OE's commitment to ensuring non-wires options to modernize the nation's electricity delivery system includes ongoing support of a number of national and regional activities in support of demand response. The New England Demand Response Initiative (NEDRI), OE's initial endeavor to promote non-wire solutions, was created to develop a comprehensive, coordinated set of demand response programs for the New England regional power markets. NEDRI's goal was to outline workable market rules, public policies, and regulatory criteria to incorporate customer-based demand response resources into New England's electricity markets and power systems. NEDRI promoted best practices and coordinated policy initiatives, but was not intended to replace the functions that the Independent System Operator and other regulatory organizations must perform to design and implement demand-side programs. NEDRI studied a full range of demand response resource options, including short-term price-responsive load, retail pricing and metering strategies, reliability-driven demand response, and longer-term energy efficiency investments. NEDRI concluded in 2003 with a final report that included 38 recommendations for incorporating demand response in retail and wholesale markets in New England.

OE has continued its commitment to demand response by supporting several initiatives, the first of which is the Mid-Atlantic Distributed Resources Initiative (MADRI) for states in the PJM Interconnection. With OE's support, MADRI was established in 2004 by the public utility commissions of Delaware, District of Columbia, Maryland, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. MADRI seeks to identify and remedy retail barriers to the deployment of distributed generation, demand response, and energy efficiency in the Mid-Atlantic region. The guiding principle for MADRI is that distributed resources should compete with generation and transmission to ensure grid reliability and a fully functioning wholesale electric market. Since institutional barriers and lack of market incentives appear to be slowing deployment of cost-effective distributed resources in the Mid-Atlantic, MADRI's work is critical in this area. The Initiatives three goals are to: 1) Educate stakeholders, especially state officials, on distributed resource opportunities, barriers, and solutions; 2) Develop alternative distributed resource solutions for states and others to implement; and 3) Pursue regional consensus on preferred solutions.

In collaborations with Midwest states and the Organization of Midwest Independent Transmission System Operator States, OE also supports the Midwest Demand Response Initiative (MWDRI), which was created to build upon and expand the work of the New England and Mid-Atlantic regions to create a robust demand- and price- responsive retail market in the Midwest.

The Pacific Northwest States have also partnered with OE to support the Pacific Northwest Demand Response Project, which will begin a collaborative process to encourage the appropriate development of demand response in the region.

OE also supports many demand response-related technical conferences, meetings, and webinars, including Demand Response Town Meetings and webinars recently organized by the U.S. Demand Response Coordinating Committee.

DOE is also supporting and participating as the U.S. representative in the International Energy Agency (IEA) Demand Side Management Programme (IEA-DSM) Task XIII. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the U.S. Demand Response Coordinating Committee (DRCC) are also participating as "country experts" in the effort, The purpose of the IEA-DSM Tax XIII is to review current demand response practices in each of the project member’s countries and develop tools and recommendations for better integrating demand response into member countries’ electricity markets. Other participating countries include: Australia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, and Sweden.