Yes, a site with ordinary chargers can be paid to use less power at the right moments, but only where a utility has built a program that pays for it, and the published terms differ enough that no single number applies. The programs with clear public numbers are in California, New York, and Connecticut. The Con Edison and Eversource pages do not require a bidirectional charger, and how ELRP treats a charger that cannot export power is unconfirmed. Each program needs some way to reduce or shift load and some way to measure it.
This article covers that path: direct payment for curtailing charging on standard Level 2 and DC fast equipment. It is separate from vehicle-to-grid revenue, which needs hardware that can push power back out, and separate from demand-charge management, which lowers your own bill instead of earning a payment.
What "demand response" means for a charging site
A demand response program pays you for load you did not use during a window the utility cares about. For a charging site, that load is vehicles charging. You earn the payment by delaying or slowing sessions, not by selling anything.
Three things decide whether it works for a site:
- Control. Your charger network software has to be able to throttle or pause sessions, either on a schedule or on a signal. A charger that only runs at full power cannot curtail.
- Flexibility. Sessions that can slide are worth more than sessions that cannot. A workplace lot or an overnight multifamily garage can usually shift. A highway fast-charging site with a customer waiting at the connector usually cannot.
- Measurement. Programs pay against a baseline of normal use, so they need interval meter data or network data that proves the reduction.
California: ELRP pays $2 per kWh, with conditions
California's Emergency Load Reduction Program is the clearest published rate. The California Public Utilities Commission's program page lists non-residential compensation at $2 per kWh reduced. The program is run by PG&E, SCE, and SDG&E, and the page says it continues each year through 2027.
How it works, per the CPUC page:
- Events can be called May through October, 4 p.m. to 9 p.m., seven days a week, and each lasts one to five hours, with up to 60 hours a year.
- Events are called only after a statewide grid emergency notice from the California Independent System Operator, or in some cases a Flex Alert.
- Pay is measured against your typical use in similar hours on prior days.
- There is no penalty for sitting out an event and no required reduction amount.
Here is the arithmetic, as an illustration and not a forecast. A site that holds ten chargers 7 kW below their usual draw through a three-hour event has reduced 210 kWh, which is $420 if each charger was drawing at least 7 kW in the baseline hours at the listed rate. The number of events varies year to year with grid conditions, and the 60-hour cap is a ceiling, not an expectation, so treat any annual figure built on it as an upper bound.
The catch is how a charger site enrolls. The CPUC page says participation is open to all customers, that customers contact their utility to enroll, and that "certain size, permitting, and other eligibility criteria apply to each customer type." For customers not already in a demand response program, it lists non-residential customers, customers with distributed energy resources such as electric vehicles that have permission to export, and aggregators of vehicle-to-grid resources that can provide managed charging at multiple locations. It does not say how a standalone commercial charger that cannot export is treated. In practice, ask your utility whether your site qualifies directly, and ask your charging network or a demand response aggregator whether they enroll chargers in ELRP and what share of the $2 they keep. The CPUC says the program continues through 2027, but your utility sets the enrollment terms.
New York: Con Edison pays for off-peak charging and peak avoidance
Con Edison's SmartCharge Commercial program is built for commercial charging hosts and operators and publishes its schedule on its own page. Per that page, eligible sites are public, workplace, multifamily, industrial, and light-, medium-, and heavy-duty fleet charging.
| Incentive | Rate | When |
|---|
| Off-peak charging | $0.03 per kWh | Midnight to 8 a.m., all days, year-round |
| Peak avoidance | $10 per kW | Not charging during the network peak, June through September |
| Peak avoidance | $2 per kW | Not charging during the network peak, October through May |
Enrollment runs through an application and eligibility review, a data verification step using a spreadsheet template, and a signed program agreement, and the page says network service providers can automate the monthly data submissions. The page shows no end date and an Enroll Now button, but it does not say how long incentives will continue, so confirm that before you plan around it.
The page notes that different neighborhoods peak at different times and points you to a lookup for your site's network peak, so the window is site-specific. It does not say whether the per-kW amounts are paid on enrolled load, on load reduced against a baseline, or per month, so get that definition from Con Edison before you model it. The program also differs from ELRP in kind. It pays for a pattern of behavior (charge overnight, stay off the network peak) rather than for rare emergency events, and the $0.03 per kWh off-peak payment is for shifting charging, not reducing it. The two programs are in different units and cannot be compared directly.
Connecticut: Eversource pays per plug for fleet managed charging
EnergizeCT's EV charging page lists an Eversource Light-Duty EV Fleet Managed Charging program for commercial customers. Per that page, it pays between $5 and $40 per EV charger plug per month during June through September each year. The amount varies with the size of the charger, whether the charger is available to the public, and whether the charger software is integrated with the utility. Non-public light-duty fleets that take Eversource's upfront installation rebate must participate in managed charging for at least 24 months. United Illuminating customers are directed to a separate application on the same page, and the page does not publish United Illuminating's rates.
This is the closest published match to ordinary chargers for light-duty fleets on a schedule: it pays per plug for managed charging, not for emergency events. The page does not say whether sites outside light-duty fleets qualify for the base amount, so ask Eversource before you count on it. EnergizeCT's separate commercial demand response page covers Eversource's general curtailment program, June 1 to September 30, 3 p.m. to 8 p.m., and does not mention EV chargers.
Massachusetts: a commercial program exists, but no EV rate is published
National Grid's commercial ConnectedSolutions page lists incentives for reducing load during summer peak events: $45 per kW for targeted dispatch (typically 2 to 8 events per summer) and $200 per kW for daily dispatch (typically 30 to 60 events), with enrollment through an approved curtailment service provider. The page table does not define the basis for the per-kW figures, so get that definition before you multiply by events or months. The page describes participation as risk-free, because you can opt out of any event. It does not mention EV chargers. This page lists no EV-specific rate, and we did not check other Massachusetts utilities, so any figure quoted to you for chargers there should be traced to a named tariff or a signed offer before you use it. Rates and eligibility differ by utility.
What we could not confirm
Atlantic City Electric in New Jersey has an EVsmart program. Its own page lists make-ready rebates for multifamily, workplace, fleet, and public chargers and an off-peak charging credit for qualified residential customers, but we found no commercial per-plug or per-kW curtailment payment on it. If a vendor or aggregator quotes you a percentage savings or a per-plug payment there, ask for the tariff sheet.
What to do with this
- Start with your utility's commercial programs team. Ask whether any demand response or managed charging program accepts EV chargers, what it pays, and whether you enroll directly or through an aggregator.
- Check your own control. Confirm your charger network can throttle on a schedule or a signal, and that it exports the interval data a program needs.
- Model it as upside, not base case. Event-based payments vary with how often the grid is stressed. Put them in as a sensitivity line in your ROI model, not as revenue the project depends on.
- Read the rest of the tariff. Curtailment payments sit beside your rate structure, so read the demand and time-of-use terms first; our guide to reading your EV tariff sheet walks through that.
- Ask what it costs to participate. Aggregators and network providers typically take a share of the payment, and some programs require specific hardware or software.
Utility funding for the hardware itself is a separate question; see utility make-ready programs.
Last factually verified: November 2, 2026 against the California Public Utilities Commission's Emergency Load Reduction Program page (rate, years, event rules, eligibility); Con Edison's SmartCharge Commercial program page (rates and enrollment steps); EnergizeCT's EV charging programs and commercial demand response pages (Eversource); National Grid's Massachusetts commercial ConnectedSolutions page; and Atlantic City Electric's EVsmart page. The CPUC and Con Edison pages carry no publication date. Not confirmed: how ELRP treats a charger that cannot export power, how Con Edison defines the basis for its per-kW payments, whether Eversource's per-plug program covers sites other than light-duty fleets, the basis for National Grid's per-kW figures, and EV-specific offers from Massachusetts utilities other than National Grid. evcharginghelp.com is editorially independent and receives no compensation from any company mentioned.