No upfront equipment costs.
PowerSmart installs and maintains the battery at no cost, so you avoid the high cost of equipment, installation, and maintenance.
How it works
Smarter energy for your home and community
Battery power saves the day. Giving you more control to manage energy costs and power when you need it. PowerSmart is deploying a network of residential batteries to help stabilize the grid and keep the lights on when there is disruption. As you and your neighbors make the choice to install batteries, your whole community becomes more resilient and helps prevent energy cost from rising.
How does PowerSmart membership work?
Become a PowerSmart Member for $9.99 a month. When you become a member, we will install a battery energy storage system at no cost, PowerSmart installs, owns, monitors, and maintains the home battery. While the battery will be owned and operated by PowerSmart, you have access to the stored energy when you need it most. We own and manage it; you benefit from it. Here’s how:
PowerSmart members take advantage of several benefits:
Greater energy control.
Your stored energy can give you more reliance and independence and can help you offset your usage from your utility, potentially lowering your monthly utility bill.
Backup power.
When a storm is predicted in your area, the stored energy in your battery will be reserved for you to use to keep the essentials in your house running and your family comfortable during an outage. When there isn’t a storm, a portion of the batteries stored energy will be used to help offset some of the power needs that are currently being provided from the grid.
Peace of mind.
PowerSmart Team will provide ongoing full-service support. PowerSmart’s Team is just a phone call away. We’re here to help if you need any assistance. We will manage the installation and ongoing maintenance of the battery as well as providing education and support in navigating ways the energy savings programs to help reduce your monthly energy costs.
Powering smarter communities, together.
You and your family can share in the confidence of providing clean energy directly to your local grid, improving the quality of life in your community.
Your membership also benefits to the grid, when the weather is exceptionally hot or cold, the PowerSmart battery will send stored energy back into the grid, when it is needed, to offset high demand. PowerSmart will work with the community, connecting batteries from the neighborhood to provide clean energy. That is Powering Smarter.
FAQs
Frequently Asked Questions
Home battery storage can provide backup power, help households use more of their solar energy, and reduce electricity purchases during expensive peak periods. The right system depends on your goals, electricity use, utility rate plan, local rules, and budget.
How home battery storage works
What is a home battery storage system?
A home battery stores electricity for later use. It can help maximize the solar panel investment by storing the electricity generated by solar panels. When your home needs power, the battery supplies electricity to household appliances.
Why would I want a battery?
Common goals include keeping essential devices running during outages, using solar energy after sunset, avoiding high time-of-use electricity rates, and participating in eligible utility demand-response or virtual power plant programs.
Do I need solar panels on my house?
Ideally but if you don’t have solar, we can help you get solar and we will add a PowerSmart battery. The PowerSmart system uses the energy generated by solar panels to charge the battery and provide outage backup or shift electricity use to lower-cost hours. Pairing a battery with solar allows the battery to recharge during the daytime even when there is an outage.
How long will a home battery run my house?
Runtime depends on usable battery capacity and the amount of power your home is drawing. A refrigerator, lights, internet equipment, and device charging may run far longer than central air conditioning, electric heat, an oven, or an electric vehicle charger.
Will my battery keep working when the grid is down?
Yes, if you have a PowerSmart battery and the energy from the grid is disrupted, the battery will seamlessly kick in and keep the household up and running and the solar panels generating when the sun is shining.
Are home batteries safe?
The batteries we install are leading the industry in safety standards. Utilizing a novel packaging architecture for Lithium-ion cell technology, achieving the highest level of safety in the industry with a focus on reliability, energy density, and performance.
How long does a home battery last?
Batteries are designed to last up to 20 years. However, battery performance gradually declines with age and use. Many residential products have warranties expressed as a number of years, operating cycles, energy throughput, or a retained-capacity percentage.
What maintenance is required?
Today’s batteries are relatively low maintenance, but the PowerSmart team will monitor and provide ongoing maintenance of the battery to make sure it is optimized.
What is a VPP?
When homes work together, communities grow stronger.
Think of a Virtual Power Plant like a flash mob for energy. Instead of building a new expensive power plant, thousands of homes like yours are linked together so their solar and batteries can act like one giant battery for your whole town.
A simple example
When a heatwave hits and you and your neighbors all turn on your air conditioners, the power grid needs a giant push to keep your lights from going out.
No new powerplants, no extra pollution, just lots of helpers working as a team.
The old way
Your power company turns on one massive, expensive, dirty generator to give that giant push.
The virtual power plant way
Instead of one giant generator, a team of linked homes work together by taking spare power from their batteries. A thousand nudges equal one giant push.
About us
Meet our team
One battery is a personal backup; a thousand batteries is critical infrastructure. Virtual power plants aren’t just about grid reliability; they’re about economic equity. We’re focused on empowering communities to generate their own power, lower their costs, and build lasting financial resilience from the ground up.
The high upfront cost of residential battery systems has been a significant barrier in building this infrastructure. PowerSmart is working to fix that.
We are powering America’s low to moderate income (LMI) communities by building Virtual Power Plant networks that deliver energy when and where it is needed most. Through these VPP’s we are providing much needed energy to support the electric grid and empowering these communities to generate their own power, lower their costs, and build lasting financial resilience from the ground up.
We have assembled a team with the expertise and passion to make this a reality.
Our leadership team
Our team brings decades of experience creating value in the energy industry.
Seth Kiner
Chief Executive Officer
Global energy technology executive and entrepreneur with extensive experience leading large-scale distributed energy and customer engagement initiatives. He previously led activation of North America's largest demand-side energy portfolio and now focuses on scaling innovative clean energy solutions that enhance grid reliability, affordability, and resilience
Brian F. Keane
President
Founder & President of SmartPower, the nation's leading clean energy marketing organization. Widely regarded as the architect of modern customer origination for distributed energy. 2025 "Game Changer of the Year" and author of Green Is Good.
Jeff Kohn
Chief Operating Officer
Award-winning EPA leader who built and operationalized complex, innovative policy programs from the ground up; managing teams and securing funding. His track record includes a national innovations competition, a lead-based paint outreach initiative for underserved communities, and a $24 million Pollution Prevention grant program.
Bob Wall
Acquisition Leader
National leader in residential solar customer acquisition. Directed SmartPower's award-winning Solarize campaigns, generating more than $100 million in residential solar deployment in three years. Led major initiatives with the Connecticut Green Bank.
Our advisory team
Our Advisors bring decades of combined experience across energy, finance, policy, technology and successfully scaling startup businesses.
Rebecca Craft
Strategic business leader with deep operational, regulatory, and legal expertise. Frequent public speaker on energy efficiency, demand management, and sustainability.
Greg Guthridge
30 years of international energy experience. Founded Accenture's New Energy Consumer Initiative; led digital transformation across global utility practices and EY's Industrials and Energy customer transformation practice. Named a Top 25 Energy Consultant by Consulting Magazine.
Gene Huang
Solar enthusiast and Master Rower. Investor in CapZone, one of the largest opportunity zone investment funds in the US. CEO, Healthcare Business Development Executive, Advisor, Board Member, and Investor.
David Wilhelm
Youngest ever chair of the Democratic National Committee, and manager of Bill Clinton's 1991-92 presidential campaign. Founder of venture capital firms Hopewell Ventures and Adena Ventures. Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of HGR Energy. Senior Advisor and CSO of Hecate Energy.
Genesis Capunitan
Genesis is currently the CEO of TivaSync, an AI marketing technology platform. He is also an Advisor to Narrativa AI where he served as Chief Strategy Officer. Genesis previously was an SVP Managing Director at Interpublic Group. With over 25 years of leadership in B2B marketing, media and demand generation working at software companies Bluebeam and Array and at global communications firm Omnicom.
Donald Kohn
Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution, holding the Robert V. Roosa Chair in International Economics. 40-year Federal Reserve veteran; Vice Chair of the Board of Governors, from 2002–2010. Advised Fed Chairs Bernanke and Greenspan through the 2008–2009 financial crisis. External member, Bank of England Financial Policy Committee, 2011–2021.
Alexey Kondrashov, P.E.
Licensed Professional Electrical Engineer specializing in utility-scale substations, solar, and battery storage systems. Understands the engineering, project management, and business requirements needed to deliver complex power and renewable energy projects.
Morgan E. O’Brien
Wireless telecommunications pioneer; co-founder and Chairman of Nextel Communications, inducted into the Wireless Hall of Fame in 2001. Co-founder of Anterix, a wireless telecommunications company serving critical infrastructure sectors, primarily electric utilities.