Save on Energy Peak Perks: How to Earn Rewards While Reducing Power Use
Trying to live more sustainably can sometimes feel like a juggling act, you want to do the right thing, but you also have to think about the monthly bills. The nice surprise in Ontario is that cutting back on energy use can actually earn you a little extra money. With so many communities, from downtown Toronto to small Northern towns, relying on a steady power supply, the province has introduced a program that rewards you for helping keep the grid running smoothly.
The Save on Energy Peak Perks program is one of those initiatives that doesn’t ask much from you, yet still gives something back. In this article, we’ll break down how it works and why it’s become such a smart option for homeowners. It’s a simple way to build better energy habits, support Ontario’s grid, and pick up some rewards along the way.
What Is the Save on Energy Peak Perks Program
For many homeowners in Ontario, those hot, heavy summer afternoons can push the electrical grid to its limit. When every AC unit in the neighbourhood is working overtime, the province needs a way to ease the strain without asking people to sacrifice comfort. That’s exactly where the Peak Perks program steps in.
Program Overview
Peak Perks is a voluntary demand-response program run by the Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO), in partnership with local utilities across the province. The idea is simple: during a handful of high-demand moments each summer, called Peak Perks Events, participants allow their smart thermostat to slightly adjust their cooling settings for a short period. These tiny shifts, done across thousands of households, help reduce the pressure on Ontario’s grid when it needs relief the most.
Who Can Join
The eligibility criteria are quite straightforward, and it all centres on summer cooling:
You must be a residential electricity customer in Ontario.
You need to have an eligible central air conditioning system.
And most importantly, you must own a qualifying smart thermostat, since it’s the device that automatically makes those temporary adjustments for you.
If you already use a thermostat from ecobee, Google Nest, or another supported brand, you’re likely good to go.
How the Rebate Works
Once enrolled, the program runs quietly in the background. Whenever a Peak Perks Event is activated, usually on a hot weekday afternoon, your smart thermostat nudges your AC setting up a few degrees. You’ll get a notification beforehand, and you can always override it if needed. The rewards are straightforward as well:
Initial Reward: You receive an enrollment incentive just for joining and staying active in the program.
Seasonal Reward: At the end of the summer, you earn an additional reward (usually between $20 and $75) simply for participating. Even if you override the occasional event, you still qualify as long as you remain enrolled.
It’s a low effort way to support the grid, ease energy strain, and pick up a small financial bonus along the way, without making big changes to how you cool your home.
Why the Save on Energy Peak Perks Program Matters
While the upfront reward is nice, the impact of Peak Perks reaches far beyond individual households. Every participant plays a small but meaningful role in strengthening Ontario’s energy system and supporting a cleaner, more resilient future, from the communities along Lake Ontario to the far northern towns that depend on stable electricity. By encouraging energy-efficient homes to save money, the program helps reduce overall demand during peak hours, ensuring that Ontario's grid remains stable and more sustainable for everyone.
Strengthening Ontario’s Power Grid
Summer “peak demand” periods, those stretches of blistering heat when air conditioners are running nonstop, are the moments when the grid is under the most strain. It’s a small adjustment in your home that contributes to a major improvement in how the grid handles extreme weather. By briefly lowering demand during these windows, Peak Perks helps:
Ease the pressure on transmission lines and neighbourhood transformers.
Reduce the need for backup or older, less efficient power plants to fire up.
Improve overall grid stability, lowering the chances of brownouts or outages across the province.
Promoting Energy and Energy Conservation
One of the biggest benefits of the program is awareness. Peak Perks encourages people to think not only about how much electricity they use, but when they use it. This shift in mindset often leads to smarter habits at home, running major appliances at off-peak times, adjusting thermostats more thoughtfully, and paying closer attention to energy waste.
Rewarding Sustainable Habits
Perhaps the most refreshing part of the program is that it pays you for doing something genuinely helpful. Peak Perks turns everyday sustainability into something that feels achievable and worthwhile. Instead of asking homeowners to sacrifice comfort, it aligns environmental responsibility with financial benefit, a win for both your wallet and the province’s long-term energy health.
Government Policies and Real Incentives in Ontario
The Peak Perks program isn’t just a standalone initiative, it fits into a much broader effort by the Ontario government to manage electricity demand, support sustainability, and keep energy costs stable for households and businesses across the province.
Ontario’s Peak Demand Management Goals
Managing peak demand is one of the IESO’s top priorities. It’s far more affordable to reduce electricity use for a few critical hours each summer than to build new power plants or expand transmission infrastructure that would only be needed occasionally. Programs like Peak Perks are central to this strategy, helping the province shift demand rather than expand costly capacity. For those looking to optimize their energy management, integrating portable power stations can help by providing a reliable backup during peak periods, reducing overall demand on the grid.
Save on Energy Rebate Program Updates
Save on Energy offers a rotating lineup of incentives for homeowners and businesses. Over the years, these programs have supported everything from insulation upgrades and smart thermostats to high efficiency appliances and lighting improvements. The addition of Peak Perks shows how Ontario is evolving toward real time, behaviour-based energy management, not just long-term efficiency upgrades.
Energy Efficiency and Climate Commitments
These incentives tie directly into Canada’s climate goals. By encouraging people to use electricity more efficiently and reduce demand during peak periods, when the grid may rely on higher carbon backup generation, Ontario lowers its overall emissions footprint. It’s a practical way for households to contribute to broader climate commitments without sacrificing comfort.
Eligibility and Incentives for Homeowners
If you’re a homeowner, the province is making it easier than ever to reduce your energy costs while improving your home’s efficiency. Beyond Peak Perks, rebates on ENERGY STAR® appliances, smart home devices, and weatherization upgrades can significantly lower your baseline power usage and complement the savings you earn through summer participation.
Incentives for Businesses and Large Energy Users
The approach extends beyond residential customers. Large electricity users, such as factories, warehouses, and commercial buildings, can access their own suite of demand management programs. These initiatives help smooth out province wide consumption patterns, improve grid reliability, and reduce overall system costs that ultimately affect everyone’s electricity bills.
How to Participate and Earn Rewards
Joining the Peak Perks program is surprisingly simple, especially if your home already uses smart technology.
Check Eligibility
Start by confirming that your home meets the basic requirements: an eligible central air conditioning system and a compatible smart thermostat, such as an ecobee or Google Nest. Most local utilities provide a quick online eligibility tool, so you can check in just a few minutes.
Register Your Smart Thermostat
Enrollment happens through your thermostat’s app, not your utility. Whether you use the ecobee app or Google Home, the process links your thermostat directly to the IESO. This connection allows the system to make small, temporary adjustments during Peak Perks Events without any extra effort on your part.
Receive Notifications and Rebates
Once you’re enrolled, you’ll get a confirmation message and your initial signup reward. When a Peak Perks Event is scheduled, you’ll receive a notification ahead of time, giving you the option to let the adjustment happen or override it if needed. Your seasonal reward is issued after the summer wraps up, simply for staying enrolled and making your thermostat available when events occur.
Maximizing Benefits Beyond Peak Perks
While the Peak Perks program focuses mainly on central cooling, taking full control of your home’s energy use, including energy storage, and moving closer to true energy independence, requires a broader approach.
Combine Smart Devices for Efficiency
Start by expanding beyond the thermostat. Smart power strips, LED lighting, and connected appliances can automate day-to-day routines and trim unnecessary energy use. Even simple steps, like scheduling your dishwasher or washing machine to run late at night when electricity is cheaper, help lower your daytime consumption and amplify the savings you gain through Peak Perks.
Store Energy During Off-Peak Hours
One of the smartest ways to manage peak demand is to shift when you use electricity. By charging devices or storing energy during off-peak hours, when power is cheaper and more abundant, you can run your home during high-demand periods without relying heavily on the grid. It’s essentially turning your home into a small, efficient energy hub.
While Peak Perks focuses on central AC users with a smart thermostat, homeowners who want to take their energy management further can benefit greatly from a whole home storage system. This is where solutions like the EcoFlow DELTA Pro Ultra X Whole-Home Backup Power come in. These advanced backup systems store energy overnight at off-peak rates, then automatically supply your home during peak hours, easing strain on the grid and keeping your daily life uninterrupted.
With strong, multi-kilowatt output and substantial storage capacity, a system like this is ideal for peak shaving, daily energy optimization, and full-scale backup during harsh weather. For many Canadian households, especially those in areas prone to outages, it adds a level of security and efficiency that goes far beyond what a thermostat alone can provide.
Use Home Backup Power
With a system like the DELTA Pro Ultra integrated into your home, you can effectively disconnect from the grid during Peak Perks events and continue running your household on stored energy. That means you can support the program’s goals without ever feeling the slight thermostat adjustment, a rare win-win for comfort, savings, and sustainability.
The Broader Impact of Peak Perks Participation
Choosing to join Peak Perks is more than a quick sign up, it’s a meaningful step toward a cleaner, more reliable energy system in Ontario.
Supporting a Greener Ontario
By lowering electricity use during peak periods, we reduce the need for older, carbon-heavy “peaker plants” that only run when demand surges. This shift helps Ontario make better use of its cleaner, steadier base load generation, bringing the province closer to its long-term low-carbon goals.
Encouraging Community Energy Awareness
When entire neighbourhoods participate, whether it’s a condo tower in downtown Toronto or a quiet street in Ottawa, it signals that residents care about energy resilience. That kind of engagement tends to spread, encouraging more households to join programs that lighten the load on the grid.
Reducing Household Carbon Footprint
Ultimately, every kilowatt hour of electricity you avoid using during a peak event is electricity the grid didn’t have to produce under stress. This directly translates to a smaller household carbon footprint and a cleaner environment for everyone. Over the course of a summer, those reductions can be surprisingly meaningful, especially when multiplied across thousands of Ontario homes. It’s a simple action that not only supports the grid, but also contributes to a more sustainable province for future generations.
Conclusion
The Save on Energy Peak Perks program offers a simple, automated way to earn meaningful rewards while supporting a stronger, more reliable power grid for Ontario. By enrolling in your smart thermostat, you’re not just adjusting a temperature setting, you’re stepping into a province-wide effort to reduce peak strain and keep communities powered when it matters most. For homeowners who want to take their energy management even further, integrating a whole-home battery backup like the EcoFlow DELTA Pro Ultra adds another layer of security and independence. It allows you to store cheaper off peak electricity, ride through outages comfortably, and reduce your reliance on the grid during high demand moments. Together, these steps can turn your home into a resilient, efficient, and future-proof energy hub, ready for whatever an Ontario summer brings.
FAQ
Are Energy peak perks legit?
Yes absolutely. The Peak Perks program is fully legitimate. It’s funded and managed by Ontario’s Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) and delivered in partnership with local utilities and major smart thermostat brands. It’s part of the province’s official Save on Energy initiatives, which have been running for years to help Ontarians cut costs and reduce strain on the grid.
What is Peak Perks Energy Rush Hour?
“Energy Rush Hour” is simply another name for a Peak Perks Event. It refers to those short windows, usually hot weekday afternoons in the summer, when electricity demand in Ontario spikes. During these periods, the program automatically adjusts participating thermostats by a few degrees to help ease pressure on the grid.
How to qualify for an energy rebate?
To qualify for the Peak Perks rebate, you simply need to be a residential electricity customer in Ontario with an eligible central air conditioning system and a compatible smart thermostat enrolled in the program. That’s it, once you’re signed up, the rewards follow automatically. For other types of rebates, including incentives for efficient appliances, insulation upgrades, or home energy improvements, the official Save on Energy website outlines all current programs and eligibility details.
Where can I learn more about the Save on Energy rebate program updates?
The most reliable place to find up-to-date information, including new incentives, eligibility changes, and program additions, is the official IESO Save on Energy website. A quick search for “Save on Energy Ontario” will take you right there. It’s also worth checking your local utility’s website, as many offer their own region-specific rebates and reminders that complement the provincial programs.
What is a good portable power option if I need backup during Peak Perks events or winter outages?
If you live in an apartment, or simply don’t need a full whole-home backup system, but still deal with frequent power fluctuations, scheduled shutdowns, or want to keep essentials running during a Peak Perks event, a portable power station is a smart and cost-effective solution.
A strong option is the EcoFlow DELTA 3 Plus Portable Power Station. It delivers enough output to keep everyday essentials running, including your Wi-Fi router, lighting, laptop, and phone. You can set it up to automatically take over during a Peak Perks event, lowering your grid demand while ensuring your key devices stay powered. It also offers dependable backup during sudden winter outages.
Because it’s lighter and far more flexible than a fixed whole-house system, the DELTA 3 Plus is ideal for renters, condo residents, or anyone who wants reliable power at home and the freedom to take it on the go.