The electrical energy system is handled as the largest machine humankind built, which is very understandable if one imagines the changes currently happening. It is rapidly leaving behind its centralized roots with “the” power plants generating energy for all loads connected to it via copper wires. Year after year, new records are reported of integrating more percentages of sustainable renewable generation at every conceivable decentralized point. This rise of uncontrollable, fluctuating production, combined with the increase of loads, is taking away flexibilities needed to keep the power grid stable at every point in time. This paper describes a mechanism called demand response, which is an aspect of demand-side management, to increase this fleeting flexibility again on the load side, by using newly developed smart actuator components. Field tested results show domain specific gains of annual consumption reduction from six to 33 percent.