The New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) seeks solutions that will reduce electrical demand in developments that are master-metered for electricity.



The New York City Housing Authority pays resident’s utility bills in 257 developments that are master-metered, a total of 166,952 units and 1,979 buildings. The yearly electricity operating expense adds up to $180 million for NYCHA and is driven by two factors: consumption and demand. Demand, in kilowatts, represents the maximum load, as monitored during the previous 12 months, and reflects the total capacity of equipment plugged in and using power. Demand is the main driver of the utility cost increase witnessed by NYCHA in the past years, with consumption remaining stable.

Demand is influenced by equipment in the common areas, such as motors and pumps, as well as equipment in residential units, such as resident-owned air-conditioners, refrigerators, plug loads, and lighting. While NYCHA has programs in place to reduce lighting loads (see Appendix 3) and replace refrigerators with more efficient models, it has no control over the other in-unit drivers mentioned above nor over the time of day of maximum demand, which is currently 7pm to 12am.

NYC utilities has programs in place for customers to lower their demand during peak times in exchange for financial incentives. NYCHA is willing to participate more extensively in these programs. As a first step, NYCHA has partnered with ConEd on installing measures such as Smart Air Conditioning to manage demand in the Brooklyn-Queens Demand Management (BQDM) area (see Appendix 2).




How to Get Involved:


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NYCHA is seeking technical solutions to manage electricity demand and in turn reduce electricity costs.

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Technical solutions should be measurable, demonstrating proven reductions in demand or, for untested solutions, supporting documentation of theory.

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Solutions should clearly outline implementation needs and maintenance and operations requirements and costs.


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Solutions should be scalable. Successful submissions will reduce NYCHA’s demand on the grid and reduce utility costs.

Key Dates:


  • October 18 - November 23: Entry Period
    Applicants sign up to participate and submit all required forms.
  • November 25 - December 21: Judging period
    Approved participants will have their submissions reviewed by the evaluation panel.
  • December 22: Finalists announced
    Finalists will be announced and requested to submit technical specifications for their proposed pilot solutions by January 15, 2017.
  • January 16 - February 28: Second Round of Judging
    Technical specifications will be reviewed by NYCHA.
  • March 1 - Winners Announced
    The participants selected for pilot engagements will be announced.


The application we are asking you to submit consists of a variety of multiple choice questions with a few open-ended questions requesting 300-500 word responses about your proposed solution. You will not need to prepare or submit a separate proposal. You can save your application and return to it if you wish— feel free to click through the application to see what questions we are asking of you before you submit.



apply here


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