Energate’s home energy management solutions let consumers and utilities manage energy use and reduce peak demand without sacrificing comfort and convenience.

As power grids are stretched to capacity, with demand outweighing supply, electricity blackouts continue to roll through most of North America. Ottawa-based Energate is developing smart thermostats that monitor home energy consumption to reduce the occurrences of blackouts while also trimming electricity bills.

Founded in 2004, Energate empowers and engages consumers to reduce energy consumption without sacrificing individual need and comfort. “We have to change the way we look at comfort and conservation – it’s not an either/or situation,” states Energate CEO, Niraj Bhargava. With Energate smart thermostats, consumers learn to understand and control where energy is being used, at what cost, and how it can be reduced.

Smart thermostats are small devices that, when installed in homes and businesses, provides real-time energy consumption data that is balanced with the utilities’ current electricity prices. Using the smart thermostat and the information it provides, the consumer can decide whether or not to adjust energy consumption based on personal needs – similarly to cell phone users that opt to put off phone calls until evenings when rates are cheaper.

Why Ottawa

The Ottawa region is not only a great place to live, including top-notch schools from the elementary to university level, and is home to over 30 annual cultural festivals.  It’s also a great place to work and do business.

Ottawa is a global technology and business centre with more than 1800 companies involved in key growth sectors such as telecommunications, software, semiconductors and cleantech – a sector that includes Energate and 140 other environmentally aware companies.

Ottawa is also a desirable destination for business conferences with many facilities, including The Brookstreet Hotel. Located in Kanata, the heart of the Ottawa tech sector, Brookstreet offers more than 22,000 square feet of meeting space and webcasting, video-conferencing and multimedia presentation support to suit all meeting needs.

Business Advantage

Energate takes a smart grid strategy beyond the meter, to where demand is rooted – in the home.  Energate’s home energy management solutions let consumers and utilities manage energy use and reduce peak demand without sacrificing comfort and convenience.

Mandatory energy conservation efforts – such as public alerts that ask for region-wide energy conservation during peak times and adverse weather – removes power from the consumer.  “Consumers don’t want to feel like they are losing control within their homes,” says Mr. Bhargava. Energate’s smart thermostats allow users to reduce consumption when it is convenient, resulting in voluntary energy conservation every day, not just on hot summer days, and minimizes the need for middle-of-the-day mandatory power reductions.

From a homeowner’s perspective, Energate is an easy-to-adopt energy conservation option that requires zero training – the thermostats use plain language, are equipped with multi-lingual interfaces and are fully upgradable as technology and energy needs change.

By creating energy consumption awareness, Energate users equate energy consumption with financial savings – a reward for responsible behavior.

Future Growth Plans

Industry analysts groups point to demand response programs as playing a significant role in reducing consumption and helping to avoid the need to build alternative sources of energy.  In fact, according to the Brattle Group, by using best available technologies, customers could potentially lower the national peak demand by 22.9 percent. Energate, with its smart thermostats and energy management solutions is poised to capture market share as utilities around North America and worldwide purchase these "best available technologies" to reduce demand and capitalize on future opportunities.

Contact information

Energate Inc.
Toll-free:  1 (800) 594-9871
www.energate.ca