Use energy now
Low cost under the configured plan. A useful time for flexible energy use.
Adaptive Energy Signal (AES)
WATT-LSS
See when electricity costs less.
Watt-Less turns complex electricity rates into a simple signal you can use. The Adaptive Energy Signal makes rate timing visible at the moment you decide — so a household can notice when electricity may cost less or more under its own plan, and shift flexible activities when practical.
- No Wi-Fi connection required
- No app to keep checking
- No notification fatigue
Just a visible signal you can understand at a glance.
AES signal example
Concept onlyAES
Use energy now
Low cost. The configured plan indicates a lower-cost period, so this may be a useful time for flexible energy use.
Illustrative example. A real signal depends on your utility, rate plan, date, and time.
The Adaptive Energy Signal
One glance. Three clear signals.
Green, yellow, and red are always paired with plain-language guidance — so the message stays clear, even when color alone is not.
Be mindful of usage
Consider the timing before starting a flexible activity.
Delay energy use
High cost. If practical, wait until green before using electricity for a flexible activity.
These cues follow the current packaging concept. Actual timing depends on the customer's configured rate plan.
Why this matters to you
Uncertainty → clarity → control.
Most people can't memorize changing rate schedules or constantly check an app. A visible cue can make the timing easier to notice — and help you decide with confidence.
- 1
The same electricity can cost different amounts at different times.
Under a time-of-use plan, the hour you use energy can matter as much as how much you use.
- 2
Rate schedules are hard to hold in your head.
Seasons, weekdays, weekends, and holidays all change the applicable period. Few people track that by memory.
- 3
A visible cue makes the timing easier to notice.
A persistent signal you pass in daily life can do what a buried app setting often can't.
- 4
Shifting a flexible task is your choice.
It may help you respond to your plan. Individual savings depend on the plan and your actual behavior.
Visibility → Control → Confidence.
How the signal works
From rate plan to a clear cue.
01
Plan + calendar rules
Your utility, exact rate plan, effective dates, season, weekday/weekend, and holidays.
02
Current rate period
The signal identifies the period that applies right now, and where supported, the next change.
03
Clear cue
A single, visible state — color paired with words — you can read without studying a tariff.
04
Your choice
You decide whether to shift a flexible activity. Comfort and safety always come first.
A real signal depends on the customer's utility, rate plan, effective dates, season, local date and time, time zone and daylight-saving changes, weekday versus weekend, and holidays or special rate rules. Any production rates must be checked against the utility's current official tariff or an authoritative rate source. The example signal on this page is illustrative, not live utility data.
Early AES prototype. The signal direction is green, yellow, and red — always paired with words. Prototype photo — not a finished product.
The Watt-Less clock concept
A familiar object, doing new work.
The original AES concept is an ordinary-looking, plug-in household digital clock with a persistent color cue. A clock is familiar, useful, and likely to stay visible in a home. The signal works through passive awareness — someone notices it in the course of daily life, without seeking out a dashboard or responding to repeated notifications.
- In pilot discussions, devices would be configured for the household's utility and rate plan before delivery.
- Setup is designed around plugging in the clock, setting the time, and selecting the applicable time-of-use schedule.
- It does not require real-time access to a customer's bill to follow a preprogrammed time-of-use schedule.
This is a product concept and prototype direction, not a commercially available device. No specifications, launch dates, purchasing options, or finished integrations are claimed here.
Proposed — not completed
For utilities and pilots.
AES has also been discussed as a behavioral demand-response layer: a simple cue to help households shift flexible electricity use away from expensive peak periods. The hypothesis is that a persistent, passive signal could work without sustained app engagement.
What a proposed pilot would measure
Success judged by demand shifted, not by clicks or app engagement.
Peak demand reduction
Change in peak-period load versus the customer's history.
Load shifted out of peak
Flexible use moved to lower-cost windows when practical.
Weather normalization
Comparable conditions, so results aren't confused by weather swings.
Aggregate / anonymized reporting
Group-level results, not individual customer surveillance.
Proposed pilot scope
Prior planning considered roughly 1,200 high-peak residential customers, comparison with historical usage, weather normalization, and aggregate or anonymized reporting. These are proposals, not completed Watt-Less results.
Pilot information discussed included an anonymized customer ID, location or climate zone, the exact rate plan and schedule, historical interval usage where available, weather, and comparable post-pilot usage. The approach was designed to avoid collecting names, addresses, account credentials, full billing PDFs, or direct account access merely to operate the basic signal.
About / current stage
Watt-Less and AES are in development.
Watt-Less is the product idea; the Adaptive Energy Signal (AES) is its signaling concept. Specific features, rate integrations, and availability will be confirmed later. Nothing on this page is a purchase offer or a guarantee of savings.
What this is, and isn't
- ✓ A simple, passive, rate-aware signal.
- ✓ A cue to help you decide when to use electricity.
- — Not a fully autonomous smart home.
- — Not a guarantee of bill savings or grid impacts.
- — Not a promise AES creates or stores energy.
Ideas such as AI learning, appliance sensors, voice alerts, gamification, smart-plug control, battery optimization, and a subscription model appeared in exploratory discussions. They are not described as current features here.