ELECTRIC ENERGY BILL REDUCTION IN DYNAMIC PRICING ENVIRONMENTS

• US 20080281473A1
• Filed: 05/08/2008
• Published: 11/13/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 05/08/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: EcoDog, Inc.
• Original Assignee: EcoDog, Inc.
• Inventors: Pitt, Ronald L.
• Granted Patent: US 7,991,513 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 700/291
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/06 Energy or water supply
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 50/14 Marketing, i.e. market research and analysis, surveying, promotions, advertising, buyer profiling, customer management or rewards

Abstract

A system that can save energy and reduce electric utility costs is disclosed. The system may include one or more current measurement devices communicating with a processor as well as one or more switching devices for controlling power consumption in response to utility rate pricing systems.

Claims

1. A method comprising

collecting and storing historical data pertaining to time-dependent and load-specific usage of electrical energy by a system comprised of a plurality of electrical energy loads;

projecting a first electrical energy usage by the plurality of electrical energy loads for a first time increment and a second electrical energy usage by the plurality of electrical energy loads for a second time increment using the historical data and converting the first electrical energy usage to a first predicted energy expense and the second electrical energy usage to a second predicted energy expense using a variable rate electrical energy pricing structure, the variable rate electrical energy pricing structure comprising marginal rates for electrical energy that vary based at least on a time of day and on an amount of electrical energy used in a given time period;

generating a load reduction and redistribution matrix that reduces a total electrical energy bill for a billing period by reducing a use of at least one of the plurality of electrical loads during the first tie increment and/or transfers a use of at least one of the plurality of electrical loads from the first time increment to the second time increment based on a predetermined prioritization pattern to lower; and

promoting the temporal load distribution matrix.

2. A computer implemented method as in claim 1, wherein the predetermined prioritization pattern comprises priority values for one or more of the plurality of electrical energy loads.

3. A method as in claim 2, wherein the priority values are user set and received via a user interface.

4. A method as in claim 1, further comprising obtaining the variable rate electrical energy pricing structure from an electrical utility over a network.

5. A method as in claim 4, wherein the electrical energy pricing structure is received as a data stream output from a smart home energy meter and wherein the data stream also includes real time total usage of energy by the system.

6. A method as in claim 1, wherein the promoting comprises providing, to a user via a user interface, a recommendation for reducing usage of one or more of the plurality of electrical energy loads during the first time increment and/or for temporally shifting usage of one or more of the plurality of electrical energy loads from the first time increment to the second time increment.

7. A method as in claim 1, wherein the promoting comprises automatically reducing usage of at least one of the plurality of electrical energy loads in the system during the first time increment.

8. A method as in claim 6, wherein automatically reducing usage comprises sending a command to a switching device corresponding to at least one of the loads in the system, the command directing the switching device to cut off or curtail energy usage by the load during the first time increment.

9. A method as in claim 1, wherein the promoting comprises automatically temporally shifting usage of at least one of the plurality of electrical energy loads from the first time increment to the second time increment.

10. A method as in claim 1, wherein projecting the first electrical energy usage by the plurality of electrical energy loads for the first time increment and the second electrical energy usage by the plurality of electrical energy loads for the second time increment comprises predicting electrical energy usage by one or more of the plurality of electrical energy loads as a function of one or more of time of day, day of the week, and season using at least the historical data.

11. A method as in claim 10, further comprising receiving additional data that are used with the historical data.

12. A method as in claim 11, wherein the additional data are selected from the group consisting of human occupancy data and weather data.

13. A method as in claim 1, wherein the historical data are collected from a plurality of electronic monitoring devices, each monitoring and reporting electrical energy usage for one of the plurality of electrical energy loads.

14. A method as in claim 1, wherein generating the load reduction and redistribution matrix comprises:

determining time-dependent load reduction targets that will achieve a target energy bill reduction for the billing period, the determining comprising identifying that the first electrical energy usage that has been projected will cause some electrical energy used during the first time increment to be billed at an elevated rate; and

iterating through the plurality of electrical energy loads in the system for the first time increment to identify an electrical energy load that can be absolutely reduced or delayed to the second time increment in accordance with the predetermined prioritization pattern.

15. A method comprising:

collecting total electrical energy usage data representing a total amount of electrical energy used by a system in a time increment and also collecting subcircuit-specific electrical energy usage data representing a subcircuit-specific amount of electrical energy used by each of a plurality of subcircuits in the time increment, the subcircuit-specific amounts of electrical energy contributing to the total amount of electrical energy used;

identifying a target reduction in one of the subcircuit-specific amounts of electrical energy used to maintain the total amount of electrical energy used below a level that triggers an increase in a marginal rate for electrical energy pricing for the time increment, the target reduction comprising one or more of delaying operation of a device that contributes to the subcircuit-specific amount of electrical energy used and operating the device that contributes to the subcircuit-specific amount of electrical energy used at a lower electrical energy demand during at least part of the time increment; and

promoting the target reduction.

16. A method as in claim 15, further comprising receiving electrical energy pricing data over a network.

17. A method as in claim 16, wherein the electrical energy pricing structure is received as a data stream output from a smart home energy meter and wherein the data stream also includes real time total usage of energy by the system.

18. A system comprising:

a plurality of electronic monitoring devices, each assigned to one of a plurality of electrical loads and each reporting electrical energy usage data for the assigned electrical load as a function of time; and

a central controller executing software that receives the electrical energy usage data and also receives electrical energy pricing data, the central controller executing software that causes it to

project a first electrical energy usage by the plurality of electrical energy loads for a first time increment and a second electrical energy usage by the plurality of electrical energy loads for a second time increment using the historical data and converting the first electrical energy usage to a first predicted energy expense and the second electrical energy usage to a second predicted energy expense using a variable rate electrical energy pricing structure, the variable rate electrical energy pricing structure comprising marginal rates for electrical energy that vary based at least on a time of day and on an amount of electrical energy used in a given time period; and

generate a load reduction and redistribution matrix that transfers a use of at least one of the plurality of electrical loads from the first time increment to the second time increment based on a predetermined prioritization pattern to lower an total electrical energy bill for a billing period.

19. A system as in claim 18, further comprising one or more electronic switch devices, each assigned to one of the plurality of electrical loads, the electronic switch device receiving a command from the central controller that directs the switching device to cut off or curtail energy usage by the load during the first time increment;

and wherein the central controller further sends the command.

20. A system as in claim 19, wherein the command from the central controller comprises directs the electronic switch device to temporally shift usage of the one of the plurality of electrical energy loads to which the electronic switching device is assigned from the first time increment to the second time increment