Inside NHEC’s Ground-Up Approach to Building a Transactive Energy Platform – Without AMI
Equipped with limited resources and a bold idea, New Hampshire Electric Cooperative (NHEC) partnered with Bellawatt to build a fully functional Transactive Energy Rate (TER) platform. Together, they:
Launched a real-time, device-level pricing program without requiring AMI or infrastructure upgrades
Integrated seamlessly with NHEC’s billing system (NISC), preserving internal workflows
Enabled dual-path enrollment for both aggregators and co-op members
Delivered measurable results, including $1,300 in credits for a single bidirectional charger in under six months
Developed a flexible, future-ready architecture embraced by OEMs like GM and trusted by third-party aggregators
At first glance, NHEC's territory might not seem like the most likely proving ground for grid-edge innovation. A small member-owned cooperative in rural New Hampshire, NHEC serves just over 85,000 members with no advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) and a modest IT team. But what they lacked in scale, they made up for in ambition.
Rather than waiting for major infrastructure upgrades or grant funding to trickle in, NHEC asked a bold question: What if we could build a fully functional, device-level Transactive Energy Rate – and do it with the tools we already have? What if, instead of controlling devices, we informed them? What if members could participate flexibly, and still see meaningful value reflected on their bills?
This wasn’t just about exploring new pricing models. It was about reshaping what DER participation could look like at a co-op scale – without assuming every utility needs to become a tech company overnight. Bellawatt was brought in to turn this visionary idea into a robust, field-tested platform.
Before a single line of code was written, Bellawatt launched a discovery phase involving eleven aggregator and DERMS vendors. The goal was to de-risk the entire design process by understanding what would make aggregators eager to join – or hesitate.
Aggregators raised concerns about customer acquisition costs, branding confusion, short-term program lengths, and overly complex enrollment processes. These insights shaped everything from the structure of the onboarding API to how the program validated participant identity. To avoid member confusion and reduce friction, we built a dual-path registration process: one for members signing up directly, and another for aggregators acting on their behalf.
To make the program work for real people, we mapped out personas that reflected the diversity of NHEC’s member base. For example, there were "Freddy Fermatas," like our partner Fermata Energy – experienced players who wanted a registration process as seamless and flexible as the rest of their operations. And there were "Average Joes," who just wanted to know if their battery could save them money without thinking about kilowatts or grid dispatch. The platform was designed to serve both with intuitive enrollment and simple, bill-visible outcomes.
Bellawatt worked with NHEC to design a platform that didn’t ask the co-op to be something it wasn’t. Instead of requiring sweeping infrastructure changes or staffing up to manage complex new tools, the TER system fit snugly into the NHEC we met at project kickoff.
We built the backend and frontend from the ground up, but every decision centered on alignment with existing processes and tools. The platform integrated directly with NHEC’s NISC billing system, enabling daily price signals to flow to registered DERs and usage data to flow back without disrupting internal workflows. Key protocols like OpenADR made interoperability smooth, and a virtual metering layer handled credit calculations without relying on AMI or physical installs.
Equally important was NHEC’s agnostic stance on device type. The platform was designed to support a wide range of DERs – from home batteries and smart thermostats to EV chargers and bidirectional inverters – without favoring specific vendors or requiring custom integrations. This flexibility ensured broader participation while keeping program management simple.
The ultimate goal was to go beyond mere technical compatibility to find true strategic fit. NHEC didn’t need a new identity to run a modern DER program – they needed a partner who could build within their reality through intelligent alignment of tech, tools, and the humans behind them.
For members, the experience was more about results than architecture. And thanks to virtual metering, those results were right there on the bill.
Each registered device was tracked individually, allowing usage to be evaluated against the TER price signal and translated into costs or credits. That information appeared as its own line item – visible, understandable, and actionable. It gave members a way to see their DERs not just as backup power or personal investments, but as active participants in the grid.
Key to the program design was a focus on informing rather than controlling participating devices. Members retained full autonomy over how and when their DERs responded to price signals – a principle that reinforced trust, respected device ownership, and aligned with the values of NHEC’s member-first mission.
This visibility empowered members to clearly see when their DERs were providing value, and how that value translated into dollars. One of the clearest examples came from Plymouth State University, where a Fermata bidirectional charger discharged more than 2 MWh into the grid, earning $1,300 in bill credits in under six months. For Plymouth State, this wasn't just a tech demo – it was real, bill-reflected value.
Midway through the project, NHEC began collaborating with General Motors, who wanted their EV owners to participate using GM’s own enrollment systems. This posed a challenge: how do you maintain a seamless member experience across two platforms while keeping data flows secure and verifiable?
Bellawatt built a flexible API interface that allowed GM to collect and submit the required enrollment information – account number, VIN, device ID – while maintaining the integrity of NHEC’s registration and billing processes. Members were prompted to confirm enrollment through a coordinated flow between GM and NHEC, with follow-up configuration emails and validation handled automatically.
More than a technical integration, this was a milestone. It expanded the program’s credibility and exemplified Bellawatt’s commitment to meeting partners where they are.
Throughout development, we treated resilience, performance, and security as table stakes. This wasn’t a "pilot and forget" project; it was a platform built to meet production-grade standards.
We collaborated with NHEC’s IT team to align with their third-party risk management protocols, encrypt all sensitive data, and ensure member information was deleted promptly after registration, unless needed for billing.
To ensure the system remained reliable during key moments, we introduced application health monitoring and load testing to validate performance at times of peak activity – when pricing signals were sent and usage reports received. The platform maintained 99% uptime, with fallback mechanisms to credit members even if device data failed to transmit.
While the technology performed well, the experience also surfaced valuable insights about market realities. Aggregators need multi-year program guarantees to justify their onboarding investments. Battery financing models often prohibit grid-charging, limiting participation. And onboarding has to walk a fine line between automation and flexibility: too much automation, and things can break without anyone noticing; too much manual intervention, and the program becomes difficult to scale.
Bellawatt built the TER platform to accommodate these realities. For example, the admin portal gave NHEC full visibility into and control over rate configuration, device oversight, and data auditing. This helped balance the elegance of automation with the necessity of human-in-the-loop troubleshooting.
This project also emphasized a core truth of DER engagement: success is about more than clever software. We must build bridges between ecosystems, between utilities and OEMs, and most importantly, between people and the grid. Creating that connective tissue is what made this program possible.
Though the pilot was eventually sunset, its legacy lives on. NHEC proved that even a small co-op can lead on DER innovation – and that smart, scalable design can make participation possible without major upgrades. For utilities looking to do more with less, this project offers a blueprint worth following.
