Virtual Peaker: Utility virtual power plants and demand flexibility

Virtual Peaker supplies cloud software for utility demand-response programmes, combining DER control, customer engagement, forecasting and API integrations.

Best for: Utilities coordinating customer-owned devices and participation programmes.
Less suited to: An independent consumer energy app or standalone hardware controller.
Deployment: Cloud suites linked to device partners and utility business systems.
Data in: Device telemetry, demand, weather, tariffs and participant programme records.
Pricing: Request a utility-specific proposal; no standard public price found.

Overview

Virtual Peaker helps utilities organise distributed devices into demand-response programmes and virtual power plants. Its platform combines device control with the less visible operational work around enrolment, customer communication and incentives. That combination matters because controllable equipment alone does not create a dependable programme: the utility also needs participating customers and a record of delivered response. Shift handles distributed-resource management, while Relay and Envision address engagement and forecasting. The software is intended for utilities managing a portfolio of customer-side assets, rather than homeowners purchasing a single thermostat or battery controller.

Offering

The Shift DERMS suite connects behind-the-meter resources for demand flexibility and event management. Relay manages the customer side, including communication and incentives, while Envision supports demand forecasting and purchasing decisions. Together these functions connect an anticipated system requirement with an event and the people participating in it. The company's virtual-power-plant offering also includes Topline Demand Control for aggregate load shaping. This suite structure lets a utility distinguish its immediate programme-management needs from forecasting or more advanced orchestration, rather than treating every capability as one indivisible product.

Technology

Virtual Peaker's API offering supports demand, weather and rate-data ingestion, operational-system integration and analytical exports. Customer enrolment can connect with existing customer-information or CRM systems; event calls and messages can use system-load, price or location context. The company history also records Gravity Connect, an open specification for equipment developers to expose telemetry and control for programme participation. These are specific integration roles: a device connection provides the controllable resource, while business-system interfaces preserve the utility's customer workflow. Supported manufacturers and programme permissions still determine the available control path for an individual installation.

Markets

The utility solution overview addresses investor-owned utilities, municipal utilities and cooperatives. Their programmes may combine residential equipment with commercial resources, managed EV charging or location-specific dispatch. Relay's engagement functions are relevant where enrolment and retention constrain programme size; Envision's forecasts help connect the resource portfolio with demand planning. The commercial buyer is therefore usually the organisation operating the programme, not the household supplying a device. Virtual Peaker's published examples show utilities retaining the customer relationship while using a common software environment to run and expand their flexibility programmes.

Company

William Burke founded Virtual Peaker in April 2015. Its company timeline records a move to the current Louisville headquarters in 2020, an integrated suite launch in 2022 and the introduction of Gravity Connect in the same year. A subsequent NISC partnership linked the platform with utility marketing, messaging, meter-data and SmartHub systems. The history also records Topline Demand Control in 2024 and further financing in 2025. These milestones show how the business developed from distributed-device control into a broader utility programme platform, with customer operations and forecasting alongside dispatch.