Advanced Meter School August 18-20,2015 Time of Use and Load Profile Jeremiah Swann

Time of Use and Load Profile What is Time of Use? What is Load Profile? Putting Data to use.

Electric energy consumption is metered and billed in several different ways depending on the class of customer (residential, commercial or industrial) and the rate they are on. Total Kwh: no time associated with this rate (one month billing cycle) Time of Use: different billing rates each day (on peak or off peak) for a one month billing cycle

Time of Use TOU - a method of metering which records energy and demand in relation to time so consumption during different time periods can be billed at different rates. Energy and demand registers are segmented into blocks during the day such as A,B,C,D…G. only one is active at a time. A total register is always active and available regardless of the active rate.

Time of Use Calendar Schedule – contains all daily and yearly info needed for the meter to measure and register data in real time: – Daily Patterns –(1-4) times when the rate period begins and ends – Seasons – (1-8) Periods of week when a particular rate is in effect – Day types – (4) Weekday, Saturday, Sunday, Holiday – Rates - A,B,C,D…G

“On-Peak” Daily Pattern

“Off-Peak” Daily Pattern

“Weekend” Pattern

TOU Seasons

Time of Use Customers pay different prices at different times of the day. On peak prices are higher and off-peak prices are lower than the “standard” rate. The pricing schedule is fixed and predefined based on the season, day of the week and time of day.

Why the renewed interest in TOU? TOU Rates have been around since the 1980’s so why now? Alternative ways to lower peaks rather than doing direct load control. Government Regulations are encouraging new rates for peak reduction, customer control and increased efficiency. Proving customer options / choices on controlling their own bill.

Why the renewed interest in TOU? Rates have become more attractive with shorter on-peak hours and less difference between on and off-peak rates. The “rebound” effect (increase in load after on-peak periods ) has been found to effect energy rate loss that occur during on-peak hours. New utility studies have proven that load reduction and customer savings are both possible with properly designed rates.

Steps for developing TOU rates. Define objects for the program Identify the target population Create the time schedule Define the revenue neutral baseline Design the rate Marketing and implementation plan Conduct and evaluate a pilot Full scale deployment

What is the goal of a TOU program? To shift load from on-peak hours to off-peak hours? To more fairly charge customers the true cost of power delivery? To satisfy regulators because they said to do it? To encourage efficiency?

Will the program be optional or mandatory? Mandatory fits better if the goal is to track and fairly charge the true cost of delivered power but this raises “fairness” issues and will get complaints. Optional keeps customers happy but can lead to lost revenue for the utility since only the one will benefit will participate.

Load Profile Load Profile (mass memory) meters are used in billing and load research applications where multi-channel high resolution data is needed. Data is stored in blocks (records) of 128 intervals that are identified by date and time.

Pulse weights represent unit-hours per pulse, for example watt-hour per pulse, which can be represented as: load units-hours/ maximum pulses per interval for the device. The objective is to define the maximum number of pulses for an interval without going over the maximum that the meter can store. (saturation) or (loss in data) Pulse Weights

Calculating Pulse Weights The customers maximum expected load must be known. Each meter Manufacturer has a set number of pulses per interval: 65,535 pulses per interval for all channels. (Itron for example) Data storage interval based on a 1 hour interval time: (15 min =.25, 30 min =.5, 60 min = 1) (CT & VT ratios) Meter Multipliers

Calculating Pulse Weights Example Interval = 60 minute (1) Primary Load = 10,000 Wh (10KW) CT ratio = 1 VT ratio = 1 (10,000 Wh X 1 interval) / 1 CT VT ratio = 10,000 Wh Maximum pulses = 65,535 Desired pulses (approx 90%) 65,535 X.90 = 58,981 Pulse calculation: 10,000 Wh / 60,000 pulses = Select pulse weight of 0.18 from program.

Peak Day Profile

Monthly Profile

Questions / Answers