Acquisition integrates grid visibility and flexibility markets to help utilities manage electrification and cut infrastructure costs.
As electric vehicles (EVs), battery storage systems, and rooftop solar installations continue to proliferate, utilities face growing challenges in managing their increasingly complex distribution networks. These organizations often struggle to locate distributed energy resources (DERs), assess their impacts on grid performance, and deploy them effectively to offset the need for costly infrastructure expansions.
To tackle these challenges, Electron, a global leader in energy flexibility marketplaces, has announced its agreement to acquire Rhythmos.io (“Rhythmos”), an innovator in DER detection and grid impact analytics. This strategic acquisition brings together Rhythmos’ advanced visibility technology and Electron’s flexibility marketplace platform to help utilities expand grid capacity more efficiently and cost-effectively. The combined solution aims to reduce or defer the need for traditional infrastructure investments—potentially saving utilities and customers billions of dollars.
Combining Grid Visibility with Market Flexibility
The newly integrated company will deliver value orchestration technologies that close the gap between visibility and deployment. These solutions will enable utilities to pinpoint DER locations—such as EVs, batteries, and rooftop solar—and understand their precise impacts on individual transformers and substations. Armed with this insight, utilities can better manage distributed resources through competitive local and system-wide markets, maximizing economic value while maintaining grid reliability.
In addition, these orchestration technologies will generate regulatory-grade data to support transparent, evidence-based decision-making. Utilities can use this data to justify infrastructure strategies to regulators—demonstrating when grid flexibility offers a more cost-effective alternative to traditional expansion projects, or when conventional infrastructure investment remains necessary.
Unlocking Grid-Wide Savings Through Smarter Flexibility
“Distributed energy resources have the potential to unlock major system-wide savings by optimizing both energy consumption and infrastructure use,” said Jo-Jo Hubbard, CEO of Electron. “Our experience running flexibility markets globally has shown that these benefits are scalable and measurable. The real challenge isn’t on the supply side—virtual power plants have already aggregated gigawatts of flexible capacity. It’s on the buy side, where utilities need better tools for visibility, valuation, and market participation. By joining forces with Rhythmos, we’re closing that gap—integrating grid awareness into flexibility markets so utilities can deploy resources more strategically and DER providers can capture greater value.”
Studies indicate that grid-aware DER optimization can unlock 10–30% in total system savings, translating to potential annual savings exceeding $10 billion for the U.S. utility sector. Rhythmos’ research further estimates that optimized EV charging alone could help utilities avoid $7–$9 billion in transformer upgrade costs, as better situational awareness allows targeted deferrals of specific investments and prevents unnecessary spending that would otherwise be reflected in customer electricity rates.
Turning Grid Data into Smarter Decisions
“For the first time, utilities can cost-effectively see exactly where distributed resources are and how they impact the grid—down to the service transformer—using data they already possess,” explained Ken Munson, CEO of Rhythmos. “By integrating Rhythmos’ grid-edge visibility with Electron’s flexibility marketplace, utilities gain the situational awareness needed to make smarter, data-driven investment choices. They can now present clear, evidence-based cases for when local flexibility is more economical than building new infrastructure. The result is a more reliable grid and more affordable power for consumers. Ultimately, this partnership makes every distributed asset more valuable by making the grid itself more intelligent.”
Complementing Existing Energy Management Platforms
Electron’s and Rhythmos’ technologies are designed to integrate seamlessly with existing systems—including virtual power plant (VPP) platforms, demand response management systems (DERMS), and aggregation service providers—rather than replace them. By incorporating grid-aware price signals and optimizing the timing and coordination of DER activation, the joint capabilities enhance the value captured by distributed resource operators while giving utilities the control and visibility they need to meet regulatory and operational goals.
Expanding Global Reach
Electron currently works with over half of the distribution system operators (DSOs) in the United Kingdom and is expanding its footprint across the United States, where grid modernization and flexibility markets are rapidly growing. Rhythmos, meanwhile, has partnered with several major investor-owned and publicly owned utilities across the U.S. and has received state-level grants to pilot its DER detection and optimization technologies.
Together, Electron and Rhythmos aim to redefine how utilities approach grid expansion—transforming data into actionable insight and flexibility into tangible economic value. This acquisition represents a major step toward a more intelligent, responsive, and affordable energy system that supports the global transition toward electrification and decarbonization.
