Alarm.com, Vivint Team Up To Help Customers Save on Energy Bills

Alarm.com recently announced a partnership with San Diego Gas & Electric, a California utility company, to help consumers save money on their home energy bills. Alarm.com and SDG&E have begun the “Reduce Your Use Thermostat Program” which rewards SDG&E customers for reducing their energy usage on high demand days. The program also allows for additional credits for customers who use Alarm.com’s emPower energy management services which are provided by many of their dealers around the country including FrontPoint Security and Vivint.

The “Reduce Your Use” program gives all customers the opportunity to save 75 cents for every kilowatt hour for energy reductions while those using Alarm.com can save $1.50 per kilowatt hour saved. Alarm.com VP Alison Slavin stated, “Alarm.com customers who have the Alarm.com thermostat solution can leverage that to their advantage to use less energy during that peak demand time frame”. The program incentivizes customers to use their home energy more efficiently on days when energy is in high demand, and also teaches consumers about Alarm.com and how to be energy efficient all year long.

Alarm.com believes that the program will help customers and alarm companies alike, “when you layer in a program like this, it really helps in getting the customer to see upfront the return on investment. They can do the math themselves and say, ‘Maybe after just a couple months of a San Diego summer, I will have paid back my costs on the thermostat and over time I’ll actually be making money having the thermostat if I participate in the program.’ … I think for the dealers it really helps them close the sale,” said Slavin.

The program is only available in the San Diego area currently, yet Alarm.com hopes to partner with other utility companies around the country in the future, “Right now it only impacts customers and dealers in San Diego … but we are as a company definitely looking to integrate more and more programs like this, because we do see them as a big opportunity to help dealers convert more customers and specifically convert them to these higher services levels that will create higher RMR for them and stickier customers in the long run.”

Slavin noted that Vivint is a major player in the home automation market and has been a big help in leveraging Alarm.com’s emPower service and showing its customers the benefits of home energy management, “Vivint is one of our dealers and they have been very strong promoters in the market of energy management services and home automation.”

Many alarm companies currently use the Alarm.com emPower as part of their offerings including two of Alarm System Report’s top alarm companies, Vivint and FrontPoint Security. Both companies offer service in the San Diego area and nationwide – which is a good sign for customers looking to take advantage of energy savings with or without a utility program in place.

As energy management and resourcefulness becomes a greater issue in the public it will take great efforts by companies like Alarm.com, FrontPoint and Vivint to help teach customers why energy management is not only good for the environment, but good for your pocket book too.