1 SMUD’s Small Business Summer Solutions Pilot: Behavioral response of small commercial customers to DR programs (with PCTs) Karen Herter, Ph.D. Associate Director Heschong Mahone Group November 19, 2008

2 Project Overview Acknowledgements Demand Response Research Center (DRRC) Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) Schedule September 2007Market Report October 2007Focus Groups Spring 2008Recruitment & installation June-Sept 2008Field study December 2008Final Report

3 Research Overview Target: SMUD Small businesses <20 kW Goal: Quantify perception, behavior & load impact differences between… 2 DR program types –A. Critical Peak Pricing (CPP) –B. Temperature Offset of 2 or 4 degrees 3 small business customer types –Offices –Retail –Restaurants

4 A. Critical Peak Pricing Option Discounted TOU rate + 12 CPP events Overall: Revenue Neutral for the summer PCTs offered for free, but not required PCTs can pre-cool and/or float during events (or not) Settings can be changed by customer at any time Bills showed change in bill relative to standard rate

5 Critical Peak Pricing Rate

6 B. Temperature Offset Option Payment ≈ CPP savings for similar AC actions $5 per month for 2-degree AC offset $10 per month for 4-degree AC offset PCTs required Can pre-cool Overrides not allowed (but technically feasible) No $$ incentive to reduce lighting, etc.

7 Participant Breakdown

8 Event Procedure Notifying participants Day before event Via , text message and/or thermostat display Notifying thermostats Morning of event Event parameters to thermostat (via RDS) to schedule automated control strategy Internet FM Tower RDS Signal

9 Twelve Event Days

10 Satisfaction by Program Choice Did the Summer Solutions program meet your expectations? 20%80%

11 Satisfaction by Business Type Did the Summer Solutions program meet your expectations? 20%80%

12 Cooling offsets by Program Choice

13 Cooling offsets by Business Type

14 CPP Bills Only four participants paid more on the CPP rate Avg. % Savings = 5% Max % Savings = 10% Max % Increase = 14%

15 Data Yet to be Analyzed Hourly load data

16 For more information Contact Karen Herter at: (916) x32 -OR- Read the PIER report due December 2008