that energy storage is not necessarily a complex and limiting process? Indeed, small daily actions can have a significant impact that can help prevent the dreaded winter lights. Born from the imagination of two friends passionate about energy management, SURVOLTAGE aims to smooth the electricity usage curves in France by helping individuals consume at the most appropriate times.
“Every day in the territory, the peak of consumption is between 12-14 and then 18-20. During these times, in order to ensure energy production, a lot of resources that pollute the environment, sometimes brought from abroad, must be used.”Found Jeff Knoepfli, co-founder of SURVOLTAGE.
Therefore, the startup has built its support for consumer change on a voluntary basis. Nothing is enforced, but advice is given and explained. A simple notification sent 4 hours before the peak, for example, suggests to the consumer to postpone the dishwasher programming for a few hours or to turn off the heat for only thirty minutes (for example, eco-technology generally lowers the room temperature by only 0.2°C on average). Thus, by planning electricity usage, SURVOLTAGE intends to limit the expansion of the grid and the use of polluting power plants.
And unlike the competition, the model is extremely flexible. But the more a consumer plays the game, the more he contributes to reducing his bill (up to 8% according to ADEME estimates)… and the more Ewatt points he earns.
Encourage the ecological transition of individuals
Whether the French are concerned about their wallets or looking for a more substantial environmental impact, the process is simple: just fill out a short inventory of your electrical equipment online before connecting the app to your Linky meter. It is on the basis of this data, together with the weather forecasts of the energy network of the day, that SURVOLTAGE will be able to offer customized solutions to everyone to better manage their consumption. Both summer and winter, because even when the weather is milder, energy consumption varies throughout the day.
The application then values these load-shedding blocks (i.e. these moments of “no energy consumption”) and then converts them into euros on the regulated European energy and electricity market. carbon. “Our goal is to make our Ewatts points system convertible into euros, services or donations as soon as possible, thus rewarding the daily commitment of our community. For this, we need to reach a critical mass of 3,000 users (we know we have already reached 1,500 users in a few weeks) and 50,000 users to be profitable by the end of 2023.”continues to the co-founders.
Backed by close to €750,000 in funding, which is now nearing completion, the start-up SURVOLTAGE aims to wipe out the equivalent of several coal-fired power plants every evening, thus preventing 4,000 tons of CO2 emissions by the end of winter 2023. 2024. Mobile app available on iOS and Android.
