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This Company Will Pay You to Skip Laundry Day

Kari Faber

by Kari Faber

Staff Writer

A man sits on the fire escape of his apartment in New York City while playing on his phone.
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As if you needed another excuse to skip laundry day— Californians and New Yorkers can actually make money for skipping a load.

How? Well, just by wearing your jeans for a third (or fourth) time, you’d be giving the energy grid a break! And one company wants to say thanks — in cold hard cash. 

If you have a utility account with PG&E, SDG&E or SCE (which cover nearly every county in California), or Con Edison in New York City, a company called OhmConnect will pay you to hold off on doing laundry.

OhmConnect is a free service that will let you know when a lot of people in your area are using power. Your job is to simply use less electricity for about an hour a week, at a specified time. You could turn off your A/C, use lights only in one room or — you guessed it — wait to do laundry until tomorrow, during odd hours. 

Here’s How to Get Cash from OhmConnect

  1. Sign up for a free OhmConnect account.
  2. Sync it with your online utility account through PG&E, SDG&E or SCE in California or Con Edison in New York. 
  3. Wait for OhmConnect to text or email you – whichever you prefer – during high-energy-consumption hours. 
  4. Reduce your energy usage for the specified time period. Head outside, or at least turn the TV off until the hour is up. You can even play games on your phone during this hour — just resist plugging in any electronics.
  5. Profit! OhmConnect rewards you with cash, prizes, gift cards and more.

This all works because the California and New York utilities pay OhmConnect to help them avoid turning on an expensive, dirty power plant. The company then passes the savings on to you.

The best part about all of this is that the folks running the electric grid would rather pay people to use less electricity rather than pay a power plant to turn on. 

Save Energy With Your Friends, Earn Money Doing It

Get your friends and neighbors to sign up and get even more money, prizes, and gadgets! It’s the side hustle that’s a win-win-win: for your wallet, for the planet, for the friends you refer. 

The more people you help sign up, the more money you make!

Automate to Make it Easier

If you don’t want to scurry around your house unplugging things, good news! OhmConnect can handle all that for you. All you have to do is connect your smart devices like Google Nest, or smart plugs from companies like TP-Link or OhmConnect directly. Then, when the grid is stressed and we are at risk of dipping into dirty energy sources, the company will automatically reduce your energy consumption.

Don’t worry, you can always opt-out of these energy reductions if the timing is bad on your end and you’ll be notified before anything happens.  

But you don’t need a smart device to save: The more you do, the more money you can make. 

Enter your ZIP code here to open a free OhmConnect account, then sync it with your online utility account to start earning cash. Your whites can wait!