ABSTRACT

The critical peak hour problem is a fundamental issue for utility managers and policymakers. We address this issue by analyzing unique data from an involuntary load curtailment program, in which a group of households agreed to reduce the peak power consumption below the agreed load shedding limit. There are two types of results presented in the paper. Firstly, we show that residential customers reacted by lowering usage in critical peak hours by 6.30%, on average, and that 93.69% of the total consumption reduction is transferred to off-peak (earlier and later) hours on the same day. This decrease in usage is comparable with the effects of time of use (TOU) programs. Secondly, we identify that customers whose electricity usage was regularly below the load shedding limit also reduced their usage. We discuss such reactions to this non-binding restriction using a microeconomic approach and in the context of findings from behavioral science.

摘要

高峰时段的关键问题对于公用事业经理和政策制定者来说是一个基本问题。我们通过分析非自愿削减负荷计划中的独特数据来解决此问题，该计划中，一组家庭同意将峰值功耗降低到低于约定的减负荷极限。本文介绍了两种类型的结果。首先，我们显示居民客户的反应是，将关键高峰时段的使用量平均降低了6.30％，并且总消费量减少的93.69％转移到了同一天的非高峰时间（早些时候和晚些时候）。使用量的减少可与使用时间（TOU）程序的效果相媲美。其次，我们发现用电量经常低于减载限制的客户也减少了用电量。