AC controller that pre-cools homes before smart-meter peak tariff hours
TL;DR Coolcurve is a small plug-in controller for split ACs plus an app that reads a home's smart-meter data. It cools the flat harder before the evening peak tariff starts and eases off during it. AC service firms sell it at install or service visits, and households pay because the bill shows the saving.
Household power bills are about to get a clock. Under the 2023 amendment to the consumer rights rules, time-of-day tariffs apply to domestic users from April 2025, with peak hours priced 10–20% above normal and solar hours 10–20% below, starting as soon as a smart meter goes in[1]. The national scheme aims at 250 million prepaid smart meters, and about 1.2 crore were installed by March 2025[2].
So what actually moves the bill? The AC. Room ACs added roughly 50–60 GW to the evening peak in 2024[3], exactly when ToD prices are highest. Most families have no clue when their peak window starts, and a prepaid meter that drains faster in May just feels random.
Coolcurve pairs two things. A Wi-Fi infrared controller sits near each split AC and sends it the same signals as the remote, so it works with any brand. The app pulls the household's interval readings from the discom's smart-meter portal, with the consumer's consent, and learns how fast each room heats up.
Each day it builds a cooling plan. It runs the AC a little colder in the hour before the peak window, then lifts the set-point by one or two degrees and leans on the cooled-down room through the costly hours. It never switches the AC off without asking. A weekly note shows rupees saved against the same days last month, using the meter's own numbers.
I narrowed the seed. A whole-home "AI energy brain" is hard to sell and harder to prove. AC load against a ToD tariff is one lever, it is measurable on the bill and it's where most of the summer money goes. Lights, geysers and pumps can come later.
The household pays - an urban family with two or three split ACs and a smart meter, often on prepaid. My planned price is ₹1,500–2,500 per controller plus ₹99–149 a month for the plan (assumption, untested). The cheapest route to them is AC service companies and dealers, who already visit every summer and want a reason to call again. Discoms are a later buyer, since peak cuts help them too, but they buy slowly.
ToD pricing for homes started on 1 April 2025 and kicks in the day a smart meter is fitted[1]. Smart-meter installs are running into the crores, and state regulations reviewed by Prayas require that consumers can see their usage data[2]. Radio approval for a Wi-Fi controller is now a ₹10,000 self-declaration per model[4].
No public figure exists for household ToD or AC-scheduling spend in India. The base is concrete: about 1.2 crore smart consumer meters installed by March 2025 against a 250 million target[2], and residential AC penetration around 7–9% in the national cooling plan[5]. As an adjacent number, cooling is about 10–12% of India's electricity use[3]. Treat that as context and not as your market.
One US firm sells a home energy monitor, claims 4–8% average yearly savings and now works inside utility smart meters[6]. Indian smart-home brands sell smart plugs and cameras, but shows no tariff-aware scheduling[7]. Energy-automation firms automate energy in shops and offices, not flats. I found no Indian product that times home ACs to the ToD window, though search was limited this round.
| Difficulty | Moderate (41/100) |
| Starting capital | ₹60 L–1.2 Cr |
| Time to launch | 6–9 months |
The controller is cheap hardware. The hard parts are data access and proof. Every discom runs its own portal and ToD order, so you'll integrate state by state. And the saving has to show up on a real bill against honest weather-adjusted baselines, or families will uninstall it.
No licence to sell the controller, but tariffs and meter data are set by regulators state by state.
Building this outside India? The categories above usually have a local equivalent, so check with your own regulator.
Don't let AI switch an AC off or push a room past what the family agreed, and don't quote savings the meter data can't back.
Want to work out the AI layer for Coolcurve? Talk to Yash →
Here's what can go south -
I think it's worth a look for a founder who knows IoT and can get into one or two discoms' data. If you were hoping for a pure app then avoid it. Start in one city whose commission has a meaningful domestic peak differential, and prove that 100 homes save more than they pay over a full summer month.
Plan for roughly ₹60 L–1.2 Cr, spread across hardware, the app and discom integrations state by state.
No sector licence, but each Wi-Fi model needs WPC equipment type approval, and you need the consumer's consent to use smart-meter data.
Yes, wherever homes pay time-of-use tariffs. Check how your utility shares meter data and what radio approvals apply.
The free Coolcurve validation kit has the line-by-line capital breakdown, the effort scoring, the radio and data-protection checklist, a 14-day validation sprint with pass/fail targets, a 90-day launch plan, 10 interview questions for households and AC service firms, and 5 assumptions to test. Download the kit →
Thinking about building Coolcurve or something close to it? The make-or-break work is getting smart-meter data out of a discom and proving the saving on a real bill, and that's where I can help. If you need a hand, you know where to find me. Talk to Yash →
For illustration only. Names are fictional and ideas hypothetical; sourced facts are real but may be out of date. Nothing here is legal, financial or professional advice, and Yash Khatri is not personally liable for any use of it. Read the full disclaimer.