Energy advisory and transaction management services for self-serving retail electricity providers
First Claim
1. A method for enabling a business to become a self-serving retail electricity provider in a deregulated market, comprising the steps of:
- registering the business as a retail energy provider with a public utility commission;
assisting the business to qualify as a scheduling entity with an independent system operator; and
establishing the business as a bilateral trading partner with a wholesale energy merchant.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
Methods for assisting and enabling a large industrial or business consumer of energy to become a self-serving retail electricity provider in a deregulated energy market. Performed by an energy advisory and transaction management service provider, one method registers the large business energy consumer with the state public utility commission, assists the business to qualify as a scheduling entity with an independent service operator, and establishes the business as a bilateral trading partner of wholesale energy merchants. In another method, the business processing outsourcing service assists the business in energy purchasing and risk management decisions by forecasting zonal load requirements for the business. A price forecasting analysis is compared with supply offers from wholesale energy merchants and bilateral transactions for energy supply are brokered between the business and the wholesale energy merchants. In another method, the business process outsourcing service assists the business to manage electronic transactions with an independent service operator and a transmission and distribution service provider. A daily load forecast for the business is updated and compared with energy purchase commitments to identify imbalances between supply and demand. The outsourcing service submits a daily schedule of forecasted sub-hourly load and purchase and sale commitments to the independent system operator. The outsourcing service receives and processes invoices from market participants and generates financial settlement reports for the business.
120 Citations
32 Claims
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1. A method for enabling a business to become a self-serving retail electricity provider in a deregulated market, comprising the steps of:
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registering the business as a retail energy provider with a public utility commission;
assisting the business to qualify as a scheduling entity with an independent system operator; and
establishing the business as a bilateral trading partner with a wholesale energy merchant. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4)
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5. A method for assisting a self-serving retail electricity provider in energy purchasing and risk management decisions, comprising the steps of:
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forecasting a zonal load requirement for the self-serving retail electricity provider;
analyzing the zonal load requirement for the self-serving retail electricity provider;
establishing a supply control strategy for the self-serving retail electricity provider;
performing an energy price forecasting analysis for the self-serving retail electricity provider and comparing the forecasted wholesale energy prices with supply offers available from wholesale energy merchants; and
brokering a bilateral transaction between the self-serving retail electricity provider and the wholesale energy merchant. - View Dependent Claims (6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 25, 26, 27, 28)
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24. The method for assisting a self-serving retail electricity provider of claim 24 wherein the step of forecasting a variable-priced index power comprises:
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determining an indexed power volume for each hour;
determining a cost of the indexed power based on the indexed power volume and a corresponding forecast price for each hour;
determining a total cost of indexed power for all hours in an analysis period; and
displaying a graph of an annual total cost of indexed power in a plurality of annual cost ranges scaled by a probability of occurrence of each cost range.
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29. A method for assisting a self-serving energy provider to manage a plurality of electronic transactions with an independent service operator and a transmission and distribution service provider comprising the steps of:
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submitting a request to both the independent service operator and transmission and distribution service provider to switch a metered account to the self-serving energy provider;
updating the daily load forecast for the self-serving energy provider;
comparing the daily load forecast with a wholesale energy purchase commitment to identify periods of imbalance between an energy supply and a consumption demand for the self-serving energy provider;
submitting a daily schedule of forecasted sub-hourly load and purchase and sale commitments to the independent service operator;
receiving and processing an invoice from at least one market participant; and
generating financial settlement reports for the self-serving energy provider. - View Dependent Claims (30, 31, 32)
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Specification