Direct Load Control (DLC) strategy is one of the most common approaches to cope with peak electricity loads. Application of DLC in residential and small business buildings has achieved promising results, yet there are few studies on DLC in university educational buildings that are commonly susceptible to large peak loads and associated penalty tariffs. University students’ learning performance, as represented by four fundamental cognitive skills— memory, concentration, reasoning and planning, was closely examined in a climate chamber during three simulated DLC events and one control condition. Results reveal that DLC events, generally, do not significantly affect students’ scores across eight cognitive performance tests. In the simulated DLC conditions, cognitive performance was relatively stable or even slightly improved. Results confirm that human cognitive performance can remain near-optimal across a range of temperature. DLC strategies to manage peak electricity load are clearly feasible in university lecture theatres if DLC algorithms are judiciously designed.