At the peak of the housing bubble in 2005, the multiple climbed to 4.73, but even in 2010, ostensibly a point of historic affordability, it was still 3.5.
Customers with smart thermostats reduced their usage by 27%, and customers with gateway systems, which adjust the electricity use of multiple appliances, reduced their usage by 43% during the peak hours.
At the top of the scale, demand response (DR) systems allow multiple enterprises to manage their usage through a third-party provider to balance peak loads and let each participant optimize costs.