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App does not work
Very nice app
Very good app
Correctable errors, otherwise great
Bugs:
* On a smaller-screen iPhone (e.g., 6s) the items below Calendar on the Home Screen are difficult-to-impossible to reach. “Daily Briefing” is only half-visible, and can be tapped with care, but “Twitter” and “About Flex Alert” can only be seen while holding a swipe-up but cannot be tapped. * “Calendar” crashes instantly and reproducibly.
Fix these bugs and my rating would be 4+. Otherwise it seems like a great app. I like the plotting options and all the informative “(i)”-button help screens.
Feature request:
* Add an ability to see multi-day and seasonal trends.
Support previous commenter’s request for a home-screen widget! Show the current alert status, maybe with time remaining before the alert ends, and perhaps the current demand.
I’m surprised this app is this good
Wow
The future of consumers understanding their electricity use
Crashes every time I try to launch it
Calendar Crash
2) Tap calendar
CRASH!
Alerts broken
Have an alerting option for the general public. We want to know when we need to try and conserve more in real time. We don’t care about the restrictions on maintenance operations.
Going to disable alerts for the app in OS now.
Response from developer
We are working on a fix for the erroneous multiple notifications tied to a single alert. While in the app, you can tap the “Alert” icon in the top right corner and go to the bottom of the page to “Alert settings” and turn off notifications for Alerts, warnings & emergencies, you will then only receive Flex Alert notifications. We apologize for the inconvenience, and hope you can use our app in the future. Thanks for notifying us.
Alerts Broken
I received numerous maintenance alerts in the middle of the night (luckily I didn’t see them as I have “do not disturb” scheduled at night). I went to the app to turn off that function so that I only received flex alerts - but the badge number on the app didn’t go away, and the alerts kept coming. I force quit the app and restarted - still the same problem.
Response from developer
We are working on a fix for the erroneous multiple notifications tied to a single alert as well as how the alerts look after they’ve been viewed. While in the app, you can tap the “Alert” icon in the top right corner and go to the bottom of the page to “Alert settings” and turn off notifications for Alerts, warnings & emergencies, you will then only receive Flex Alert notifications. We apologize for the inconvenience, and hope you can use our app in the future. Thanks for notifying us.
Other reviews say it all
2. Alerts:
a). Don’t turn off after you view them
b). Are not specific to an my local area: are statewide
Response from developer
We are working on a fix for the erroneous multiple notifications tied to a single alert as well as how the alerts look after they’ve been viewed. The California ISO issues both regional and statewide alerts, warnings, and emergencies asking for conservation for the bulk electric system. Local announcements will come directly from your utility provider.
Alerts
Good info but alerts need work
Response from developer
We are working on a fix for the erroneous multiple notifications tied to a single alert. Currently you can only choose between all messages, just Alerts, warnings & emergencies or just Flex Alerts. We will consider adding the functionality to further breakdown which notifications you want to receive in future enhancements. We apologize for the inconvenience, and hope you can use our app in the future. Thanks for notifying us.
How many notifications do you need?
The app looks great.
Cons
It takes forever to load
While notifications in general are good, this app spews 8 of the same exact notification within a 5 minute span. Why?!! 1. Notifications cost CA ISO money 2. This is like the electronic version of the little boy who cried wolf. There are so many notifications that everyone will eventually either ignore them or just turn them off.
To be honest I wouldn’t have even gotten this app if my power company would just warn us about CA ISO shut off orders
Response from developer
We’re sorry you had a bad experience with the app. This was during the heat wave when our servers were overloaded which could have resulted in the performance issues, the infrastructure updates we have in progress should mitigate the problem. We are working on a fix for the erroneous multiple notifications tied to a single alert as well as how the alerts look after they’ve been viewed. We hope you can use our app in the future. Thanks for notifying us.
Close to Useless
When on the CAISO Grid Warning Notice page, there are no links to the pdf files, only text, and copy/paste is disabled.
Your warnings narrow the alerts down to the State Of California - how specific.
Why are you using insecure servers?
Response from developer
We’re sorry you had a bad experience with the app. We are working on a fix for the erroneous multiple notifications tied to a single alert as well as how the alerts look after they’ve been viewed. The Flex Alerts issued during the summer of 2020 were in effect for the entire state. The insecure servers are tied to the caiso.com site which is currently http, the infrastructure updates we have in progress should mitigate this. Thanks for letting us know of your experience.
Webview with js scrips?
Notifications are persistent even having refreshed.
Most people are used to tap an icon and have content delivered. But it takes 60 seconds or a pull-down to refresh.. content delivered possibly.
ca-iso should have the best programmers behind the app.
Off topic, I have never been alerted to earthquakes from MyShake, with two major events that rocked my couch from Ridgecrest and Hawthorn.
State of California sponsored emergency apps seem to fail
Response from developer
This was during the heat wave when our servers were overloaded which could have resulted in the performance issues, the infrastructure updates we have in progress should mitigate the problem. We are working on a fix for the erroneous multiple notifications tied to a single alert as well as how the alerts look after they’ve been viewed. The California ISO has no affiliation with MyShake or its developers. The California ISO is a non-profit public benefit organization and not a State of California agency; our app is not sponsored by the State of California.
Nice idea, but...
Fascinating information resource
What I would love to see is a section in the app for consumers, giving timely iOS push-notifications on when to postpone energy use and when to take advantage of a temporary over-abundance of cheap zero carbon renewables. If properly done, the signal might automatically be actionable by other home automation apps, if necessary through helper services like IFTTT or Zapier.
For example a WiFi connected app-enabled window air conditioner might kick on to get a headstart on cooling down a house or running a dishwasher, before energy prime-time begins, or pause it when supplies are getting critical. Consumers might be able to get a smart variable thermostat added on to an electric water heater that could respond to demand response signals from CAISO, taking advantage of varying situations to better match supply and demand.
New EV chargers (“EVSE’s”) are more frequently coming with WiFi which could potentially enable app-connected integration to ramp up or dial back charging from outside queues from CAISO.
Sure, some of these devices can be set by timers, or run manually by remote, but it seems like it would be ideal to let the people watching the grid minute by minute have a hand in guiding these.
Waiting for investor-owned (monopolistic) utilities to promote advanced energy technologies is like waiting for pre-breakup AT&T to promote cellphones. It really needs a state or regional government, or energy NGO like CAISO to lead the way.
