Stop demand-charge surprises on your Tesla Powerwall.
DemandGuard watches your home's grid usage during peak hours and quietly hands the load to your Powerwall before a spike turns into a bill. You set your target. It holds the line.
* Based on SRP, APS, PG&E, and 11 more supported utilities' summer rate plans. Real August 2026 average savings: $64.25/mo.
Why demand charges hit so hard
Your utility doesn't just bill you for how much electricity you use. They bill you for the brief moments you used it the fastest.
One spike sets the whole bill
Utilities measure your highest 30- or 60-minute average power draw during peak hours and bill the entire month at that rate. One slip carries the bill — and it doesn't care that you did everything right for the other 719 half-hours.
Solar can't always save you
Peak hours run late afternoon to evening, exactly when solar tapers. Cloudy days knock production further. Without a storage strategy, demand still leaks through.
Powerwalls help — if they're coordinated
A Powerwall alone won't cap demand. Without a target and live monitoring, it can drain on a low-impact moment and miss the spike that matters.
What's the bill look like on your plan?
Pick your utility. We'll show the typical demand charge for a 12 kW summer peak vs. capping it at 6 kW with DemandGuard.
August 2026 averages from real DemandGuard customers. Summer (Jun–Sep) rates are 2–3× higher, so summer savings will be too.
Three steps, then it just runs.
Set a number once. DemandGuard watches every 60 seconds during peak hours and only intervenes when needed.
Set your demand target
Open Grid Getter, look at your last 3 months of bills, and pick a kW number you want to stay under. Most homes start 10–20% below their historical peak.
Every interval, watched
During peak hours DemandGuard samples your grid draw every 60 seconds, aligned to your utility's billing intervals (SRP and APS pre-configured).
Powerwall covers the spike
When a draw approaches your target, DemandGuard pulls from your Powerwall instead. Grid demand stays flat, your bill stays predictable, and you never maintain the script.
Keeps charge back for the spike that counts
Left alone, Tesla's optimizer can drain your battery early in the peak window and leave nothing for 6 pm. DemandGuard holds the battery back while your grid draw is safely under target, then releases it when a spike is coming.
Holding the battery back isn't free when the sun is up, so each minute DemandGuard picks the cheapest option that still keeps you under your target.
Every command is checked against your live power flow. If Tesla hasn't done what it was asked within a few minutes, DemandGuard sends it again, and the Activity Log records it.
- 1Solar covers the house
No hold needed. Your home runs on solar and the battery isn't touched.
- 2Backup hold
The battery pauses in Tesla's Backup mode while the grid carries the house. Solar tops the battery up for later.
- 3Reserve-pin hold
Solar keeps powering the house and the grid covers the rest. The battery holds its charge.
- 4Battery
If no hold keeps you under target, the Powerwall takes the load.
Keep shaving after your normal reserve is used up, down to a floor you set (as low as 5%). Your reserve goes back to normal when the window closes.
Skips the extra drop when Storm Watch is active or severe weather is forecast, so you don't go into a storm with a low battery.
If the window ends with 60% left, there's no reason to let it drain away overnight. Turn this on and the reserve holds at that level until your next window: fewer cycles, more backup in an outage. Leave it off if you're in a VPP.
Real results, real savings
DemandGuard doesn't just shave peaks. The bill stops surprising you.
Your demand stays inside the limit you set, every billing interval, every day.
Real customer data. Summer rates run higher, so summer savings will too.
Spread-out discharge cycles are easier on battery chemistry than rapid peak-period drains.
New automations pause the battery in Backup mode instead of toggling Tesla's operating mode, so there's still charge left when a spike hits.
Works with your existing Tesla Powerwall and Grid Getter account. No add-ons, no rewiring.
NWS data refreshed throughout the day, with a solar-impact rating so you know what's coming.
Pull your energy history any time — useful for tracking savings, tax records, or talking to your utility.
Start free. Upgrade when you're ready.
DemandGuard is part of the Adaptive tier. Start with the free plan to monitor your energy, then upgrade once you're seeing the spikes you want to cap.
Frequently asked questions
What if my demand still exceeds my limit?
DemandGuard enforces your limit within whatever your battery has on hand. If your home pulls more than the limit and the Powerwall is depleted, demand charges will reflect the overage. The trick is picking a target that matches your battery's capacity and your normal usage.
How do I pick the right target?
Look at your last 3–6 utility bills for the peak demand line item. Start about 10–20% below your historical peak. You can adjust as you learn what your home actually does on hot evenings.
Does it work with partial solar + battery?
Yes. DemandGuard uses whatever battery storage is available to smooth peak-hour spikes, regardless of how much solar is on the roof.
Can I disable it during emergencies?
Yes — full manual override anytime in the Grid Getter app. Disable, pause, or change your target whenever you need to prioritize comfort.
Which utilities are supported?
Demand charges are common in California, Texas, and the Southwest. Grid Getter reads the utility you've set in your Tesla account and applies the right billing intervals automatically. SRP and APS are pre-configured. We add new utilities regularly.
Is DemandGuard included in the free plan?
DemandGuard is part of the Adaptive tier at $10.99/mo. The free tier includes live monitoring and one custom automation. Try free first, upgrade when you're ready.
How does DemandGuard keep me on grid power during a spike?
You choose a Hold strategy when you set up DemandGuard. Advanced, the default for new automations, pauses your battery in Tesla's Backup mode so your home runs on grid power while the battery is saved for later. It picks the cheapest hold that keeps you under your target, and lets solar top up the battery while it waits. Classic, the original behavior, toggles your Powerwall between Tesla's self-powered and autonomous modes and lets Tesla manage the battery. Either way, DemandGuard verifies the switch actually took hold and re-sends the command if Tesla hasn't caught up yet.
Can DemandGuard use more of my battery than my normal reserve?
Yes, if you turn on Demand Floor. It lets DemandGuard keep shaving your grid draw after your battery reaches its normal reserve, by temporarily lowering the reserve to a floor percentage (10% by default, 5% minimum) during the window and restoring it when the window closes. Weather Guard, on by default, skips that extra drop when Storm Watch is active or severe weather is forecast for your area, so you're not left with a low battery heading into a storm.
What happens to my battery when the DemandGuard window ends?
By default your reserve goes back to where it was before the window, and in Self-Powered mode the battery drains to it overnight. Turn on Keep battery level after peak window and Grid Getter sets the reserve to the battery's level when the window closes instead, so you keep that charge for an outage and skip a cycle. Above 80% it settles at 80%, Tesla's limit. An optional minimum overnight reserve tops the battery up from the grid if the window ran it low. If you take part in a virtual power plant, leave it off, since a held battery won't export.
Why can't I set a battery reserve between 81% and 99%?
Tesla's system quietly rounds any reserve you set between 81% and 99% down to 80%, then reports it as saved, so a "90%" hold really sits at 80%. Setting it to 100% does the opposite: it charges the Powerwall to full from the grid, which can trigger the exact demand charge you're trying to avoid. Grid Getter handles this for you. It snaps any 81–99% value down to 80% — the highest reserve Tesla honors without force-charging — and holds a genuinely full battery by switching modes instead of pinning a number. The reserve you see is the one that actually sticks.
Spend 5 minutes today. Save $64.25 a month.
Start with Grid Getter's free tier and see your real demand spikes. Upgrade to Adaptive when you want to stop them.
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