Unusual usage alerts

• US 10,235,662 B2
• Filed: 12/19/2014
• Issued: 03/19/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 07/01/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Opower, Inc. (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Opower, Inc. (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Curtis, Richard Tyler
• Primary Examiner(s): Kalinowski, Alexander G
• Assistant Examiner(s): Ali, Hatem M
• Application Number:
  US14/577,929
• Publication Number:
  US 20160005015A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,551 Days
• Field of Search: 705 35- 40
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/145 Payments according to the detected use or quantity
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/06 Energy or water supply
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 50/12 Billing, invoicing, buying or selling transactions or other related activities, e.g. cost or usage evaluation

Abstract

Techniques for unusual usage alerts without smart meter data are provided. The computing device can determine a set of climate control disaggregation coefficients and obtain weather data corresponding to at least a portion of a billing period. In turn, the computing device can determine first forecasted usage data for the at least a portion of the billing period based on the set of climate control disaggregation coefficients and the weather data, and determine second forecasted usage data for a length of the billing period based at least in part on the first forecasted usage data. In some aspects, the computing device can project unusual energy usage for the billing period based on the second forecasted usage data determined to be greater than usage data for a prior time period. The computing device can generate an alert notification including an indication of the unusual energy usage projection.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method performed by a computing device for providing alert notifications, comprising:

determining, by a processor of the computing device, a set of coefficients associated with energy consumption data of a commodity for a utility customer, the set of coefficients including a base-load coefficient corresponding to a base load of energy used by a building, a cooling coefficient corresponding to a first amount of energy used to cool the building given an outdoor temperature, and a heating coefficient corresponding to a second amount of energy used to heat the building given the outdoor temperature;

obtaining, by the processor from a third party service provider, weather data corresponding to a portion of a billing period;

determining, by the processor, first forecasted usage data for the portion of the billing period based at least in part on the base-load coefficient, the cooling coefficient applied to cooling degree days of the portion of the billing period, the heating coefficient applied to heating degree days of the portion of the billing period, and the weather data;

determining, by the processor, second forecasted usage data for a length of the billing period based at least in part on the first forecasted usage data, wherein the length of the billing period being greater than the portion of the billing period;

determining, by the processor, an unusual energy usage projection for the utility customer based at least in part on the second forecasted usage data being greater than a threshold usage;

generating, by the processor, an alert notification including an indication of the unusual energy usage projection;

modifying, by the processor, the alert notification to include an instruction for causing an adjustment to a setting in a climate control device; and

transmitting, by the processor of the computing device, the alert notification over a data communication network to the climate control device, wherein the instruction automatically adjusts the setting in the climate control device.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

sending the alert notification to the utility customer, the unusual energy usage projection relating to a likelihood of the utility customer projected to receive a utility bill higher than expected.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the cooling coefficient is derived from cooling degree values compared to energy use values.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the first forecasted usage data is determined using an expression defined as period_to_date_days*coefficient_base-load+period_to_date_cooling_degree_days*coefficient_cooling+period_to_date_heating_degree_days*coefficient_heating, where the period_to_date_days corresponds to the number of days into the billing period, the period_to_date_cooling_degree_days is the number of degrees related to cooling by the commodity per day with respect to a temperature threshold, period_to_date_heating_degree_days is the number of degrees related to heating by the commodity per day with respect to the temperature threshold, the coefficient_base-load is the base-load coefficient, the coefficient_cooling is the cooling coefficient, and the coefficient_heating is the heating coefficient.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

applying a rate structure to the second forecasted usage data to determine a forecasted bill amount corresponding to the length of the billing period, wherein the unusual energy usage projection for the utility customer is based at least in part on the forecasted bill amount being greater than a bill amount for the prior time period.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein determining the second forecasted usage data comprises scaling the first forecasted usage data by a number of days corresponding to the length of the billing period.

7. A computing device for energy usage alerts, the computing device comprising:

at least one processor; and

memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the computing device to;

determine a first forecasted usage for a first portion of the billing period of a utility customer based on a set of coefficients and first weather data, the set of coefficients including a base-load coefficient corresponding to a base load of energy used by a building, a cooling coefficient corresponding to a first amount of energy used to cool the building given an outdoor temperature, and a heating coefficient corresponding to a second amount of energy used to heat the building given the outdoor temperature;

wherein the first forecasted usage is determined based at least in part on the base-load coefficient, the cooling coefficient applied to cooling degree days of the portion of the billing period, and the heating coefficient applied to heating degree days of the portion of the billing period;

determine a second forecasted usage for a second portion of the billing period based on the set of coefficients and second weather data, the second portion being subsequent in time of the first portion;

determine an unusual energy usage projection based at least in part on a combination of the first forecasted usage and the second forecasted usage being greater than a threshold usage data;

generate an alert notification including an indication of the unusual energy usage projection;

modify the alert notification to include an instruction for causing an adjustment to a setting in a climate control device; and

transmit, by the computing device, the alert notification over a data communication network to the climate control device, wherein the instruction automatically adjusts the setting in the climate control device.

8. The computing device of claim 7, wherein the instructions further cause the computing device to:

send the alert notification to the utility customer, the unusual energy usage projection relating to a likelihood of the utility customer projected to receive a utility bill higher than expected.

9. The computing device of claim 7, wherein the heating coefficient is derived from heating degree values compared to energy use values.

10. The computing device of claim 7, wherein the first forecasted usage data is determined using an expression defined as period_to_date_days*coefficient_base-load+period_to_date_cooling_degree_days*coefficient_cooling+period_to_date_heating_degree_days*coefficient_heating, where the period_to_date_days corresponds to the number of days into the billing period, the period_to_date_cooling_degree_days is the number of degrees related to cooling by the commodity per day with respect to a temperature threshold, period_to_date_heating_degree_days is the number of degrees related to heating by the commodity per day with respect to the temperature threshold, the coefficient_base-load is the base-load coefficient, the coefficient_cooling is the cooling coefficient, and the coefficient_heating is the heating coefficient.

11. The computing device of claim 7, wherein the second forecasted usage data is determined using an expression defined as remaining_days*coefficient_base-load+(forecast_cooling_degree_days/remaining_days)*coefficient_cooling+(forecast heating_degree_days/remaining_days)*coefficient_heating, where the remaining_days is the second portion corresponding to the number of days remaining in the billing period, the forecast_cooling_degree_days is the projected number of degrees related to cooling by the commodity per day with respect to a temperature threshold, forecast_heating_degree_days is the projected number of degrees related to heating by the commodity per day with respect to the temperature threshold, the coefficient_base-load is the base-load coefficient, the coefficient_cooling is the cooling coefficient, and the coefficient_heating is the heating coefficient.

12. The computing device of claim 7, wherein the instructions further cause the computing device to:

apply a rate structure to the second forecasted usage data to determine a forecasted bill amount corresponding to the length of the billing period, wherein the unusual energy usage projection for the utility customer is based at least in part on the forecasted bill amount being greater than a bill amount for the prior time period.

13. The computing device of claim 7, wherein the instructions further cause the computing device to:

determine an actual usage projection based on actual usage data associated with one or more utility customers similar to the utility customer; and

determine whether the unusual energy usage projection and the actual usage projection indicate a utility bill for the utility customer is greater than projected,

wherein the indication included in the alert notification comprises first information indicating an increase in the utility bill is due to weather if both actual usage projection and the unusual energy usage projection indicate the utility bill is greater than projected, and

wherein the indication comprises second information indicating an increase in the utility bill is due to non-weather conditions if the actual usage projection indicates the utility bill is greater than projected and not the unusual energy usage projection.

14. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing instructions for unusual usage alerts without smart meter data on a computing device, the instructions when executed by a processor of a computing device causing the processor to:

determine first forecasted usage data relating to a utility customer for at least a portion of a billing period based at least in part on a set of coefficients and weather data, the set of coefficients including a base-load coefficient corresponding to a base load of energy used by a building, a cooling coefficient corresponding to a first amount of energy used to cool the building given an outdoor temperature, and a heating coefficient corresponding to a second amount of energy used to heat the building given the outdoor temperature;

wherein the first forecasted usage is determined based at least in part on the base-load coefficient, the cooling coefficient applied to cooling degree days of the portion of the billing period, and the heating coefficient applied to heating degree days of the portion of the billing period;

determine second forecasted usage data for a length of the billing period based at least in part on the first forecasted usage data;

determine an unusual energy usage projection based at least in part on the second forecasted usage data being greater than usage data for a prior time period corresponding to the billing period;

determine that at least one of the unusual energy usage projection or an actual usage projection indicate a projected utility bill for the utility customer is greater than a threshold, the actual usage projection relating to actual usage data associated with one or more utility customers similar to the utility customer;

generate an alert notification including an indication of the unusual energy usage projection, the indication including information relating to a cause for an increase in the utility bill based on the unusual energy usage projection or the actual usage projection determined to be greater than the threshold;

modify the alert notification to include an instruction for causing an adjustment to a setting in a climate control device; and

transmit, by the computing device, the alert notification over a data communication network to the climate control device, wherein the instruction automatically adjusts the setting in the climate control device.

15. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein the instructions further cause the computing device to:

send the alert notification to the utility customer, the unusual energy usage projection relating to a likelihood of the utility customer projected to receive a utility bill higher than expected.

16. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein the heating coefficient is derived from heating degree values compared to energy use values.

17. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein the first forecasted usage data is determined using an expression defined as period_to_date_days*coefficient_base-load+period_to_date_cooling_degree_days*coefficient_cooling+period_to_date_heating_degree_days*coefficient_heating, where the period_to_date_days corresponds to the number of days into the billing period, the period_to_date_cooling_degree_days is the number of degrees related to cooling by the commodity per day with respect to a temperature threshold, period_to_date_heating_degree_days is the number of degrees related to heating by the commodity per day with respect to the temperature threshold, the coefficient_base-load is the base-load coefficient, the coefficient_cooling is the cooling coefficient, and the coefficient_heating is the heating coefficient.

18. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein the second forecasted usage data is determined using an expression defined as remaining_days*coefficient_base-load+(forecast_cooling_degree_days/remaining_days)*coefficient_cooling+(forecast_heating_degree_days/remaining_days)*coefficient_heating, where the remaining_days is the second portion corresponding to the number of days remaining in the billing period, the forecast_cooling_degree_days is the projected number of degrees related to cooling by the commodity per day with respect to a temperature threshold, forecast_heating_degree_days is the projected number of degrees related to heating by the commodity per day with respect to the temperature threshold, the coefficient_base-load is the base-load coefficient, the coefficient_cooling is the cooling coefficient, and the coefficient_heating is the heating coefficient.

19. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein the instructions further cause the computing device to:

apply a rate structure to the second forecasted usage data to determine a forecasted bill amount corresponding to the length of the billing period, wherein the unusual energy usage projection for the utility customer is based at least in part on the forecasted bill amount being greater than a bill amount for the prior time period.

20. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein the indication included in the alert notification comprises first information indicating an increase in the utility bill is due to weather if both actual usage projection and the unusual energy usage projection indicate the utility bill is greater than projected, and wherein the indication comprises second information indicating an increase in the utility bill is due to non-weather conditions if the actual usage projection indicates the utility bill is greater than projected and not the unusual energy usage projection.

21. A computer-implemented method implemented by a computing device for providing an unusual power consumption alert notification, the method comprising:

calculating a first forecasted usage amount for a first portion of a current billing period, wherein the first forecasted usage amount is determined based on a set of coefficients and historic weather data corresponding with the first portion of the current billing period, the set of coefficients including a base-load coefficient corresponding to a base load of energy used by a building, a cooling coefficient corresponding to a first amount of energy used to cool the building given an outdoor temperature, and a heating coefficient corresponding to a second amount of energy used to heat the building given the outdoor temperature;

wherein the first forecasted usage is determined based at least in part on the base-load coefficient, the cooling coefficient applied to cooling degree days of the portion of the billing period, and the heating coefficient applied to heating degree days of the portion of the billing period;

calculating a second forecasted usage amount for a second portion of the current billing period, wherein the second forecasted usage data is determined using forecasted weather data for the second portion of the current billing period and the climate control disaggregation coefficients;

calculating an energy usage projection for the current billing period based on the first forecasted usage amount and the second forecasted usage amount;

determining whether the energy use projection exceeds a predetermined threshold;

generating an alert notification to indicate an unusual energy use projection in response to a determination that the energy use projection exceeds the predetermined threshold;

modifying the alert notification to include an instruction for causing an adjustment to a setting in a climate control device; and

transmitting, by the computing device, the alert notification over a data communication network to the climate control device, wherein the instruction automatically adjusts the setting in the climate control device.