A distributed energy resource aggregator controlling more than 8 million residential smart thermostats is launching a "whole-home" virtual power plant that will draw on HVAC systems, electric vehicles, stationary batteries, and solar installations, according to an announcement reported by Utility Dive on Tuesday. The company, which changed its name from Renew Home to Everyday Electric, also acquired the connected-vehicle platform Smartcar to better integrate EVs into its Everyday VPP offering. The moves come as utilities and hyperscalers search local grids for rapidly scalable distributed energy capacity.
The company's CEO, Ben Brown, told Utility Dive that Everyday Electric aims to save customers $5 billion over the next five years. In June, the firm said it would partner with residential energy storage leaders Tesla and Sunrun to make nearly 17 GW of distributed capacity available nationwide. Market research firm Parks Associates said last year it expects annual smart thermostat sales of 8.1 million by 2030. The latest data from the American Clean Power Association shows that in the second quarter of 2026, about 46% of new residential solar systems had stationary energy storage attached, up from 41% in the second quarter of 2025.
Brown said data collected by his company indicates smart thermostat owners are more than three times more likely to buy an EV than members of the general public, and they're significantly more likely to consider heat pumps and home solar or storage. According to Brown, the approach improves on the compliance-based mindset that for years defined single-purpose "programmatic" offerings, such as discrete EV charging or thermostat-based demand-response programs. He added that it also reflects a growing recognition among both utilities and grid operators that modern VPPs represent high-quality wholesale and distribution-level capacity without the centralized generators' "single point of failure" risk.
Though aggregated residential distributed energy resource capacity has grown significantly this decade, energy system experts say most of the potential remains untapped. In 2023, the U.S. Department of Energy said the country had 30 GW to 60 GW of broadly defined VPP capacity and could scale to 80 GW to 160 GW by 2030, potentially meeting 20% of peak demand. More recently, a widely cited study by the electrification nonprofit Rewiring America found that hyperscalers could unlock more than 100 GW of U.S. grid capacity by 2029—and offset all AI loads expected to come online by then—by subsidizing the rapid deployment of heat pumps and solar-plus-storage systems. At the same time, utilities and independent power producers plan to bring more than 60 GW of grid-connected gas-fired generation online by 2030, according to the environmental nonprofits Environment America and the Frontier Group.
Everyday Electric says its Everyday VPP will integrate directly with customers' distributed energy resources, making it easier for customers to opt into money-saving programs, track energy performance, and get personalized recommendations. For utilities, the platform offers "hyper-local dispatch, AMI-based measurement and verification, real-time forecasting, and load shaping," bundled into a pay-for-performance model that eschews platform or marketing fees. Brown framed the moment as a choice: "Do we lock ourselves into a high-carbon, high-cost future, or do we find resources to bring down costs for everyone?" Scaling aggregated distributed energy capacity can keep utility bills in check for all ratepayers, not just those who own or host distributed energy resources, he said.