Orchestrating Home Electrification with Onsemble

Harvest sat down with Julia Yrani, co-founder and President of Onsemble at the Berkeley Electrification Fair on Earth Day. We had a wide-ranging conversation about how Onsemble makes home electrification simple and cost-effective for homeowners. We also talked about how Onsemble will help consumers use their investment in a heat pump hot water heater today support the grid of tomorrow – while getting paid! 

David Tuft: Julia, why should home electrification enthusiasts care about Onsemble? 

Julia Yrani: Electrification doesn't have to be hard. It can actually be delightful. That was one of the founding principles of how Onsemble is designed. We make it really easy for someone maybe just at the beginning of their journey, to learn more about what electrification is. Our app helps them understand what rebates are available to them personally, and we do all the work of finding a quality contractor and managing the installation process. 

The goal is that it's actually a delightful experience, the same way that you can use your phone to get food delivered to your door. It should have the same level of convenience.

DT:  Tell me what kinds of barriers people face when they want to electrify. 

JY: Number one is just awareness. So a lot of our brand work is around helping people understand why they should electrify.

Number two is cost. The rebates are a really good start. Today we're very focused on heat pump water heater installations. And you would think with state-level incentives in California starting at $3100, sometimes up to $5,000, it would take a large chunk out of the cost of the project.

And yet a lot of times it doesn't cover the whole project. Customers are still asked to go out of pocket. We're working very hard, in partnership with our contractor partners, to find the right price points that are fair and predictable, based on the information we know about the project itself. We also front the incentive dollars for our homeowners – we stack every available rebate and apply it upfront to lower the project cost. But we're really focused on getting the total down. 

DT: Tell me what the Onsemble experience is like. 

JY: You start by downloading the app. And then it's as simple as taking a picture of the label on your water heater. Based on that, we now know the technology you have in your home and where you live. And we build an eligibility profile for you, which stacks all the available rebates. These can be from your local CCA [community choice aggregator], from the state, and from Federal-level funding. 

Today, if someone Googles it, which most people do, they get a list of 15 to 25 different programs. But then homeowners are like “Okay, but what about me personally?” So we flip that on its head in the app and say, “you personally have these rebates available to you, totaling $4,000.” If you’re interested in learning more, match them with a contractor and schedule a call with our internal energy advisor to put the case together. 

We do all of the education so that the contractor can just show up and do the installation. And everyone has full information.

Then we create a project report that we hand over to the contractor- “Are you available to do this job at the package price that we agreed to next Tuesday?” And at that point, they can just say yes. It’s an extraordinarily efficient process for them and for the homeowner.

DT: Like TaskRabbit for electrification? 

JY: Yeah!

DT: You must have spent some time working on getting a network of contractors. 

JY: That was the beginning of the journey as a company –  the partnerships with contractors. It's been a huge focus from day one. We've learned a ton about the types of contractors that work really well for these electrification projects. They’re excited about the future. They see the business opportunity.

For example,  plumbing shops  need to work with  electricians to install heat pump water heaters. That's an evolution of their business, but they're willing to do it because of the opportunity that's in front of them. Those are the shops that work really well with Onsemble.

DT: It can be really expensive to electrify your home heating, because you're actually heating during the morning and evening, when rates are higher. How can people who are electrifying their heat optimize for rates that move around by the hour?

JY: As we electrify homes, we’re increasing electricity demand. You don't want to solve a climate issue and create a different issue by overburdening the grid in those peak times like you've described.

That's why Onsemble is working on a virtual power plant, which would help manage the electricity demand at the appliance level in communication with the grid. When the grid is experiencing a stress event, there's an opportunity to remove demand at the home level. And Onsemble would orchestrate that. 

There's a huge opportunity to have these connected devices and the grid actually work together to smooth out the demand which ideally will also ensure homeowners use less electricity when it’s more expensive during peak times.  Plus, the homeowner can actually get paid for being a part of the program! 

DT: Otherwise, why would you do it?

JY: It's great to tell a homeowner that they're part of the future of the grid. It's cleaner, it's more reliable. But it's hard to feel the impact at an individual level, so it's important to bring them into the value creation process.

DT: A lot of homeowners are feeling a bit of sticker shock, whether they've electrified or not, with grid costs going up. So having that future vision is enticing for folks who want to step into that future, but not get kicked their asses kicked on bills in the process.

JY: Yes, we have to be very careful with that.

DT: Do you see Onsemble building long-term partnerships with your customers?

JY: Yeah. The upgrade itself is the beginning of what we see as a long journey - a new type of relationship with the grid, and with energy in general.

This interview was edited for length and clarity.

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