New York City pilot uses plug-in batteries to cool homes, ease grid strain

A portable battery that plugs into an apartment air conditioner is being tested across New York City as a renter-friendly way to keep homes cool when heat drives electricity demand to the edge. The system, developed by Every Electric with Con Edison, charges when demand is low and then powers window units for a few hours during the hottest periods, reducing the chance of outages and easing pressure on local wires.

The pilot is set to expand to more than 1,000 homes this summer, and participants can earn cash rebates. Every Electric says households earned an average of more than $200 last year, and the program is free for participants. The equipment is designed for apartments and works with 120-volt plug-in air conditioners, including window, portable, through-wall and some PTAC units, a detail that makes it far more accessible to renters than rooftop solar or whole-home backup systems.

The battery fits into Con Edison’s broader demand-response strategy, which pays customers to temporarily cut or shift electricity use when the grid is under strain. Con Edison’s Smart Usage Rewards program offers payments during peak summer demand, and its 2026 guidelines say some events can be called with two hours or less notice. The utility said in May 2025 that it had invested $2.35 billion in its electric delivery system since the previous summer as it prepared for rising air-conditioning load. Con Edison serves 3.7 million electric, gas and steam customers in New York City and Westchester County.

The stakes are rising as heat waves become more frequent and more expensive. New York State’s summer peak demand reached 28,990 megawatts in 2024, while the all-time record remains 33,956 megawatts set in July 2013 during a week-long heat wave. New York City’s comptroller has said cooling costs have climbed by more than 50% over the last decade and warned that the city could face ten heat waves each summer by 2080. That mix of higher bills, tighter grids and hotter summers is pushing utilities toward virtual power plant models, where many small customer-side resources work together like one larger power source. Every Electric has described its New York rollout as the city’s largest residential powerbank virtual power plant, and if it scales, the approach could offer renter-heavy cities a practical way to adapt aging grids without building more fossil-fueled backup plants.