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Real time, economic-impact display system for consumers of commoditized electric power

  • US 5,519,622 A
  • Filed: 10/18/1993
  • Issued: 05/21/1996
  • Est. Priority Date: 10/18/1993
  • Status: Expired due to Fees
First Claim
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1. A near real-time method for helping typical consumers of price fluctuating electricity quickly prioritize their use of electricity for better cost management of their electric power consumption, is comprised of the steps of;

  • estimating, by a utility, an upcoming time slot'"'"'s price deviation from a pre-established mean price of the electricity;

    assigning said deviation into a quantitative, ie. high, medium or low, and positive or negative, category;

    estimating, during high demand periods, the gross size of any surcharge pool and bonus stake/KWH that will be distributed to consumers;

    assigning said gross surcharge pool and bonus stake into quantitative categories;

    periodically transmitting said category information from a utility center to consumers;

    storing said category information in each consumer'"'"'s display processer;

    optionally receiving data from a calendar-time watt-hour meter located on consumer'"'"'s premises and processing said data to indicate a consumer'"'"'s eligiblity for surcharge or bonus distributions and the extent of that eligibility; and

    displaying all said information to the consumer with red and green lights, green indicating economically advantageous times to use power and red indicating more expensive power, with the number of lights lit and/or their blink duty cycle further quantifying the consumption economics.

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