Moves housing society pumps, chargers and opt-in ACs out of peak hours
TL;DR Dimmerhall fits controllers to the flexible loads in large housing societies, such as water pumps, sewage plants, shared EV chargers and residents' ACs where they opt in. It moves that load into cheap solar hours and answers DISCOM demand-response calls. The society pays from its savings, and the DISCOM pays incentives where a programme exists.
Evening peaks are when power costs most to supply, and India's tariffs now say so. Time-of-day pricing reached commercial users in April 2024 and every other non-farm consumer from April 2025 once a smart meter is fitted - solar hours 10–20% cheaper, peak hours 10–20% dearer[1]. Around 1.2 crore consumer smart meters were in place by March 2025[2]. A large society's common meter runs borewell pumps, overhead-tank fills and a sewage plant on fixed timers set years ago, often straight into the evening peak. Nobody on the managing committee has the time to re-plan this (they're busy fighting about parking), and residents never see the bill line that pays for it.
What it does, in regulatory terms: behind-the-meter load control only. Dimmerhall does not sell, trade or export power. It works inside DISCOM demand-response programmes and published tariffs, so it needs no trading licence. Check each DISCOM's programme terms before enrolling a society.
The seed imagined a neighbourhood virtual power plant trading pooled power. India allows peer-to-peer trading only as regulator-approved pilots, such as the 2021 Delhi trial[3]. So I kept the pooling and dropped the trading.
Here's how it works. Dimmerhall fits relays and meters to common-area loads and connects them to a scheduler that knows the tariff slots and the society's water and charging needs. Tanks fill at noon, not at 7 p.m. Shared chargers slow down when the DISCOM signals a peak. Residents can opt their bedroom ACs into a two-degree setback during peak events, with a one-tap override. Across ten or twenty societies, the pooled load is large enough for a DISCOM to count.
The managing committee pays from the common electricity budget, typically as a share of measured savings, so there is no upfront cost to argue over at the general body meeting. Residents who opt in get a credit on maintenance charges. Where a DISCOM runs a paid demand-response programme, Dimmerhall takes a cut of the incentive. The big private DISCOM pilots haven't published their incentive amounts[4], so model the business on tariff savings first and treat incentives as a bonus.
Time-of-day tariffs for households became mandatory from April 2025[1]. The smart-meter rollout gives the interval data that proves savings[2]. Rooftop solar on homes passed 5 million households and 14.8 GW by August 2026 under PM Surya Ghar[5], which deepens the midday dip that shifted load can fill.
There's no public figure for housing societies in demand-response programmes. The closest marker is a large private DISCOM that, with a global demand-response software vendor, targeted 55,000 residential and 6,000 large commercial customers in Mumbai, aiming for 75 MW of peak reduction in six months and 200 MW by summer 2025[4]. That shows a DISCOM willing to pay for residential flexibility. Treat it as adjacent.
A large private utility runs residential demand response with a software partner in Delhi and Mumbai[4], but it enrols households one by one. Smart-plug and home-automation brands sell control without any DISCOM link. Society management apps handle dues and visitors, not loads. The gap is an operator that works at society level, where pumps and chargers give a large, dependable block of flexible load.
| Difficulty | Moderate (50/100) |
| Starting capital | ₹1.2–2.2 Cr |
| Time to launch | 9–12 months |
The controllers are standard. The hard part is people - managing committees change every year, plumbers override timers, and residents complain the first time a tank runs low. You also need DISCOM programme managers to treat a society aggregator as a partner, which takes pilot data.
No power licence, because Dimmerhall only shifts load behind the meter. You do need a few approvals around the hardware and the programmes you join.
Building this outside India? The categories above usually have a local equivalent, so check with your own regulator.
Don't let AI override water supply or a resident's comfort settings without a clear rule and a manual override. One dry tank costs you the contract.
Want to work out the AI layer for Dimmerhall? Talk to Yash →
I like this for a founder who has run facility management or rooftop solar installs in gated societies. If you're expecting software margins then look elsewhere. Prove one thing first - that one 300-flat society saves at least ₹1.5 lakh a year on its common meter without a single water complaint.
Plan for roughly ₹1.2–2.2 Cr, since you fit relays and meters across many societies before the pooled load counts.
No trading licence, because you only shift load behind the meter. Wireless controllers need WPC type approval and each DISCOM sets its own programme terms.
Yes, wherever apartment blocks pay time-of-day tariffs or utilities run demand-response programmes. Check local equipment and data rules first.
The free Dimmerhall validation kit has the line-by-line capital breakdown, the effort scoring, the tariff and demand-response checklist, a 14-day validation sprint with pass/fail targets, a 90-day launch plan, 10 interview questions for committees and DISCOM managers, and 5 assumptions to test. Download the kit →
Thinking about building Dimmerhall or something close to it? The make-or-break work is proving savings on common meters and getting one DISCOM to count society load in its programme, and that's the kind of plan I help founders put together. 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.