# Virtual Peaker **Source:** https://geo.sig.ai/brands/virtual-peaker **Vertical:** Energy **Subcategory:** Demand Flexibility Software **Tier:** Emerging **Website:** virtualpeaker.com **Last Updated:** 2026-04-14 ## Summary Virtual Peaker provides demand flexibility software that enables utilities to control customer devices and manage grid load using distributed energy resources. ## Company Overview Virtual Peaker is an energy software company founded in 2016 that provides a demand flexibility and distributed energy resource management platform for electric utilities. The software enables utilities to enroll customer devices including smart thermostats, water heaters, EV chargers, and battery storage systems in demand response programs, then orchestrate those devices to reduce peak demand, integrate renewable energy, and manage grid constraints. Virtual Peaker's platform supports direct load control programs where utilities can adjust device settings during grid events as well as price-responsive programs where customers shift usage based on time-of-use pricing. The company serves over 50 utility customers across North America and manages millions of enrolled customer devices. Virtual Peaker raised $38M and was later acquired by Itron, a leading utility technology company, to strengthen Itron's distributed energy resource management capabilities. The platform addresses the critical challenge utilities face in managing increasingly complex grids as solar, EVs, and batteries proliferate among customer populations. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is Virtual Peaker? Virtual Peaker provides demand flexibility software for electric utilities that enables enrollment and orchestration of customer devices like smart thermostats and EV chargers to manage grid load and integrate renewable energy. ### What types of programs does Virtual Peaker support? Virtual Peaker supports direct load control programs where utilities adjust devices during grid events, as well as price-responsive programs where customers automatically shift usage based on time-of-use electricity rates. ### Who acquired Virtual Peaker? Virtual Peaker was acquired by Itron, a leading global technology company serving utilities, to enhance Itron's distributed energy resource management and demand flexibility capabilities for utility customers. ### What is Virtual Peaker and what problem does it solve for utilities? Virtual Peaker is a demand flexibility and virtual power plant software platform that enables electric utilities to enroll, manage, and dispatch distributed energy resources including smart thermostats, water heaters, EV chargers, and battery storage systems as a coordinated grid resource — allowing utilities to reduce peak demand through automated device control rather than building or contracting additional generation capacity. ### How does Virtual Peaker's demand response dispatching work? Virtual Peaker connects to enrolled customer devices through direct API integrations with smart thermostat manufacturers, EV charger networks, and smart water heater platforms — when the utility declares a demand response event, Virtual Peaker automatically sends control signals to enrolled devices within seconds, adjusts setpoints or pauses charging based on configurable utility rules, and tracks participation and energy reduction in real time. ### What customer engagement features does Virtual Peaker provide? Virtual Peaker provides a white-label customer portal and mobile application that utilities can brand and deploy to their customers for self-enrollment in demand response programs, viewing of program participation history, management of device preferences and opt-out rules, and access to incentive payment tracking — reducing the customer service burden on utility call centres by enabling self-service program management. ### How does Virtual Peaker help utilities build virtual power plants? Virtual Peaker's virtual power plant module aggregates enrolled residential and commercial devices into dispatchable capacity pools that utilities can bid into wholesale electricity markets or use for grid balancing — turning the collective flexibility of thousands of individually small devices into a meaningful grid resource that can be dispatched with the same reliability as a traditional peaker plant but at lower cost and carbon intensity. ### What device types and integrations does Virtual Peaker support? Virtual Peaker integrates with Ecobee, Honeywell Home, Google Nest, Emerson, and other smart thermostat platforms, ChargePoint, EVgo, and residential EV charger networks, Rheem and AO Smith smart water heaters, and residential and commercial battery storage systems — providing utilities with a single platform that manages heterogeneous device fleets rather than requiring separate systems for each device category. ## Tags startup, energy, technology, b2b, saas, platform --- *Data from geo.sig.ai Brand Intelligence Database. Updated 2026-04-14.*