We develop safe protocols (SPs) to control ensembles of thermostatically controlled loads (TCLs) in order to provide power pulses to the grid without a subsequent oscillatory response. Such pulses can alleviate power fluctuations by intermittent resources and maintain balance between generation and demand. Building on a prior work [1], we introduce timers to endpoint TCL control enabling better shaping of power pulses. We demonstrate that such an upgrade can be used to create new safe protocols and enable load following applications with response at minute time scales. The advantage of this strategy is the use of only minimal aggregate information about a TCL ensemble and no need for additional control of TCLs to alleviate unwanted power oscillations. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.