Which technique is an example of demand-side management?

• A. Building more baseload power plants.
• B. Ignoring time-of-use pricing.
• C. Demand response and time-of-use pricing to shift or reduce consumption.
• D. Increasing peak generation capacity with no price signals.

Answer: (C)

Demand-side management is about shaping how and when people use electricity by encouraging changes in consumption through price signals and incentives. The best example combines demand response—getting consumers to cut back or shift usage during high-demand periods—with time-of-use pricing, which makes electricity cheaper off-peak and more expensive during peak times. Together, these tools influence customer behavior to reduce or shift demand, which is the essence of DSM.

The other approaches focus on supplying more energy or removing price signals. Building more baseload plants or increasing peak-generation capacity adds supply rather than shaping demand, and doing so without price signals misses the mechanism that motivates people to adjust their usage.