HISTORICAL UTILITY CONSUMPTION DISAGGREGATION

• US 20110282506A1
• Filed: 05/17/2011
• Published: 11/17/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 05/17/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ennovationz Inc.
• Original Assignee: Ennovationz Inc.
• Inventors: Sauder, Doug, Amram, Martha
• Granted Patent: US 8,719,186 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 700/291
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/00 Administration; Management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/04 Billing or invoicing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/06 Energy or water supply

Abstract

A computer-implemented method for itemizing energy consumption to generate and present a utility consumption profile based on disaggregated historical utility consumption data is disclosed. The computer-implemented method comprises obtaining data indicating historical utility consumption of a dwelling over a time period. A non-seasonal portion of the historical utility consumption data is then determined by first computing an average utility consumption based on one or more predetermined intervals within the time period, and then computing the non-seasonal portion by applying the average to the time period. The non-seasonal portion is then subtracted from the historical utility consumption data to obtain a seasonal portion of the historical utility consumption data. The seasonal and/or non-seasonal portion may be further disaggregated by end-use methods, and presented to the user in the utility consumption profile.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for itemizing energy consumption, comprising:

obtaining data indicating historical utility consumption of a dwelling over a time period;

determining a non-seasonal portion of the historical utility consumption data by (a) computing an average utility consumption based on one or more predetermined intervals within the time period, and (b) computing the non-seasonal portion by applying the average to the time period;

subtracting the non-seasonal portion from the historical utility consumption data to obtain a seasonal portion of the historical utility consumption data; and

generating a utility consumption profile for the dwelling indicating non-seasonal consumption and seasonal consumption.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising comparing the utility consumption profile for the dwelling with another utility consumption benchmark.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising computing an average of the historical utility consumption data corresponding to a billing cycle used by a utility provider serving the dwelling, and indicating a billing tier applicable to the computed average consumption.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more predetermined intervals are determined based on a geographical region of the dwelling.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the historical utility consumption is natural gas consumption, and the utility consumption profile is a natural gas consumption profile.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising indicating the seasonal portion as attributable to heating the dwelling in the natural gas consumption profile.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising computing at least one non-seasonal natural gas consumption level corresponding to at least one appliance in the dwelling, and presenting the at least one appliance and the corresponding consumption levels in the natural gas consumption profile to the user.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising subtracting a sum of the computed non-seasonal natural gas consumption levels from the non-seasonal portion of the historical gas consumption data to obtain a residual portion.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the historical utility consumption is historical electricity consumption, and the utility consumption profile is an electricity consumption profile.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising computing at least one non-seasonal electricity consumption level corresponding to at least one dwelling feature, and presenting the dwelling features and their corresponding consumption levels in the electricity consumption profile to the user.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising obtaining at least one parameter of the at least one dwelling feature, and using the at least one parameter to determine the at least one non-seasonal electricity consumption level.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising subtracting a sum of the computed non-seasonal electricity consumption levels from the non-seasonal portion of the historical electricity consumption data to obtain a residual portion.

16. The method of claim 10, further comprising computing at least one seasonal electricity consumption level corresponding to at least one seasonally operated dwelling feature, and presenting the at least one dwelling feature and the corresponding seasonal electricity consumption level in the electricity consumption profile to the user.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the historical utility consumption is historical water consumption, and the utility consumption profile is a water consumption profile.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising indicating the non-seasonal portion as attributable to indoor water consumption in the water consumption profile.

19. The method of claim 17, further comprising computing at least one water consumption level corresponding to at least one indoor dwelling feature, and presenting the at least one indoor dwelling feature and their corresponding consumption levels in the water consumption profile to the user.

20. The method of claim 17, further comprising indicating a level of confidence in the computation of the indoor dwelling feature consumption levels by comparing a sum of the computed consumption levels to the non-seasonal portion attributed to indoor water consumption.

21. The method of claim 17, further comprising normalizing the indoor water consumption based on the number of occupants in the dwelling, and presenting the normalized indoor water consumption to the user in the water consumption profile.

22. The method of claim 1, further comprising obtaining the historical utility consumption data from a utility bill.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising computing at least one always-on electricity consumption level corresponding to at least one dwelling feature and presenting the dwelling features and their corresponding consumption level to the user, wherein the always-on consumption level comprises electricity consumption of dwelling feature that substantially constantly consumes electricity.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising subtracting a sum of the always-on electricity consumption levels from the residual portion of the historical gas consumption data to obtain a portion indicating a level of confidence in the computation of the dwelling feature electricity consumption levels.