Analytics for consumer power consumption

• US 10,054,972 B2
• Filed: 11/26/2014
• Issued: 08/21/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 01/25/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Accenture Global Services Limited (Accenture PLC)
• Original Assignee: Accenture Global Services Limited (Accenture PLC)
• Inventors: Le Roux, Gaelle, Partington, Alastair
• Primary Examiner(s): Karim, Ziaul
• Application Number:
  US14/554,738
• Publication Number:
  US 20150120075A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,364 Days
• Field of Search: 700286-296
• CPC Class Codes: G01D 4/004 Remote reading of utility meters to a fixed location
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 15/02 electric
• CPC Class Codes: G05F 1/66 Regulating electric power
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/04 Forecasting or optimisation specially adapted for administrative or management purposes, e.g. linear programming or "cutting stock problem" market predictions or forecasting for commercial activities G06Q30/0202
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/06 Energy or water supply
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 13/00002 characterised by monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 13/00009 using pulsed signals
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 13/00016 using a wired telecommunication network or a data transmission bus
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 13/00028 involving the use of Internet protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 13/00034 the elements or equipment being or involving an electric power substation
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 2310/60 Limiting power consumption in the network or in one section of the network, e.g. load shedding or peak shaving
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 3/144 Demand-response operation of the power transmission or distribution network
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 70/3225 Demand response systems, e.g. load shedding, peak shaving
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 90/20 Smart grids as enabling technology in buildings sector smart grids supporting the management or operation of end-user stationary applications in general, or like technologies with no associated climate change mitigation effect Y04S20/00
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 60/00 Enabling technologies; Technologies with a potential or indirect contribution to GHG emissions mitigation
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 10/30 State monitoring, e.g. fault, temperature monitoring, insulator monitoring, corona discharge
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 10/50 Systems or methods supporting the power network operation or management, involving a certain degree of interaction with the load-side end user applications
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 20/00 Management or operation of end-user stationary applications or the last stages of power distribution; Controlling, monitoring or operating thereof
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 20/222 Demand response systems, e.g. load shedding, peak shaving
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 20/30 Smart metering, e.g. specially adapted for remote reading
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 40/121 : using the power network as support for the transmission
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 40/124 : using wired telecommunication networks or data transmission busses

Abstract

A system and method for centralized statistical analysis and control of power consumption is provided. The centralized statistical analysis, performed by a centralized power utility management system, may then be compared with one or more goals of the customer. Based on the comparison of the statistical analysis with the one or more goals of the customer, one or more actions may be taken including controlling one or more appliances resident at the customer premises.

Claims

1. A power utility management system comprising:

a processor configured to;

receive power consumption data from a first customer premises, the power consumption data comprising individual power consumption data of a plurality of devices at the first customer premises;

analyze the power consumption data of each of the devices at the first customer premises;

compare the analyzed data of a first device among the devices at the first customer premises with data of a second device from a second customer premises; and

generate and send a command to change operation of the first device at the first customer premises, the command generated based on the comparison, and sent to the first customer premises to change operation of the first device to match power consumption of the first customer premises with power consumption of the second customer premises.

2. The power utility management system of claim 1, wherein, the first customer premises includes a power generation device, the processor configured to control allocation of power produced by the power generation device.

3. The power utility management system of claim 2, wherein the change in the operation of the first device at the first customer premises comprises the processor configured to change an allocation in power production by the power generation device to supply the first device among the devices at the first customer premises.

4. The power utility management system of claim 2, wherein the change in the operation of the first device at the first customer premises comprises the processor configured to reallocate a quantity of power production by the power generation device away from the first device, or to the first device.

5. The power utility management system of claim 1, wherein the first device at the first customer premises is a power consumption device, and the change in the operation of the power consumption device comprises a change in a time of power consumption.

6. The power utility management system of claim 5, wherein the processor is further configured to change operation of a power generation device at the first customer premises, wherein the change in the operation of the power generation device comprises alignment of a time of power generation by the power generation device with the changed time of power consumption by said power consumption device.

7. The power utility management system of claim 1, wherein to match power consumption of the first customer premises with the second customer premises comprises adjustment of power consumption at the first customer premises to match a utility bill of the first customer premises with a utility bill of the second customer premises.

8. The power utility management system of claim 1, wherein to match power consumption of the first customer premises with the second customer premises comprises adjustment of power consumption at the first customer premises to match a carbon footprint of the first customer premises with a carbon footprint of the second customer premises.

9. The power utility management system of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to generate a command to change the operation of the device, and the system further comprising:

a smart meter resident at the first customer premises, the smart meter configured to transmit the power consumption data; and

a computer resident at the first customer premises, the computer in communication with the smart meter, the computer configured to receive the command from the processor and control the device based on the command.

10. The power utility management system of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to:

access attributes of the first customer premises and the second customer premises, the accessed attributes selected from a group comprising;

house size, appliances, climate, and time of year; and

select the second customer premises based on the accessed attributes of the first customer premises being similar to the accessed attributes of the second customer premises.

11. A method comprising:

receiving, via an interface, first load data comprising individual load data of each of a plurality of first devices, the first devices being at a first location; and

receiving, via the interface, second load data comprising individual load data of each of a plurality of second devices, the second devices being at the second location, wherein the second location is different from the first location, and the first devices are comparable with the second devices;

comparing individual load data of a device from the first location with individual load data of a device from the second location; and

transmitting instructions to reconfigure operation of the device from the first location based on the comparison to match the first load data with the second load data.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the first location and the second location have similar demographic information.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein receiving the first load data comprises receiving as aggregated load data which is aggregated by an apparatus resident at the first location, the aggregated load data comprising individual power consumption data of one or more power consumption devices at the first location.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprises receiving, via the interface, individual power generation data of one or more power generation devices at the first location.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein transmitting instructions to reconfigure operation of the device from the first location comprises transmitting instructions to initiate operation of the device during a period when a price of power is lowest.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein transmitting instructions to reconfigure operation of the device from the first location comprises transmitting instructions to initiate operation of the device during a period when a price of power is highest.

17. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising instructions executable by one or more processors, the instructions comprising:

instructions to receive individual load data from multiple electric devices at a first premises, and individual load data from multiple electric devices at a second premises;

instructions to independently transmit the individual load data from the multiple electric devices at the first premises and the individual load data from the multiple electric devices at the second premises over a communication network;

instructions to receive, from over the communication network, in response to the transmitted individual load data from the multiple electric devices at the first and second premises, a reconfiguration of a load of the multiple electric devices at the first premises to match a load of the multiple electric devices at the second premises, wherein the reconfiguration comprises a setting applicable to at least one of the multiple electric devices at the first premises; and

instructions to control operation of the multiple electric devices at the first premises according to the received settings.

18. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the multiple electric devices include a power consumption device, and the received setting provides at least one of:

a time to start the power consumption device, or a time to shut down the power consumption device.

19. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the first premises comprise a power generation device, and the received setting provides at least one of:

a time to start at least one of multiple electronic devices to allocate excess generated power from the power generation device to the least one of multiple electronic devices, a time to shut down at least one of multiple electronic devices to allocate power from the power generation device to an external power grid, or a time to control an amount of power consumption of at least one of multiple electronic devices to allocate an excess amount of power generated by the power generation device to the at least one of multiple electronic devices.

20. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 17, further comprising:

instructions to display the received setting on a display.