Home / VPP Economics
Commercial & industrial flexibility
C&I flexibility: the original virtual power plant
Long before home batteries, businesses were paid to cut load at peak. Commercial and industrial sites still deliver most of the flexibility — and the largest checks.
VPP Economics has no affiliation with, sponsorship from, or endorsement by any utility, aggregator, platform, or device maker named here.
The short answer
- Businesses were the original VPP. Factories, warehouses, and office buildings have been paid to cut load for decades — and still supply most demand response capacity.
- Pay per kW is similar to home batteries — roughly $30 to $200 per kW-year — but a single site can offer hundreds of kilowatts, so checks run to thousands or millions of dollars.
- Aggregators do the work. Companies such as Voltus and CPower enroll sites, bid them into markets, and share revenue; Voltus says it has paid customers more than $500 million (Voltus).
- It makes sense when a site can shed or shift load (chillers, pumps, process loads, on-site batteries or generators) without hurting operations.
What a commercial kilowatt earns per year
Published reservation rates converted to a 5-month summer season where needed. Event payments come on top.
Swipe to see the full chart →
How commercial programs work
Con Edison’s Commercial System Relief Program pays $18 per kW-month in most of New York City and $6 on Staten Island and in Westchester, plus $1 per kWh during events; its Distribution Load Relief Program pays $18 or $25 per kW-month by network (Con Edison). Texas grid operator ERCOT runs Emergency Response Service with 10- and 30-minute products, paid through qualified scheduling entities rather than directly (ERCOT).
Big technology companies are joining in. Voltus reports a 100 MW flexibility agreement with Google in PJM (Voltus), part of a trend toward data centers offering flexibility to connect faster.
Commercial battery storage economics
Demand charges, tariffs, resilience, and grid-services revenue for commercial facilities.
Method and caveats
Monthly rates are converted assuming a May–September season; actual seasons and performance factors vary. Checked October 1, 2026.