Base Power

Base Power is an Austin, Texas-based residential energy company that installs large-capacity batteries at customers' homes and, in deregulated territories, also acts as their retail electricity provider. Homeowners pay a low upfront installation fee plus a monthly membership fee and a per-kWh energy rate rather than purchasing the battery outright; Base retains ownership of the hardware. The batteries provide automatic whole-home backup that engages when the grid fails — the company states switchover occurs in under one second (usually under half a second) and that its current system protects against 97% of outages, with runtimes of roughly 25 to 36 hours depending on consumption and configuration. Homes may qualify for zero, one, or two batteries, and installation is performed in two visits near the home's electric meter.

Beyond backup, Base aggregates the installed batteries into a virtual power plant: units charge when grid demand and prices are low (for example overnight or midday) and discharge or export when the grid is stressed, which the company says is how it funds below-market retail electricity rates. Base monitors weather and grid conditions to forecast outages and reserve customer backup capacity. In regulated markets such as co-op and municipal utility territories, the customer's existing utility relationship is unchanged and Base works with the utility to site batteries that relieve local grid strain.

The company operates in Texas and Illinois and has also announced Base Energy for Business, offering fixed-rate commercial electricity plans in the ERCOT market. Corporate entities listed include Base Power Development, LLC, Base Texas REP, LLC, and Base Retail, LLC, at 205 E Riverside Drive, Austin, Texas.