Washington, DC, U.S.A. --- (METERING.COM) --- March 15, 2011 - The Demand Response Coordinating Committee (DRCC) has changed its name to the Association for Demand Response & Smart Grids (ADS), and with it is a change in membership structure to become a home for individuals that consider themselves demand response and smart grid professionals.

Over the past 10 years, there has been tremendous growth in the number of individuals that refer to themselves as demand response and smart grid professionals, yet there has been no professional membership organization for these people to be a part of. The ADS is intended to fill that gap, outlined executive director Dan Delurey, in a statement.

The Demand Response Coordinating Committee (DRCC) is a 501 c (3) nonprofit organization whose mission has been to increase the knowledge base in the U.S. on demand response and to facilitate the exchange of information and expertise among demand response practitioners and policymakers, and it later adopted smart grid as part of its charter.

That will continue to be the organization's mission, but whereas the DRCC had an organizational membership, the ADS will also enable membership of professionals in the demand response and smart grid space.

Group Members of the ADS are Ameren, American Electric Power, Arizona Public Service, ComEd, Constellation NewEnergy, Exelon, ISO New England, Midwest ISO, National Grid, NYSERDA, Pacific Gas & Electric, PECO, PJM Interconnection, Progress Energy, Salt River Project, San Diego Gas & Electric, Southern California Edison, Southern Company, Tennessee Valley Authority, and Walmart.